Description:
"Daring, dazzling . . . a tough, funny, heart-breaking book."-Seattle Times
"[A] refreshing statement of honesty and endurance ...funny, brave full of heart and willing to say things about war and disease, sexual and cultural politics that have rarely been said so boldly or directly before."--The Sunday Oregonian
When National Book Award winner Rabih Alameddine's dazzling literary debut, Koolaids, first published in 2015 it garnered exuberant praise from Amy Tan, Rick Wallach, and Sarah Schulman, among others. Detailing the impact of the AIDS epidemic and the Lebanese civil war in Beirut on a circle of friends and family during the eighties and nineties, Koolaids mines the chaos of contemporary experience, telling the stories of characters who can no longer love or think except in fragments. Clips, quips, vignettes and hallucinations, tragic news reports and hilarious short plays, conversations with both the quick and the dead, all shine their combined lights to reveal the way we experience life today in this ambitious debut from bestselling and acclaimed author Rabih Alameddine.
"Rabih Alameddine is one rare writer who not only breaks our hearts but gives every broken piece a new life."--Yiyun Li
"Rabih Alameddine is one our most daring writers--daring not in the cheap sense of lurid or racy, but as a surgeon, a philosopher, an explorer, or a dancer."--Michael Chabon
Review Quotes:
Praise for Koolaids:
"Daring, dazzling . . . a tough, funny, heartbreaking book." -Seattle Times
"[A] refreshing statement of honesty and endurance . . . funny, brave, full of heart and willing to say things about war and disease, sexual and cultural politics, that have rarely been said so boldly or directly before." --Sunday Oregonian
Praise for The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother):
Winner of the National Book Award
One of TIME Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2025
"This sprawling tale centers on Raja, a man in his sixties who lives with his mother in Beirut, a city shaking with political and ecological turmoil. While the duo--both outsized personalities--navigate their cohabitation, Raja must weigh the responsibility he feels as a son against an opportunity to attend a writing residency in America. Raja's energetic narration is relentlessly funny, even (or especially) when it's turned to dark or disturbing events from his past. The story jumps back and forth through time and across continents, but Raja's sensitive and ultimately optimistic point of view is a gripping anchor."--The New Yorker
"Thoroughly absorbing."--Washington Post
"A tightrope walk, a magic trick . . . magnificently articulated through the instrument of Raja's voice."--Alta
"Hilarious, seasoned with history, and utterly brilliant."--Bay Area Reporter
"Rabih Alameddine's edgy charm always leaves room for compassion, which readers will find in abundance in this challenging but exceptional book."--BookPage (starred review)
"I can think of few novelists more skilled in the art of blending deep trauma with irreverent humor than Rabih Alameddine."--Dan Sheehan, Literary Hub
"Alameddine is gifted at finding the humor in what for most writers would be singular traumatic themes, including AIDS, the Lebanese Civil War, and the plight of Middle Eastern migrants."--Kirkus Reviews
Praise for An Unnecessary Woman:
Finalist of the National Book Award
"A meditation on, among other things, aging, politics, literature, loneliness, grief and resilience. If there are flaws to this beautiful and absorbing novel, they are not readily apparent."--New York Times
"Irresistible . . . [the author] offers winningly unrestricted access to the thoughts of his affectionate, urbane, vulnerable and fractiously opinionated heroine. Mr. Alameddine's portrayal of a life devoted to the intellect is so candid and human that, for a time, readers can forget that any such barrier exists."--Wall Street Journal
"Alameddine has conjured a beguiling narrator in his engaging novel, a woman who is, like her city, hard to read, hard to take, hard to know and, ultimately, passionately complex."--San Francisco Chronicle
"A restlessly intelligent novel built around an unforgettable character . . . A novel full of elegant, poetic sentences."--Minneapolis Star Tribune