Reviews with content warning for Death - The Arsonists' City

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan

9 reviews

kquixotic's review

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Oooo I love a family saga full of secrets, revelations, romance, and existential crises. The Arsonist’s City has it all.

I appreciate this book for upending western stereotypes of Arab people, particularly around women, sex, and sexuality, with every character navigating contradictions.

The backdrop of the impact of Western intervention in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon further, complicates and enriches the narrative. I was affected! Upon finishing this book I had to go to the local Lebanese buffet to eat my feelings.

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just_one_more_paige's review

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

At long last, my final Aspen Words 2022 longlist read is done. I'm feeling very accomplished and enjoying that satisfied feeling of crossing the last thing off a "to-read" list. Go me! Plus, I ended on a high note, since this was also one of the five shortlist picks. And goodness I can see why. This was absolutely one of my favorites of the bunch and completely worth the wait to get my hands on it.

The Arsonists' City is the story of a family, the Nasr family, and a city, the city of Beirut. The story opens in present time with the family patriarch, Idris, deciding to sell his family home in Beirut. Despite the fact that the family hasn't spent time there in years, everyone unites against him, strongly disagreeing with his decision and descends on the house. The oldest daughter, Ava, takes her children (leaving her possibly cheating husband behind in Brooklyn). The middle daughter, Naj, is already living in Beirut and dreads the family coming to town, invading her "privacy" and space, though her bandmate is thrilled to see them all again. The youngest, Mimi, brings his new fiance, Harper, to visit from Austen for the first time (though is maybe not ready to deal with them all after recently giving up on his own dreams of musical success). And their mother, Mazna, agrees to come back to Beirut for the first time since tragedy struck for her there almost a lifetime ago and she left for America with Idris and her own dreams of stardom. The collision of memory and regret and passions and grief and politics/religion and secrets and love and shame and family that follows is fiery.

The star of this novel is the characters. They are incredible: complex and so human in all their perfect imperfections. And despite the gorgeous level of complexity in their development on the page and their interactions both large and small, there is no need for complexity in describing it. It was stellar. I was so invested in each of them. I loved their foibles and their great loves and their passions and their internal dialogues. I loved reading both the vulnerable parts of them and the ugly parts that in real life are, in fact, hard to love. They were just so...real. And recognizable because of it. And I couldn't get enough of them. I think I would have read a book twice this length to get more of both their drama and their everydayness.

There was also a fair amount of plot buoying the character development. It developed in two time periods. Although we start in the present, we also get the background on Mazna and Idris' relationship in the past, how it began and how it brought them to America. The tragedy of lost love (of the romantic and platonic kind, respectively) that set them up for their life together, how they grew into their present partnership, and the massive secret of it all unfolds as we read. And then in the present we get Idris and Mazna coming to terms with the Beirut of their memories, plus all their children's lives (Ava's family and relationship, Mimi's career and relationship, Naj's music and...relationship?), and all their interactions with each other. The way Mazna's secret from the past builds to its peak, and though it seems like it should take down the family in a greater way in the present, ends up just being...the way it is...when it finally comes out, feels the exact right amount of genuinely anti-climactic. I loved it.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the nuances of conflict of politics and religion and nationality (and sexuality) in the Middle East that are addressed throughout the years of this story. Alyan handles the intricacies, the ebbs and flows of it all, with sensitivity, but with an unflinching recognition of the realities. The way the upheavals of the region are paralleled in the (emotional) upheavals of the lives of this one family is so well done. And it carries a lovely larger message with it, if the reader chooses to see it: that this is just one story of upheaval among many, that even in the daily uncertainty of conflict, there will always still be the daily drama of lives interacting.

This could easily have been a very "chick lit" (for lack of a better phrase) type story, with the present day and past dual stories, family secrets and lost loves and infidelity told through connections between times and families, all brought together with a cathartic family moment (at a concert) at the finale that brought me to tears. But with the thoroughness and depth of the characters and the gorgeous portrayal of a region (Syria/Lebanon/Palestine) that is overly maligned and misrepresented, the humanity in these pages makes it something so much more. This family's life, their lies and grudges and forgiveness and grace, were just stunning. Like I said, I loved this book.

“I’d rather be misunderstood by what I say than what someone says for me.”

“How can people bear it, she wonders, loss upon loss?”

“Grief will make you do crazy things. It will electrify the elegant, flower-stem neurons in the amygdala of your brain, will pluck them like an instrument. In ancient Rome, grief made men twirl in their thing, leather sandals and pirouette until their feet bled; in India, it walked widows into pyres waiting for fire. The Persians gave the bodies of their deceased beloveds to dogs; the Egyptians buried them with servants. Grief will make you laugh at the funeral, weep over the cereal bowl; it will buzz your feet until they start dancing in the middle of the night. It's grief that inspires the unlikeliest of bedfellows.”

“If you live a life long enough, it becomes yours.”

