Emi B. (wantonvolunteer) - , reviewed on 3/30/2012 + 84 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

This is the first Anthony Shadid I've read and he came across as rather guarded. He's much more generous in his descriptions of the foibles and weaknesses of all his ancestors, neighbors and contractors. I did learn a good bit about Lebanon's history, and the country's identity within complicated constructs of cultures and politics (Christian, Muslim, Arab, Maronite, Druze, Levant...).

The story is about an American journalist who gets divorced and takes a leave of absence from the Washington Post to travel to his ancestral home in Lebanon, to rebuild the ruined wreckage in to a beautiful home for its founders' great-great-grand-daughter hopefully. The project takes nearly three years. But I want to know what happened to his ex-wife the doctor, and how his daughter Laila gets along with his new wife and their son, I want to know that everybody is okay since Anthony Shadid died leaving Syria (of an asthma attack), prompting the early release of this book. I guess I'm just nosy.

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