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An Unnecessary Woman Rabih Alameddine Books

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An Unnecessary Woman Rabih Alameddine Books

This is one of those books that I just wanted to love from the bottom of my heart. Told from the perspective of Aaliya, an aging woman in Beirut who recounts her life by remember a series of translations she's done over the years, painstakingly reading translations in French and English of each great work before converting them to Arabic. She does this as a personal project each year with a sense of accomplishment as her reward.

She gives us a great picture of Beirut during the war years, and I really felt like I was with her as she described scenes from her life, her city, her building. There were passages of great beauty in this one where I just felt like I sunk into her world, but there were more frequent times when the narrative just felt like a vehicle for the author to weave as many great works of literature into it for no real reason. It was a "Hey, look at me and see how smart I am" feeling I got while reading it.

I plodded through this and could not wait to get to the end. Sadly, for me (and I know I'm in the minority) this is one of those books where I wanted the time I invested in reading it back.


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An Unnecessary Woman Rabih Alameddine Books Reviews

An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
Reviewed by Arlene Yedid
An Unnecessary Woman is a unique novel that tells the story of a cynical woman who exits on her own terms.in her beloved city of Beirut.. At 72, Aaliya has few fond remembrances, having chosen a solitary existance. As narrator of her story, she does not speak much about the Lebanese Civil War; just that she had to sneak across the city’s partition for bread and that the bombing was loud. She doesn’t recount much of the sporadic warfare that has plagued and changed the face of Lebanon.
So what is this novel trying to reveal? It is more than a story about a cantankerous, eccentric woman extolling her beloved Beirut. This novel is a portrait of a woman seeking a meaningful existence through literature rather than life. This book, that breathes the rhythm of life through Alameddine’s magnificent prose, is sprinkled with references to favorite authors, books, and music. For some, encountering so many unfamiliar references to authors is off- putting; yet, the vivid storytelling creates a compelling work. If you give up on reading this book, you have lost a treasure. Alameddine is the master of flowing prose.
Using Aaliya as narrator could seem limiting; however remembrances pepper the narrative, revealing layers of life-altering episodes. She was forced to marry at the age of 16, and fortunately her difficult husband divorced her 6 months later. While working in a book shop, Aaliya had an extended love affair with a much younger clerk, whose luster dimmed when he became a radical soldier. Aaliya. Is haunted by the death of her close friend Hannah, feeling guilt for ignoring warning signs of impending tragedy.
Aaliya is an enigma. She translates books into Arabic, but doesn’t send them to publishers. She has no relationship with her family, but they don’t seem to deserve her respect. Love was never an emotion she felt toward her overly critical mother, whom she felt no guilt for avoiding seeing or rejecting housing her. Eventually, you see an unexpected, touching scene revealing Aaliya’s repressed love toward her indifferent mother.
The novel’s climax occurs when she experiences a calamity leading to her neighbors’ unsolicited efforts to help salvage her plight. The old Aaliya would chase them away; perhaps a new Aaliya realizes that she needs to truly live in the moment rather than through a solitary existence.. Rabih Alameddin creates an unforgettable novel in which he proves that Aaliya is not “An Unnecessary Woman.”
I have read a number of really good books since I read this one so I will do my best here. I knew immediately that I would have to read this book more than once. I don't even know how to describe it and I guess that is why I will have to read it again... and again. The visual imaging was fabulous. Since I am of a similar age range I understood and related to the emotional roads the character navigated to end up where she was. I guess the obvious message of learning to "let go" at this stage in life and the unexpected circumstances that create "family" who have your back when you least expect it... are clearly communicated however the varied, colorful, tragic beautifully described paths and insights she takes to get to those points are amazing. I didn't know or hadn't read all the authors she discussed from her point of view but I valued her thoughts about them and moved on to the parts of the story that I most related to.
I love the premise of this book. It seems that everyone has this assumption that not contributing to society means your life has no purpose, but I have always felt like your life has purpose if you're happy and not hurting anyone. So it was fun to consider that part. But. The writing. The pretentious slog through every book the author has written makes me question if this is just a vehicle to show off how well-read they are. People say it gets more interesting in the second half. I'm 60 percent done and I think I'm giving up on this story. Life is too short to read books that are a chore to finish.
This book has haunted me since finishing it a few weeks ago. I feel like I know the main character as well as a genuine friend. And insights about her just keep resurfacing when I least expect them.

In "An Unnecessary Woman", we enter the world of an extreme introvert who lives for literature and classical music. We get a tangential view of what it’s like to live in Beirut from the 1950s to the present. I found it amazing that a man could create the worldview of an elderly woman so well. She is crotchety, opinionated, fearful, regretful and has been dealt some hard blows by life -- and yet we joyfully identify with her.

Some scenes were unforgettable, like the main character visiting her almost-senile mother and thinking with a chill how she was viewing her own future. And then there was her fear of showing the world the literary translations she has done for the past 50 years. We experience the extreme loneliness of someone who sees herself as totally unnecessary to the world. (Isn't that something that almost everybody asks themselves -- whether or not we are important to the world, and if it would be different without us in it?). And the ending is both believable and transcendent — unsuspected yet hopeful.
This is one of those books that I just wanted to love from the bottom of my heart. Told from the perspective of Aaliya, an aging woman in Beirut who recounts her life by remember a series of translations she's done over the years, painstakingly reading translations in French and English of each great work before converting them to Arabic. She does this as a personal project each year with a sense of accomplishment as her reward.

She gives us a great picture of Beirut during the war years, and I really felt like I was with her as she described scenes from her life, her city, her building. There were passages of great beauty in this one where I just felt like I sunk into her world, but there were more frequent times when the narrative just felt like a vehicle for the author to weave as many great works of literature into it for no real reason. It was a "Hey, look at me and see how smart I am" feeling I got while reading it.

I plodded through this and could not wait to get to the end. Sadly, for me (and I know I'm in the minority) this is one of those books where I wanted the time I invested in reading it back.