Fatma: A Novel of Arabia

by Raja Alem

Book Overview

'There was a blue cast to Satjma's handsomely sculpted mesmerizing tale of earthbound witchery and celestial love."

Fatma, an Arabian peasant girl, unwittingly embarks upon a strange journey of transformation the day her father marries her off to a snake handler. Unbeknownst to the new bride, her husband milks the venom of his snakes for use in potions he sells on the side. Bitten by one of the snakes, Fatma changes from na?ve girl to sensuous...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0815608128
• ISBN13: 9780815608127
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

INSANE

Well, I'm the second person to write a review, and I should probably wait until I finish the last ten pages. But I can't wait! This books is wild, unlike any other book that I've read from the Middle East. Fatma's life keeps spinning, twisting, reshaping, and surprising. What an amazing ride!

rehumanizing preciousness

Raja Alem has gifted English speakers with this wonderful tale about a young Arab woman and her strange life. Raja wrote Fatma in English with some help from Tom McDonough, these two should collaborate more often! It's intense stuff, and yes Raja does mean it. She's one of a kind, and you should all thank whatever you consider sacred that her stuff is getting published. She's the closest thing to a modern day profit I know of, and if you hear her talk you'll realize she isn't playing around. Poetic, beautifully written, every word is meant to be there, readable and very enjoyable, and if you let it Fatma can make you think differently about life. It is capable of rehumanizing the most jaded soul. It's like the opposite of Kafka's The Castle, Raja is the 'Anti-Michel Houllebecq'- and it would be funny to see what her mind's creations would do to a sad balding Frenchman. Raja's stuff is great, her sister Shadia did the cool cover art. Now, having been BLESSED with owning and reading Fatma, I and many others fervently wish for her other books to be published in English... she's a genius, you've just got to love this woman.