Square Moon: Supernatural Tales

By Ghada Samman

Book Overview

Marking collisions of culture and character, these ten short stories arise at the frontiers where Arabic tradition melds with both the modern European world and a Gothic strata of the supernatural. The resultant mix sparks tensions between the sexes, between identities, and between experimental forms of storytelling and strict narrative.

In Samman's fiction, matchmakers still come to call but lovers go bungee jumping. A schizophrenic has a discussion with one of his personalities about murder and relationships with women. Avoiding ghosts both real and imagined, a war exile confronts class structure; the art of Paris; and the trials of being a woman, an Arab, and a writer in a country and culture not her own. The spirit of a strangled lover tells the story of his murder and of the web of love, beauty, lust, and loathing that brought about his demise.

First published in Beirut in 1994 and now ably rendered into English, Samman's The Square Moon mixes the ghoulish with the everyday, the playful and witty with the terrifying, intermingling surprise endings, uncommon turns of plot, and the strange but realistic details of the characters' lives.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1557285349
• ISBN13: 9781557285348
• Release Date: July 1999
• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
• Length: 212 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

U WILL LOVE THIS WOMEN :)

I LIKE HER BOOK's ( I have all of them in arabic ) she is .... i dont know what to say :) i like her a lot , she is talking about me ,she is opening new doors , u must open & explore this book , it's something new GO 4 it

Great as all Ghada Samman's books!!

Being one fanatic person when it comes to Ghada Samman's works, The Square Moon is definitely one of my favorite books. Easy to read, yet makes one think and use their horizon in examining the unusual. This book says a lot -without preaching-and encourages the reader to explore more in their own lives. Great stories, so unusual...still so true! Runa