Celestial Bodies

By Jokha Alharthi

Book Overview

This winner of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize and national bestseller is "an innovative reimagining of the family saga . . . Celestial Bodies is itself a treasure house: an intricately calibrated chaos of familial orbits and conjunctions, of the gravitational pull of secrets" (The New York Times Book Review).

In the village of al-Awafi in Oman, we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla, who chooses to refuse all offers and await a reunion with the man she loves, who has emigrated to Canada.

These three women and their families, their losses and loves, unspool beautifully against a backdrop of a rapidly changing Oman, a country evolving from a traditional, slave-owning society into its complex present. Through the sisters, we glimpse a society in all its degrees, from the very poorest of the local slave families to those making money through the advent of new wealth.

The first novel originally written in Arabic to ever win the Man Booker International Prize, and the first book by a female Omani author to be translated into English, Celestial Bodies marks the arrival in the United States of a major international writer.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1948226944
• ISBN13: 9781948226943
• Release Date: October 2019
• Publisher: Catapult
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

A book about family and generational trauma

This book is a poetic and authentic portrayal of the effects of generational trauma. How the faults and failures of past generations ever seek to haunt the present. Yet, it is not without careful beauty, showing that pain is not what defines these characters but the reaction to that pain. It shows a family that so deeply wishes to be understood by each other yet cannot reach any real authenticity due to cultural and self imposed expectations. A very interesting read if you (like myself) have your fair share of family disfunction. Over all a well written and quick read.