The Arsonists' City
Domestic fiction
Houghton Mifflin
March 9, 2021
Advanced reader copy
464
Free from publisher
The Nasr family is spread across the globe—Beirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. A Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children: all have lived a life of migration. Still, they’ve always had their ancestral home in Beirut—a constant touchstone—and the complicated, messy family love that binds them. But following his father's recent death, Idris, the family's new patriarch, has decided to sell.
The decision brings the family to Beirut, where everyone unites against Idris in a fight to save the house. They all have secrets—lost loves, bitter jealousies, abandoned passions, deep-set shame—that distance has helped smother. But in a city smoldering with the legacy of war, an ongoing flow of refugees, religious tension, and political protest, those secrets ignite, imperiling the fragile ties that hold this family together.
In a novel teeming with wisdom, warmth, and characters born of remarkable human insight, award-winning author Hala Alyan shows us again that “fiction is often the best filter for the real world around us” (NPR).
My review:
Reading the synopsis of this book, I just knew it was going to be "my type of read". I absolutely love family sagas, and if the family is dysfunctional, so much the better. Maybe I put too much pressure on this one, because while there were many great features, I just didn't love it as much as I thought I would. The main reason was that it was just too long to hold my interest throughout. It's a fantastic character study (which I normally eat up) of parents and three children who all converge at their grandfather's funeral in Beirut. There is the current story, but then there is a lot of backstory into each character. While I understand why this was fundamental to the current state of the family dynamic, in my opinion it just took way too long to explore. Having said that, I'm not sure I can pinpoint where I would cut something out, except maybe the backstories could have been a bit more consolidated? Other than that, the writing was outstanding, the characters were really well drawn, and the overall plot was engaging. This was a hard review to write because I still can't put my finger on why I didn't love this, and that frustrates me since I want to be able to give a more specific reason.
If you love an interesting character driven book, and can be patient while the story slowly unfolds, this would be a good choice. I think I would have loved it if it had been less wordy. A solid good, but not great, read for me.