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bodiesinbooks's review

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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cookiesandchapters's review

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emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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caseythereader's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

- I feel like I've lost my ability to write any kind of proper reviews of literary fiction, especially this kind of sprawling family epic variety, but THE ARSONISTS' CITY was too beautiful to leave off my feed.
- I was completely gripped by the stories of every member of the Nasr family. The way the story unraveled between the two timelines was just masterful.
- Also, going in to this book I didn't know there was a lesbian character! Hooray for adult queer fiction!

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woolgatherer's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

The Arsonists’ City was an ambitious book that was made up of several stories to reveal a larger narrative (that isn’t quite revealed until later in the book, interestingly enough). It was bittersweet, with a heavy leaning towards the bitter, but there were certainly sweet moments as well. Hala Alyan really nails the messiness within a family. At the start of the novel, I was admittedly disinterested in most of the characters and the story because everyone just seemed frustrated, it came off too much like a bad soap opera, and there weren’t detailed reasons behind their annoyances. It seems this was deliberate, however, because the moment Alyan started unravelling the Nasr family’s secrets, the characters’ emotions started to pour out, the nuances of their lives became apparent, and I was stunned by how rich the story became.

There was so much detail that went into every family member’s story, particularly from the mother (Mazna) and the children (Ava, Mimi, and Naj). Even though the father’s perspective isn’t revealed much, the few moments we do, it adds a particular depth to his character. Alyan doesn’t hesitate to reveal the flaws of all her characters, particularly the Nasr family (understandably, since they’re at the center of the story). They hide a lot of painful secrets that weigh heavily on their shoulders, which the reader slowly discovers as the story progresses.

I was most taken to Mazna’s story and her incredibly complex relationship with Idris, the father. I thought her story was the most engaging parts of the book, perhaps due to the sheer number of secrets that were floating around. But more than anything, it was the way Alyan took care to explore the complexities of grief and love when we were reading Mazna’s perspective that I really appreciated.

I think my main issue was pacing. It felt a little awkward at times, though it really came together as more of the puzzle was completed. Other than that, though, I found this to be a rich multigenerational family story. It will require you to take time to read and contemplate the various themes that exist in this complex book, but it’s well worth the ride.

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thebakerbookworm's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

If you're a fan of character-driven family dramas, you will love this book!

The story follows the Nasr family, when Idris, the father, decides to sell their family home in Beirut. This decision brings everyone to gather in Beirut for the summer. We get the perspectives of the three children, each living their own independent lives, as they come to terms with what being back in Beirut with family means. And then we flash back to their mom's life when she was young growing up in Syria, and what led to her marrying Idris and how they eventually ended up in California raising a family. I thought the book started slow, and the past timeline was when the story really grabbed me. I found Mazna a really intriguing character, and I loved that we get different perspectives, so what you initially think about one character changes in the next section. All these characters are complex and compelling--I didn't like all of them but I found myself rooting for them and this family anyways.

There's not a ton of plot, but this is the kind of story where secrets drive the story—everyone has secrets and fails at communication, which of course causes drama and heartbreak. I was frustrated at times and just wanted to stick the Nasr family in one room together and force them to be honest with each other.

The writing was excellent and really captivated me. And I loved the setting—we get California, Brooklyn, Austin, Beirut, and Damascus. There's also a lot to learn about the Lebanese Civil War, and this book will make you want to learn even more about it. If you're tired of the World War II historical fiction books, you should definitely give this one a shot!

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whatskatiereading's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This story unfolds in Beirut, Damascus, and the United States bouncing between the 1980s and present day. Idris, Manza, and their three adult children (Ava, Mimi, and Naj) are brought together by Idris’ desire to sell his childhood home in Beirut. With the family coming together, we learn about them as individuals and about their relationships to one another. Like any family, they have their secrets that we slowly learn about throughout the book. The large majority of the book takes place in the past, showing the events that led Manza and Idris to move to California. While this book is a work of fiction, the backdrop of Syria and Lebanon in the 1980s creates a story that seems very real. The historical nature of this book was very insightful. The author managed to pack a lot of history and insights into an incredible story.

As someone who prefers shorter books, this one was on the longer side for me (440 pages). Longer books tend to intimidate me, or I find myself zoning out during parts that I don’t find interesting. Alyan’s writing had me invested from the beginning and there was not one page that had me losing interest. This beautiful family saga tapped into so many emotions, it’s hard to sum it all up. As a music lover I really enjoyed Naj and Mimi’s storylines, though Manza is hands down my favorite character. I really hope this book gets a lot of buzz this year because I thought it was absolutely fantastic. Thank you BookishFirst and HMH for my copy of The Arsonists’ City!

Content Warnings

bookedbymadeline's review

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book! The complex look at family and sibling relationships drew me in and made me feel part of these characters lives. My heart was aching and I cried a few times throughout the novel as I got to know these people. The ending felt perfect but I’m definitely going to have a book hangover.

The story makes me want to learn more about Lebanon and the conflicts discussed throughout the book. Also enjoyed the switching POVs and timelines to get an in depth look at each character. Will definitely be reading more of Alyan’s novels!! Highly highly recommend.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. All the opinions above are my own.

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