The True True Story Of Raja The Gullible by Rabih Alameddine

 

Raja is sixty-three and lives in a tiny Beirut apartment.  He has always lived in Beirut and is a philosophy teacher.  He values his privacy not the least because he was kidnapped as a teenager and talked about all over the neighborhood when he was released because he broke free wearing a dress.  His despicable brother has scammed Raja's octogenarian mother out of all her savings, including selling her apartment, so Raja moves her in with him.   She is the ultimate extrovert and knows everyone in the neighborhood and their stories.  She insists on knowing everything about Raja which she then shares with all her friends.

Then things get even worse.  The relatives Raja despised the most are his elderly aunt who started the wildest rumors about Raja as a gay man after the kidnapping and his cousin who spent her childhood beating him up.  But when they lose their apartment, Raja's mother moves them in as well.  Soon Raja has no privacy but he gains something more; love of his family.

Rabih Alameddine is a Lebanese author who is also an artist.  This novel won the National Book Award in 2025.  The journey Raja takes from a curmudgeonly introvert to a man who learns to value family and friends is one the reader will enjoy taking with him.  The interplay between the characters who have to endure wars and rumors of wars is interesting and overall, the book is entertaining.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.