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Bullet, Paper, Rock: A Memoir of Words and Wars
A story of survival, and a meditation on desire and loss, language and violence
In Abbas El-Zein's new memoir, conflicts abound -- either tragic or amusing, sometimes both -- between teachers and students, left- and right-wing factions, civilians and militiamen and, not least, French and Arabic, two languages vying for primacy in the post-colonial worlds of Beirut and the Levant, with English coming fast from behind.
By the time he graduated from high school, El-Zein had nearly drowned in the Mediterranean, survived the breakout of civil war and lived through the violent death of two close family members. He witnessed Syrian and Israeli soldiers invade his country and, from his bedroom balcony, saw the mushroom cloud of the explosion that killed hundreds of American and French marines. But while war and tragedy struck every now and then, everyday life continued unabated, rich with humour, serendipity and love of many kinds.
Bullet Paper Rock is a story of survival, and a meditation on desire and loss, language and violence. It is at once a requiem for a Levantine past gone sour -- from the innocent 1970s, through September 11 and its aftermath, to the cataclysms of the Arab Spring -- and a tribute to women of his family -- 'weavers whose fabric of choice is hope, they were hard at work, at night as in daytime, carving out viable lives, ones in which they loved and were loved aplenty'.
In Abbas El-Zein's new memoir, conflicts abound -- either tragic or amusing, sometimes both -- between teachers and students, left- and right-wing factions, civilians and militiamen and, not least, French and Arabic, two languages vying for primacy in the post-colonial worlds of Beirut and the Levant, with English coming fast from behind.
By the time he graduated from high school, El-Zein had nearly drowned in the Mediterranean, survived the breakout of civil war and lived through the violent death of two close family members. He witnessed Syrian and Israeli soldiers invade his country and, from his bedroom balcony, saw the mushroom cloud of the explosion that killed hundreds of American and French marines. But while war and tragedy struck every now and then, everyday life continued unabated, rich with humour, serendipity and love of many kinds.
Bullet Paper Rock is a story of survival, and a meditation on desire and loss, language and violence. It is at once a requiem for a Levantine past gone sour -- from the innocent 1970s, through September 11 and its aftermath, to the cataclysms of the Arab Spring -- and a tribute to women of his family -- 'weavers whose fabric of choice is hope, they were hard at work, at night as in daytime, carving out viable lives, ones in which they loved and were loved aplenty'.
247 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 3, 2024
5 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Abbas El-Zein
7 books6 followersAbbas 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 15, 2024
Book rec:
Bullet Paper Rock
by Abbas El-Zein
I finished reading this memoir a few weeks ago and I keep thinking about it. Weaving history, art, politics, literature and life, it won the recent UQ Non-Fiction Book Award in the 2024 QLD Literary Awards.
The author, an environmental science professor who was born in Lebanon and now lives in Australia, takes us inside gracious Beirut apartments with French doors and chandeliers, green velvet couches and rose-coloured floors. We see a mother and her son drinking coffee at dawn on a narrow veranda overlooking the quiet streets of Beirut as the city slowly wakes up. A taxi driver runs into a small village shop in the hills to buy the honey and cream cheese that the area is famous for while the author remains in the car, overwhelmed with the thoughts and emotions of returning home.
Writers especially will enjoy the prose: it's a love letter to language, a meditation on the riches and absences in different languages, the 'oceanic ebbs and flows in the span of single words' from Aboriginal Languages and the idea that the English language lacks the capacity to fully understand the land of Australia. I didn't know there are 25-100 different words for love in Arabic.
The author shares the ancient books and stories that are passed from parents to children, how these shaped his thinking, and how witnessing war and political upheaval shaped the minds of members of his family. Back in 1978 Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets written in poor Arabic telling civilians to leave their homes. We see this now on our phones and the repetitiveness is staggering. The author offers observations that give the reader food for thought, such as the way films like Munich mythologise Israeli war crimes; and the colonising effects of European fascination with Islamic and Arabic literature.
But overall, this is a memoir about love, loss and longing. The message is one of hope and love. Humans have an endless capacity for hope in the face of incomprehensible loss and devastation. That’s staggering and heart wrenching in itself.
An exquisite, beautiful and complex memoir. I intend to read it again, it's the kind you want to savour.
Bullet Paper Rock
by Abbas El-Zein
I finished reading this memoir a few weeks ago and I keep thinking about it. Weaving history, art, politics, literature and life, it won the recent UQ Non-Fiction Book Award in the 2024 QLD Literary Awards.
The author, an environmental science professor who was born in Lebanon and now lives in Australia, takes us inside gracious Beirut apartments with French doors and chandeliers, green velvet couches and rose-coloured floors. We see a mother and her son drinking coffee at dawn on a narrow veranda overlooking the quiet streets of Beirut as the city slowly wakes up. A taxi driver runs into a small village shop in the hills to buy the honey and cream cheese that the area is famous for while the author remains in the car, overwhelmed with the thoughts and emotions of returning home.
Writers especially will enjoy the prose: it's a love letter to language, a meditation on the riches and absences in different languages, the 'oceanic ebbs and flows in the span of single words' from Aboriginal Languages and the idea that the English language lacks the capacity to fully understand the land of Australia. I didn't know there are 25-100 different words for love in Arabic.
The author shares the ancient books and stories that are passed from parents to children, how these shaped his thinking, and how witnessing war and political upheaval shaped the minds of members of his family. Back in 1978 Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets written in poor Arabic telling civilians to leave their homes. We see this now on our phones and the repetitiveness is staggering. The author offers observations that give the reader food for thought, such as the way films like Munich mythologise Israeli war crimes; and the colonising effects of European fascination with Islamic and Arabic literature.
But overall, this is a memoir about love, loss and longing. The message is one of hope and love. Humans have an endless capacity for hope in the face of incomprehensible loss and devastation. That’s staggering and heart wrenching in itself.
An exquisite, beautiful and complex memoir. I intend to read it again, it's the kind you want to savour.
November 21, 2024
This book is a jewel. I love the author's writing, the reference to Arabic language as well as French and English, as well as how he managed to keep such a light, gentle tone when describing his youth in a city that was constantly besieged by external and internal violence. I felt so grateful to him after reading his book for showing not just the violence but also the life of those people who had to endure the hardship of war and live a normal life at the same time, capturing and remembering the mundane, small joys and tenderness... I enjoyed the joy and love for his language and how he managed to rightly associate Arabic to a complex and beautiful language not just the language of terrorism. We need more authors like this.
May 15, 2024
Bullet Paper Rock -A Memoir of Words and War by Abbas El-Zein is a memoir written with a light touch and humour. It is also a memoir of tragedy. But, most of all, 'Bullet Paper Rock is a story of survival, and a mediation on desire and loss, language and violence.' I will definitely read it more than once. It's a keeper on my bookshelf.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
November 3, 2024
A beautifully written memoir that's less about the author himself and more about the world he's lived in. It's a book about politics, history, language and philosophy.
January 22, 2025
loved this and a really lovely blend of historical accounts and memoir. made me yearn for land of my ancestry!! also i love linguistics.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews