Dear Mr. Kawabata

As a young Lebanese man lies dying in a makeshift mortuary in Beirut during the last days of the civil war in 1991, thoughts of his past life flood through his mind. In his disordered imagination, he writes to the Japanese novelist Yasunari Kawabata who had killed himself in 1972, and argues with him about dying, free will and the value of memory which is for him 'a support untouched by doubt'.
Reaching back to his childhood in the mountains of Northern Lebanon, he recalls the time when Gagarin first orbited the earth and he had to insist to his mother that the world was round, not flat. His move to university in Beirut, the death of his father and his entanglement in the violent politics of the 1970s lead to fierce commitment and an eventual loss of faith.

The civil war between the 1970s and early '90s in Lebanon provides both background and theme for this simultaneously impassioned and discursive story, presented as the delusional monologue of Rashid, a Lebanese revolutionary who is mortally wounded during the war's final days. Rashid's thoughts are addressed to the eponymous Japanese novelist who committed suicide in 1972. They're a mélange of family and personal history, diatribes against any centralized authority that preempts personal liberties, and speculations on ways in which memory shapes character and influences fate, and the morality of suicide. The best pages--which are often very good indeed--vividly portray Rashid's intellectual growth (Yuri Gagarin's orbital flight, for example, confirms his comprehension that the Earth is round) and quest for independence, and especially the memorable personalities of his intemperate father and courageously longsuffering mother.In other words, whenever (Rashid) al-Daif isn't lecturing Kawabata (and us), he proves himself an impressively gifted novelist. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

A dying Lebanese man imagines that he's writing a letter to a Japanese novelist who committed suicide several years earlier. He recounts the significant events of his childhood, recalling being severely beaten by an older neighbor whose religious beliefs were offended by the narrator's assertion that the earth is round and that it orbits the sun (a fact that he had just learned in school). He also describes having his fingers branded with a red-hot poker because he hadn't yet learned to read cursive writing and so cannot read a letter to his illiterate father. He then relives his military experience and attempts to explain his suicidal tendencies to the dead novelist, who, he believes, is the only person in the world who can comprehend his pain. al-Daif's novel is both anguished and poignant as it exposes the chaotic conditions in war-torn Lebanon, where the conflict between religious convictions and modern Western influences have made even the home a battleground. Bonnie Johnston
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

In the author's first novel to be translated into English, a young Lebanese soldier, mortally wounded in the final days of the 1991 civil war, reviews his life while drifting in and out of consciousness. (Al-Daif, who is from a Christian Maronite family, is a lecturer in Arabic language and literature at the Lebanese University in Beirut.) As the nameless narrator recalls his childhood in a traditional village, his years in university, and his time fighting in the civil war, he mentally writes letters to Yasunari Kawabata, the Japanese novelist who killed himself in 1972. The topics discussed in these letters include free will, religion, various political groups, family relationships, and, finally, death. As he tells of his awareness during his conception and birth, our dying narrator also becomes aware of his death, of being placed in a coffin, and of being buried. He hears his mother's laments as well as his deceased father's comments. Well written in concise, eloquent prose, this poignant novel gives the reader many insights into the world of a Middle Eastern man and the many conflicts he faces while maturing into adulthood. Recommended for larger public libraries and academic collections.DLisa Rohrbaugh, East Palestine Memorial P.L., OH
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