The Wrong End of the Telescope

By Rabih Alameddine,

Book cover of The Wrong End of the Telescope

Book description

WINNER OF THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FOR FICTION 2022

'A beautiful, well paced, enraging, funny and heartbreaking book' the Guardian

'Spectacular . . . Alameddine's irreverent prose evokes the old master storytellers from my own Middle Eastern home . . . deeply poignant' New York Times

Mina Simpson, a Lebanese doctor,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Wrong End of the Telescope as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Basically, it’s a story about Syrian refugees who have made it to the Greek island of Lesbos.

I’ve been going to the same island – and indeed, village – for the last 20 years, and in 2015-2017 I personally worked extensively with the refugees. Alameddine’s portrayal of the place, people, and situation is perfect. It’s the first novel I read with a trans protagonist, in this case a female Lebanese doctor who comes for a week to help the refugees.

Structurally, the book is unique. Through short chapters (sometimes only a couple of pages long so they are more like…

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