Rabih Alameddine

An Unnecessary Woman

A happily misanthropic Middle East divorcee finds refuge in books in a “beautiful and absorbing” novel of late-life crisis (The New York Times). Aaliya is a divorced, childless, and reclusively cranky translator in Beirut nurturing doubts about her latest project: a 900-page avant-garde, linguistically serpentine historiography by a late Chilean existentialist. Honestly, at seventy-two, should she be taking on such a project? Not that Aailiya fears dying. Women in her family live long; her mother is still going crazy. But on this lonely day, hour-by-hour, Aaliya’s musings on literature, philosophy, her career, and her aging body, are suddenly invaded by memories of her volatile past. As she tries in vain to ward off these emotional upwellings, Aaliya is faced with an unthinkable disaster that threatens to shatter the little life she has left. In this “meditation on, among other things, aging, politics, literature, loneliness, grief and resilience” (The New York Times), Alameddine conjures “a beguiling narrator . . . who is, like her city, hard to read, hard to take, hard to know and, ultimately, passionately complex” (San Francisco Chronicle). A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award, An Unnecessary Woman is “a fun, and often funny . . . grave, powerful . . . [and] extraordinary” Washington Independent Review of Books) ode to literature and its power to define who we are. “Read it once, read it twice, read other books for a decade or so, and then pick it up and read it anew. This one’s a keeper” (The Independent)

A Novel

Shelby Doherty

Deepika Ramesh

'An Unnecessary Woman' is a tribute to us. I adore this book. 

Some thoughts here: https://worncorners.wordpress.com/201...

azliana aziz

I love this book. A very quotable book. noted a lot of passage. I feel like this is Alameddine love letter to his favorite authors and witty put downs to his least favorite authors. I love the dry, dark humors throughout the book. Aliya as the main protagonist is never boring with her anecdotes from her short lived marriage life until her life alone in the apartment accompanied by the 'three witches'. I just wish to have more of her friendship with Hannah and also more of Aliya and her mother. I think that would be an interesting story itself. Alameddine brought the readers into the war, the cultural perks in Beirut through Aliya's lens and it is done effectively. Just one thing, reading this made me really envious of Aliya's extensive reading list. 
-Delightful, honest, witty and vivacious.

Bilge Ince

Bana kitaplardan ve sanattan anekdotlar veren kitapları çok seviyorum hele de baş kahramanı bir kadınsa… Aaliya bir çevirmen ve Beyrut’ta eşi kendisini terkedip bir kitapçıda çalışmaya başladığından beri kitaplar çeviriyor, yalnızlığını genellikle seviyor ve 72 yaşında bir feminist. Aaliya’nın 72 yıllık hayatını anlattığı bir günlük ve biyografi karışımı bu kitap politika, edebiyat, yaşlanma, yalnızlık, direnme ve daha bir çok şeyi anlatıyor. Zaman zaman kahramanın depresifliğinden bunalsam da çok etkileyici ve derinliği olan bir kitap Lüzumsuz Kadın.

Likes:
- Great character development. Really enjoyed the main character and her voice throughout the book.
- Love a story about a challenging mother-daughter relationship. While this was not the main focus of the book, it did play a part in it.
- Some really great quotes throughout the story that I thoroughly enjoyed
- Should be a lonely and boring story about a woman with not much going on in her life/not many connections, but she finds a way to make her life enjoyable and meaningful despite this. She is a very strong and positive person

Dislikes:
- Not really a dislike but I don't know much about many of the books/authors that were mentioned. Feel like I could have gotten more out of it if I knew more about these works that were referenced.

Nathan Griffin

Decent read, but for what's basically a character sketch, I just didn't find the main character super captivating. The second half definitely picks up and felt there were small glimpses of a compelling character, but overall thought she lacked depth. 

(I will say I especially enjoyed the 2 or 3 paragraphs about the never-ending war over translating Russian literature)

Tori Carrillo

Definitely a must read. I do not currently own this book (library-read), but plan to purchase and add to my bookshelves for when I'm ready to go back to it, which I surely will.

Before I began reading this book, members of my book club were mentioning the lack of traditional plot or story-line. This made me hesitant as to whether I would truly be able to enjoy this book because I feared I would lose interest if there was nothing to push me forward. Because of the books rich history, attention to detail in music and literature, and strong voice the lack of a traditional plot was not a problem for me. I became involved with the main character, Aaliya, and that's all the story really needed. The book moved forward and was full of interesting stories and information.

The reader really gets to understand this self taught woman and respect her love of literature, music, and Beirut. All of these beautiful, intricate, and difficult things encompass who she is and yet none of which she sees as being quality traits; she simply sees herself, her life, and her work as unnecessary. The literature quotations and connections the author is able to make with works of art, music, and literature in order to help the character relate to the world are magnificent. Aaliya's relationships with the other characters such as the witches and her mother also help drive the book. 

Do not be afraid if you are unfamiliar with the composers or authors this book mentions. Rabih Alameddine, the author, incorporates all of these outside references in such a delicate way that you don't even need an explanation as to why that reference was chosen for that sentence. If anything it makes you fall in love with the short passages and incites a curiosity of what the original work could offer for a reader or art lover.

Juliana

Mariah

Gigi V

Sonia Grgas

Haleemah Sadiah

An obsessive introvert in Beirut, eschewed by her family and neighbors for her divorced status and lack of religious reverence, quietly translates favorite books into Arabic while struggling with her aging body until an unthinkable disaster threatens what little life remains to her. By the best-selling author of The Hakawati. 20,000 first printing.

Clare B

Jason Skicewicz

Katie Chua

Alisha 

Anne Driscoll 

Cindy Lieberman

Jennifer A.

Lauren Attaway

Aaliya Saleh lives alone in her Beirut apartment, surrounded by stockpiles of books. Godless, fatherless, childless, and divorced, Aaliya is her family's 'unnecessary appendage'. Every year, she translates a new favourite book into Arabic, then stows it away. The thirty-seven books that Aaliya has translated over her lifetime have never been read - by anyone. This breathtaking portrait of a reclusive woman follows Aaliya's digressive mind as it ricochets across visions of past and present Beirut. Colourful musings on literature, philosophy, and art are invaded by memories of the Lebanese Civil War and Aaliya's own volatile past. As she tries to overcome her ageing body and spontaneous emotional upwellings, Aaliya is faced with an unthinkable disaster that threatens to shatter the little life she has left. A love letter to literature and its power to define who we are, the prodigiously gifted Rabih Alameddine has given us a magnificent rendering of one woman's life in the Middle East.

An Unnecessary Woman

Reviews

Highlights