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3.5 

I, The Divine: A Novel in First Chapters

By Rabih Alameddine
I, The Divine: A Novel in First Chapters by Rabih Alameddine digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels

Named after the "divine" Sarah Bernhardt, red-haired Sarah Nour El-Din is "wonderful, irresistibly unique, funny, and amazing," raves Amy Tan. Determined to make of her life a work of art, she tries to tell her story, sometimes casting it as a memoir, sometimes a novel, always fascinatingly incomplete.

"Alameddine's new novel unfolds like a secret... creating a tale...humorous and heartbreaking and always real" (Los Angeles Times). "[W]ith each new approach, [Sarah] sheds another layer of her pretension, revealing another truth about her humanity" (San Francisco Weekly). Raised in a hybrid family shaped by divorce and remarriage, and by Beirut in wartime, Sarah finds a fragile peace in self-imposed exile in the United States. Her extraordinary dignity is supported by a best friend, a grown-up son, occasional sensual pleasures, and her determination to tell her own story. "Like her narrative, [Sarah's] life is broken and fragmented. [But] the bright, strange, often startling pieces...are moving and memorable" (Boston Globe). Reading group guide included.

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23 Reviews

3.5
“This book, like all of Alameddine’s work, will stay with me. I loved the “novel in first chapters” idea and how it echoed Sarah’s persistent set of fresh starts and her unwillingness to give up on living life and loving with her whole self. The weaving of war-related trauma and family drama felt authentic in its pacing and subtlety (or lack thereof). Definitely recommend.”
“Rep: Lebanese cast, gay & lesbian characters CWs: rape, misogyny, violence, suicide”

About Rabih Alameddine

Rabih Alameddine is the author of the novels Koolaids, I, the Divine, and The Hakawati, the story collection The Perv, and most recently, An Unnecessary Woman. He divides his time between San Francisco and Beirut.

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