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Learning English
No matter how hard Rachid tries to recreate himself, to become educated and worldly-to "learn English"-it is impossible for this hip Beiruti with his cell phone and high-speed internet to sever the connection to his past in the Lebanese village of Zgharta, known for its "tough guys" and old-fashioned clan mentality. When the news of his father's murder, a case of blood revenge, reaches him by chance through a newspaper report, it drags him inescapably back into the world of his past. Suddenly he is plunged once again into the endless questions that plagued his childhood: questions about his parents' marriage and his own legitimacy, questions he would rather have forgotten and which threaten not only his new lifestyle, but now, according to the protocol of vendetta culture, his very life.
The accomplished al-Daif hooks his readers from page one of this, his ninth, novel-partly with pieces and fragments of suspense-filled plot and partly with his typically idiosyncratic narrator, whose bizarre stories, comical asides and uncannily perceptive comments on human nature lead us through this tantalizing, funny, and sober book about the hold the past has on Lebanon, and on us all.
161 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Rashid Al-Daif
25 books130 followersRashid Al Daif (Arabic: رشيد الضعيف) (or Rasheed Al-Daif, Rachid El-Daïf, Rachid El-Daif) is a Lebanese poet and novelist. He has been translated into 14 languages. He has been referred to as "the Arab world's answer to Italo Calvino or Umberto Eco".
Rashid El Daif was born into a Christian Maronite family of eight children in Zgharta, Lebanon, in 1945.He studied in his village until high school. Then, he transferred to a government high school in Tripoli, Lebanon which only offered a philosophy degree, despite his penchant for science. After finishing high school, in 1965, he enrolled at the Lebanese University in Beirut in the Department of Arabic Letters. He became well-trained in classical Arabic literature and went to France in 1971 to continue his education.
While in France, he received Ph.D. in Modern Letters (Doctorat in Lettres Modernes) from University of Paris III, known as Sorbonne Nouvelle University Paris 3 on the theory of modern criticism applied to Unshūdat almaṭar, a collection of poems by Badr Shakir al-Sayyab, which was supervised by the distinguished Arabist André Miquel.
From 1972 to 1974, he worked as a teacher of Arabic for foreigners at University of Paris III.
In 1978, he received a Master of Advanced Studies, known in French as a Diplôme d'études approfondies, in linguistics at the University of Paris V, commonly known as “the Sorbonne” in preparation for a second doctoral thesis on diglossia in the Arab countries.
From 1974 to 2008, El Daif worked as an assistant professor at the Lebanese University in the Department of Arabic language and literature. He was a visiting professor at the University of Toulouse, France in 1999. From 2008 to 2013, he was an adjunct professor at the Lebanese American University (LAU). Since 2012, he has served a professor of Arabic creative writing at The American University of Beirut (AUB).
El Daif has received dozens of invitations to speak about his novels from all over the world including in the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, France, the United States.
El-Daif’s work has attracted numerous critical books and articles including by Samira Aghacy, Stefan G. Meyer, Ken Seigneurie, Assaad Khairallah, Paul Starkey, Mona Takieddine Amyuni, Edgar Weber and others. Several university dissertations have also been written on El Daif’s novels. El Daif has also gone on to supervise the publication of at least five novels from his students and in 2018 edited and published a collection of his student's work titled tahīya' li-dawī ḥaḍurī (Get Ready for the Rumble of my Presence).
Rashid El Daif was born into a Christian Maronite family of eight children in Zgharta, Lebanon, in 1945.He studied in his village until high school. Then, he transferred to a government high school in Tripoli, Lebanon which only offered a philosophy degree, despite his penchant for science. After finishing high school, in 1965, he enrolled at the Lebanese University in Beirut in the Department of Arabic Letters. He became well-trained in classical Arabic literature and went to France in 1971 to continue his education.
While in France, he received Ph.D. in Modern Letters (Doctorat in Lettres Modernes) from University of Paris III, known as Sorbonne Nouvelle University Paris 3 on the theory of modern criticism applied to Unshūdat almaṭar, a collection of poems by Badr Shakir al-Sayyab, which was supervised by the distinguished Arabist André Miquel.
From 1972 to 1974, he worked as a teacher of Arabic for foreigners at University of Paris III.
In 1978, he received a Master of Advanced Studies, known in French as a Diplôme d'études approfondies, in linguistics at the University of Paris V, commonly known as “the Sorbonne” in preparation for a second doctoral thesis on diglossia in the Arab countries.
From 1974 to 2008, El Daif worked as an assistant professor at the Lebanese University in the Department of Arabic language and literature. He was a visiting professor at the University of Toulouse, France in 1999. From 2008 to 2013, he was an adjunct professor at the Lebanese American University (LAU). Since 2012, he has served a professor of Arabic creative writing at The American University of Beirut (AUB).
El Daif has received dozens of invitations to speak about his novels from all over the world including in the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, France, the United States.
El-Daif’s work has attracted numerous critical books and articles including by Samira Aghacy, Stefan G. Meyer, Ken Seigneurie, Assaad Khairallah, Paul Starkey, Mona Takieddine Amyuni, Edgar Weber and others. Several university dissertations have also been written on El Daif’s novels. El Daif has also gone on to supervise the publication of at least five novels from his students and in 2018 edited and published a collection of his student's work titled tahīya' li-dawī ḥaḍurī (Get Ready for the Rumble of my Presence).
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
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August 8, 2010its very nice with high conatins of new subjects.
