No Knives in the Kitchens of This City

by Khaled Khalifa, Leri Price (Translator)

Overview

In the once beautiful city of Aleppo, one Syrian family descends into tragedy and ruin.

Irrepressible Sawsan flirts with militias, the ruling party, and finally religion, seeking but never finding salvation. She and her siblings and mother are slowly choked in violence and decay, as their lives are plundered by a brutal regime.

Set between the 1960s and 2000s, No Knives in the Kitchens of this City unravels the systems of fear and control under Assad. With eloquence and startling honesty, it speaks of the persecution of a whole society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789774167812
Publisher:	American University in Cairo Press, The
Publication date:	10/15/2016
Series:	Hoopoe Fiction
Edition description:	Translatio
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	705,614
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Khaled Khalifa was born in Aleppo, Syria in 1964. A founding editor of the literary magazine Alif, he is the author of four novels, including In Praise of Hatred. He has also written numerous scripts for TV dramas and films, several of which have won awards, and screenplays for several feature films. No Knives in the Kitchens of This City was awarded the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2013 and was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2014.

Leri Price is the translator of Khaled Khalifa's In Praise of Hatred.

Editorial Reviews

Khaled Khalifa writes about his native city with sensuality and an almost feral intensity in…No Knives in the Kitchens of This City. The book focuses on just one family, and it stops several years short of the Syrian civil war. But it offers a glimpse into how terrified and empty of hope the people of a city must be to rise up in revolt…No synopsis can give a sense of what reading this book is like. Mr. Khalifa's story is episodic rather than linear; it is more about an atmosphere, both emotional and physical, than any defining event. The author…writes in lush, pungent prose, some of it overripe…but some of it is also beautiful…The sights, smells and horror of living in Aleppo come pounding to life in this book. The place, to me, is no longer an abstraction, and Mr. Khalifa clearly fears for its fate throughout. "Cities die," he writes, "just like people."

The New York Times - Jennifer Senior

"Khaled Khalifa writes about his native city with sensuality and an almost feral intensity . . . . No Knives in the Kitchens of This City offers a glimpse into how terrified and empty of hope the people of a city must be to rise up in revolt. The future offers them nothing. It is a castle of closed doors. . . . The sights, smells and horror of living in Aleppo come pounding to life in this book. The place, to me, is no longer an abstraction, and Mr. Khalifa clearly fears for its fate throughout."—New York Times

"One of the rising stars of Arab fiction . . . a rare public voice."—New York Times

"Critically acclaimed . . . [No Knives in the Kitchens of this City] traces the degrading and destructive impact of Syria's dictatorship on the lives of a family from Aleppo."—Financial Times

"Intricately plotted, chronologically complicated and a pleasure to read. . . . The writing is superb—a dense, luxurious realism pricked with surprising metaphors. It is lyrical, sensuous and so semantically rich that at times it resembles a prose poem . . . . A sad but beautiful book, providing important human context to the escalating Syrian tragedy."—The Guardian

"Khalifa writes a raw, exquisite account of the Assad regime's loosening grip on [Syria] and the accompanying chaos."—Washington Independent Review of Books

"Required reading for anyone who wants to better understand the roots of the uprising and current conflict in Syria."—Literary Hub

"A searing indictment of the Syrian regime."—The National

The poetry and lyricism of the prose make for an easy and compelling read. . . . The author gives us an encapsulated view of the region s political and social history from the First World War to the American-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. A very timely read. PowellsBooks.Blog

Magnificent . . . offers a bigger vision, reminding us that all politics are personal. Barnes & Noble Review

"It's a nuanced, sensual read which should leave the reader thinking about Aleppo's future and whose hands (or knives) will shape it."—Washington Independent Review of Books

From the Publisher