Leave To Remain

by Abbas El-Zein

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Abbas El-Zein was born and raised in Beirut. He was twelve years old when the civil war broke out in 1975. He lived in Beirut through most of the war and, like many Lebanese of his generation, experienced shelling, car bombs, shootings and displacement. Although he came from a family of Shia religious scholars, he attended a French secular school and studied civil engineering at the American University of Beirut. He migrated to Australia in 1996.

Abbas has written essays and short stories about war, identity and displacement for The New York Times, The Age, Meanjin, HEAT and Australian Book Review. His first novel was Tell the Running Water (Sceptre, 2001) and his second book was a memoir about growing up in Beirut called Leave to Remain (UQP, 2009). His most recent book is the short story collection The Secret Maker of the World (UQP, 2014).

He lives in Sydney with his wife and two sons and lectures in environmental engineering at the University of Sydney.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This looked so promising, memoir of growing up in Beirut comparisons with life lived elsewhere. What emerged was a less than engaging book. It lacked coherence, although as it is the authors memoir I guess that's his perogative, and passion. Disappointed, I wouldn't recommend you purchase this book, but if you were to I suggest you limit yourself to just a single copy.

[Irfan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeously written and sensitive memoir.