The True True Story of Raja the Gullible

★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10

288 pages

What’s it about?

Raja is a 63-year-old gay high school philosophy teacher who lives with his mother, Zalfa, in Beirut.  While Raja has many personal boundaries, his mother has none. When Raja gets an offer for an all-expenses-paid writers' residency, he can't wait for some quiet.  But Raja ends up recounting the last six decades in Lebanon with both humor and sadness.

What did it make me think about?

Lebanese history.

Should I read it?

I was sure I was going to put this one down after thirty pages, but Raja kept me reading- and I am so glad.  This was a funny and heartfelt look at the special bond between a mother and son.  It was also a peek into the history of Lebanon in the last sixty years, and it was embarrassing how little I knew.  Rabih Alameddine has created a cast of characters that are truly unique.  Don't miss this one!

A passage I marked

"I have always been susceptible to my mother's minor needs and exigencies.  I began many a battle feeling indomitable and ended up prostrate and vanquished, my mother's flag fluttering, its pole staked right through my heart."