LOCUST AND THE BIRD, THE(ISBN=) 英文原版

While I was reading Hanan Al Shaykh’s new book, The Locust
and the Bird, my regret as an author was not to have known
Kamila, Hanan’s mother, the extravagant narrator of this book. What
a woman! What a storyteller! She reminds me of my beloved
grandmother (who is in many of my books), and many other women of
her generation that I knew, who were manipulative in order to
survive, who lied in order to establish the truth, and, most of
all, so full of life and passion. When I finished the book I had
one major thought: this book needs to be made into a movie, but
this is the kind of story one needs to be a real Lebanese in order
to turn it into a movie. That was my other regret as a movie maker.
But most of all I felt extremely lucky to spend time with someone
so intelligent, full of humor and love. –Marjane
Satrapi

Hanan al-Shaykh is one of the contemporary Arab
world’s most acclaimed writers. She was born in Lebanon and brought
up in Beirut, before going to Cairo to receive her education. She
was a successful journalist in Beirut, then later lived in the
Arabian Gulf, before moving to London. A novelist and a playwright,
al-Shaykh is the author of the collection I Sweep the Sun off
Rooftops, and the novels The Story of Zahra, Women of
Sand and Myrrh, Beirut Blues, and, most recently,
Only in London, which was shortlisted for the
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. She lives in London.

“A tale of female independence. . . . Deeply reflective and
moving.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“The Locust and the Bird conquers the distance between
mother and daughter, revealing the tragedies that can ensue when
cultural machismo forces brave women into impossible
choices.”
—Jayne Anne Phillips, More
 
“A vital [work] about the lives of Arabic families. . . . [It] has
a warmth that crosses cultures and feels like a pure, shining blast
of sun. . . . Al-Shaykh’s fictionalized account of her mother’s
life burns with truth. . . . Forgiveness—not anger—saturates this
book like a perfume; every character is desperately, vulnerably
human. Al-Shaykh’s triumph is that she retrieves her mother’s
wisdom—a wondrous lesson for grown daughters everywhere.”
—Los Angeles Times
 
“[A] poignant family history. . . . Through telling her mother’s
story, [Al-Shaykh] learns to appreciate the sacrifices demanded of
so many Arab women in their bid for freedom.”
—The New Yorker

“It is an extraordinarily brave act for a writer to undertake to
inhabit, fully and sympathetically, the life her mother
lived.”
—J.M. Coetzee, Nobel Prize-winning author of Disgrace
 
“What a Woman!!! What a storyteller!!! . . . I felt extremely lucky
to spend time with someone so intelligent, full of humor and
love.”
—Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis
 
“A richly tragic and rivetingly original tale. . . . Al-Shaykh’s
suspenseful, intimate biography throbs with the sense of wonder an
Old World survivor experiences when colliding with the new. This
voluptuous, deft dissection of a love that transcends borders,
class and generations is a delight.”
—Newark Star-Ledger
 
“Courageously addresses both the themes of geographical separation
and the jagged motifs of mother-daughter conflict. . . . I have
never read a memoir which so clearly demonstrates art’s power to
help us survive.”
—The Independent (London)
 
“Al-Shaykh is one of the most courageous writers of the Arab world.
The story of her irrepressible mother, might help explain the
origins of Hanan Al-Shaykh’s singular ability to trailblaze.”
—Rabih Alameddine, author of The Hakawati
 
“Extraordinary. . . . Hanan adeptly and generously captures the
thoughts and concerns of a young woman growing up, the hard way, in
Lebanon half a century ago.”
—Time Out (London)
 
“Frank and uncompromising. . . . Kamila’s trials are the trials of
all women who have sought to be free; her choices some of the
toughest yet made in the name of independence.”
—The Times (London)
 
“A riveting, deeply compelling character study that combines real
dramatic tension with historical and political relevance. Charming,
egotistical, funny, vain, spell-binding, al-Shaykh’s mother defies
religion, family, and tradition to create a life on her own terms.
A fabulously addictive read.”
—Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Crescent
 
“A powerful book on the dangers of romantic love in mid-20th
century Arab society.”
—The Guardian (London)
 
“Astonishing. . . . Spectacular. . . . [The Locust and the
Bird] is Hanan al-Shaykh’s masterpiece. Kamila is Hanan’s most
extraordinary character.”
—Charles R. Larson, The Jakarta Post
 
“An adventure tale, a confession, a tragic romance. . . . The book
is that rarity—a memoir told in the round but through one set of
eyes, so that we understand, increasingly, everyone’s motives,
their saving graces, while ever more deeply seeing the flawed yet
magical world through the sensibility of its subject.”
—The Scotsman