June 22, 2025
This is a short but dense read written as a stream of consciousness after the narrator hears about his father’s murder by chance in a Beirut cafe. He comes from ‘the north’ where blood feuds permeate much of day to day life but has moved away and become a literature professor in a bid to leave this behind. The heart of the story concentrates on his parents’ relationship, mainly seen incompletely through the eyes of a child and is an interesting look at the effects of this sort of society on its people and in particular, of course, its women.
This is not a book to be read for its plot or for a satisfying resolution and needs quite a bit more concentration than it’s length implies, but with patience it is a quiet and intriguing look at a society trying to exist between the ancient and modern. Most books that I seem to have read about Lebanon are based around the civil war and although this does feature, this was also a good way of learning about a different aspect of its society.
This is not a book to be read for its plot or for a satisfying resolution and needs quite a bit more concentration than it’s length implies, but with patience it is a quiet and intriguing look at a society trying to exist between the ancient and modern. Most books that I seem to have read about Lebanon are based around the civil war and although this does feature, this was also a good way of learning about a different aspect of its society.
June 9, 2021
Fascinating... one of the most original novels I’ve read in a long time. A man finds out about his father’s death from an acquaintance who had just read about it in the newspaper. What then unfolds is one long stream of consciousness in which the unreliable narrator ponders the news and its meaning.
June 16, 2025
الكتاب يجلسك على حافة الكرسي طوال القراءه في انتظار معرفه القاتل
أحداث مشوقة عن أذية الأب للأم وأذية الأم للابن الذي صرح أكثر من مره انه (الفاكهة غير المشتهاة ) لوالدته
شعرت بالملل من تكرار بعض الاحداث في الكتاب وأرهقتني قراءة بعض التفاصيل غير الضرورية فوجدت نفسي في كثير من اللحظات أتجاوزها
أحداث مشوقة عن أذية الأب للأم وأذية الأم للابن الذي صرح أكثر من مره انه (الفاكهة غير المشتهاة ) لوالدته
شعرت بالملل من تكرار بعض الاحداث في الكتاب وأرهقتني قراءة بعض التفاصيل غير الضرورية فوجدت نفسي في كثير من اللحظات أتجاوزها
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2018
Powerful and unique story telling method used to reveal the Lebanese culture and explain the impact of war on the population. Recommend this translation for any one interested in learning about the Middle East.
March 24, 2019
Complicated. It’s difficult to imagine living that life.
July 21, 2019
.كانت مجازفة وغلطة إني شريت أكثر من كتاب لمؤلف جديد , رشيد ضعيف تقريبا من أسوأ الكٌتاب الي قرأت لهم في حياتي , الكتاب لافيه مضمون أو حبكة ز ..
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December 17, 2021مونولوج غريييييب….
July 21, 2025
À bit of a story about nothing really ; I kept waiting for it to start. Interesting peep into Lebanese life and an idiosyncratic narrator, who is easy to dislike!
June 13, 2015
2.5. This was weird because there is no plot in the book, rather events before the book begins (the murder of the main character's father) drive forward much of the character's internal monologue. So, there are a lot of asides and stories and repeated thoughts, and it's like just looking into someone's mind, unfiltered.
I thought it was interesting how the description claims to be suspense-filled, and about the MC's tortured past; really, it was mostly about his mother, and to an extent his father, told through stories that he had overheard?? I think?? It gets a little confusing sometimes when he knows intimate details that you think a little boy wouldn't and shouldn't ought to know.
Regardless, it was a short read, so I'm just going to move on, really.
I thought it was interesting how the description claims to be suspense-filled, and about the MC's tortured past; really, it was mostly about his mother, and to an extent his father, told through stories that he had overheard?? I think?? It gets a little confusing sometimes when he knows intimate details that you think a little boy wouldn't and shouldn't ought to know.
Regardless, it was a short read, so I'm just going to move on, really.
September 18, 2008
What a surprise. I really wasn't expecting much ....but wow. It reminded me very much of The Stranger. At best, the book is peripherally concerned with learning the English language. Al-Daif takes one topic (the main character learns of his father's death by way of an obituary rather than from any sort of family contact) and expands it more than I ever thought possible. But haven't we all overanalyzed and second-guessed ourselves into oblivion before?
January 17, 2014
في اكثر من 160 صفحة حدثنا رشيد الضعيف على ما يجول بخاطره في بعض السويعات طارحا عديد الأسئلة عن ماهيته، أصوله، صحة نسبه لأبيه !!!!
رغم أن الراوي لم يتحرك من مكانه طوال الرواية ... إلا انه أخذنا بعيدا و حلق بنا في عوالم أخرى تجعلك تطرح نفس الأسئلة على ذاتك ...
يستحق الأربع نجوم ( تمنيت أن يكون غلاف الكتاب فيه بحث اكثر )
رغم أن الراوي لم يتحرك من مكانه طوال الرواية ... إلا انه أخذنا بعيدا و حلق بنا في عوالم أخرى تجعلك تطرح نفس الأسئلة على ذاتك ...
يستحق الأربع نجوم ( تمنيت أن يكون غلاف الكتاب فيه بحث اكثر )
May 12, 2012
لم تعجبني طريقة السرد ، والنفس الواحد الطويل في سرد الأحداث و التساؤلات والشكوك والظنون ! لكنها رواية لا بأس بها ..
September 12, 2012
شكّل رشيد البنية الفنية للرواية عن طريق تداعي الذكريات. فيقوم بتعرية النفس المدفونة في حطام الماضي
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews