3.0
Earth Weeps, Saturn Laughs
ByPublisher Description
Earth Weeps, Saturn Laughs opens with the return of Khalid Bakhit, a government employee, to his hometown in Oman after a time away in the big city, and concludes with his return to the city with a new maturity born of a series of wrenching encounters with reality. Khalid's return home, sparked by his flight from a painful love affair, coincides with events that reveal the force of long-established traditions that have a stranglehold on the town: from racial prejudice, to religious bigotry, to ossified patterns of leadership. Khalid's awakening and transformation are catalyzed by his encounters with a certain "Saturnine poet" who, in the course of chasing after an elusive ode, has stumbled upon this unnamed village. For a period of time "the Saturnine" becomes Khalid's closest companion: listening to his woes, helping him see himself with new eyes, and imparting to him a wisdom from a world beyond untainted by human smallness.
"As the full moon listened in, Walad Sulaymi said, 'Thirty years ago I heard my grandfather say to my father (God have mercy on them both), "If God allows a country to be chastised, He causes everyone who has left it to come back." So here you are again, and with your return, that completes the number of those who left the village and have come back. Mark my words: the chastisement will descend soon.'"
Download the free Fable app
Stay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
Rate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
Curate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesStay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building toolRate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tagsCurate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesEarth Weeps, Saturn Laughs Reviews
3.0
“This story starts with Kahlid Bakhit who has returned to his home village after being in the city. He is returning after a break up from a woman he truly loved. His return happens when the village is looking for a shift in leadership. Old leaders are about the be forced out.
In the meantime, Kahlid as met a Saturine poet who stumbled upon the village whlie writing an ode. This poet becomes Kahlid's closest friend and opens him to seeing himself in a new way.
Each chapter in the book in told from a different villager's point of view, but there is one central theme - the village is in trouble. Everyone is spouting ideas of how the village should be run and alliances are being formed. The villagers seem to have too much time on their hands and use it to pit one against the other.
This book was fine. I felt that there were way too many points of view to find it easy to follow. I wasn't able to get attached to any of the characters, and just got really lost in who belonged to whom, and who was pitting against whom.....it just didn't flow well.”
About Abdulaziz Al Farsi
Abdulaziz Al Farsi was born in Shinas in the Sultanate of Oman in 1976. He graduated from medical school at Sultan Qaboos University in 2001. In 2006 he became a fellow in the British Royal Medical College in Edinburgh, and is currently a senior specialist in oncology at the National Oncology Centre at the Sultani Hospital in Muscat, Oman. He has been writing since 1998 and has had four short story collections published. Earth Weeps, Saturn Laughs is his first novel.
Nancy Roberts is the translator of Salwa Bakr's The Man from Bashmour (AUC Press, 2007), for which she received a commendation in the Saif Ghobash-Banipal Prize for Translation. Her other recent translations include Naguib Mahfouz's Love in the Rain (AUC Press, 2011) and The Mirage (AUC Press, 2009), and Ibrahim Nasrallah's Time of White Horses (AUC Press, 2012).
Start a Book Club
Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!FAQ
Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?
Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?
How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?
Do you sell physical books too?
Are book clubs free to join on Fable?
How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?
