Ali and His Russian Mother

by Alexandra Chreiteh, Michelle Hartman (Translator)

Alexandra Chreiteh's Ali and his Russian Mother is at once an ordinary and extraordinary story of two young people in Lebanon. At the outbreak of the July War in 2006, the novel's unnamed young protagonist reconnects with her childhood friend and develops a little crush on him, as they flee the bombs unleashed upon their country by Israel. Displaced, along with a million others across the country, she and her Russian mother have joined an evacuation for Russian citizens, when she again meets up with Ali, her former schoolmate from the South, who also has a Russian (Ukrainian) mother.

As the two friends reunite, chat, and bond during a harrowing bus caravan across the Syrian border to Lattakia, en route to Moscow, Chreiteh's unique, comic sense of the absurd speaks to contradictions faced by a young generation in Lebanon now, sounding out taboos surrounding gender, sexual, religious, and national identities. Carrying Russian passports like their mothers—both of whom married Lebanese men and settled there—they are forced to reflect upon their choices, and lack of them, in a country that is yet again being torn apart by violent conflict.

Like Chreiteh's acclaimed first novel, Always Coca-Cola, this story employs deceptively simple language and style to push the boundaries of what can be talked about in Arabic fiction. Again focused on the preoccupations of young people and their hopes for the future, Ali and his Russian Mother represents a fresh, daring voice in Arabic literature today.

Genres: Middle East

114 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Alexandra Chreiteh ألكسندرا شريتح is a Lebanese author known for her frank writing and portrayal barriers faced by Arab women.
Alexandra Chreiteh was raised in a religiously conservative region by her Russian mother and Lebanese father. Chreiteh completed her Bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon.
After being granted a graduate fellowship by Yale University, she began her PhD in Comparative Literature during the fall of 2009. While at Yale, Chreiteh has completed her Masters of Arts in Comparative Literature in 2012 as well as a Masters of Philosophy in Comparative Literature in 2013. She has also been teaching creative writing at Yale.

Reviews

[Natheir Malkawi · Rating 2 out of 5]

بقدر أأكد إني ما عمري قريت إشي زي هيك بحياتي. ساذجة؟ يمكن. يعني الرواية بتخلص وكأنها لسا ما بلشت. كلشي سريع: الأحداث سريعة، الانفعالات سريعة، التعريف بالشخصيات سريع، حتّى الحرب بالرواية سريعة (عندي تصوّر إنّه الحرب بالواقع بطيئة، بطيئة عالناس اللي بعيشوها)، كل إشي خلّص وأنا لسا ما فهمت إشي. لو لقيت "دايمًا كوكاكولا" يومًا ما فأكيد رح أقرأها، بس ما بعرف ليش تحديدًا.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy Alexandra Chreiteh’s fiction- even in translation the the crispness and humour of her writing comes through, and Michelle Hartman’s translation is predictably excellent (both the author and translator’s afterwords are well-worth reading). It’s refreshing to read Lebanese fiction that isn’t so dominated by the spectre of the civil war, and conveys the mundane aspects of living in a war zone so realistically. This is a very concise novel, but the examination of Ali’s identity as a gay man of mixed Russian Lebanese background is an welcome look at marginalised identity in contemporary Lebanon (and not heavy-handed like some Arabic fiction containing Jewish or queer characters can be). I highly recommend reading Nadine Sinno’s (2017) ‘Crushing the Bones of the Other: Disability, Ethnicity, and Homosexuality in Rashid Al-Daif’s Sikirida’s Cat and Alexandra Chreiteh’s Ali and His Russian Mother’, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 258-275. It’s a very useful accompaniment.

[Islam · Rating 3 out of 5]

ألكسندرا شريتح لديها طاقة حكى رائعة لا تشعر بالملل أثناء القراءة، بالعكس كنت أتمنى أن تستمر أكثر ولا تنتهى سريعا، قرأت الرواياتان فى جلسة واحدة وأعتقد أن ألكسندرا لديها المزيد لتقوله، أنتظر مزيدها

[Barbara Benini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stupendo, questa scrittrice ha la capacità di parlare di argomenti difficili come la guerra, l’omofobia e l’odio per il nemico, in questo caso gli israeliani che stanno bombardando il Libano, con un umorismo e un sarcasmo che rendono questo romanzo un piccolo capolavoro.

[Teacher · Rating 1 out of 5]

100 pages of nothing. I kept waiting for "the story". I understand that this is a story about not belonging, at which I guess it succeeds. Overall, it is an account of crass, value-less people in a moment of crisis. The crisis magnifies their vacuous, filthy personalities. Don't waste your time on this book.

[Hawraki · Rating 1 out of 5]

أقل من ما توّقعت، ليست على جمال الملخص أو فكرة الغلاف