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The Clothesline Swing
Inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, Ahmad Danny Ramadan’s innovative and poetic debut novel tells the story of two lovers anchored to the memory of a dying Syria. One is Hakawati, the storyteller, keeping life in forward motion by relaying remembered fables and incidents from their youth to his dying partner. Each night he spins stories of a Damascus childhood, of leaving home, of persecution and hardship, and of his fated meeting with his lover. Meanwhile, Death himself, in his dark cloak, shares the house with the two men, eavesdropping on their secrets as he awaits their final undoing.
249 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 10, 2017
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2125 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 191 reviews
July 5, 2017
5 enthusiastic stars for this outstanding debut novel. I don’t know what sort of alchemy brought this small-press novel to the shelves of my local library, nor do I understand the lucky chance that made me pick it up and read the description, but I feel absolutely blessed that it fell into my hands. I knew I would love it from its very first line, "The sweetest kisses are the ones we share in forbidden places."
This novel is a beautiful look into what it means to be a refugee on so many levels – from country, from family, even from “the norm.” Ramadan’s characters are estranged from others, but he allows us to look into their souls and see the immense beauty of their lives.
Within a few pages, this novel’s soul resided in my own. I loved the stories within the larger story which helped to reveal the characters and the themes. As these two lovers face their own mortality, the stories take us backward, into Syria and Turkey and Egypt, into places where people live on the edge of physical and emotional death constantly.
But it’s never maudlin. There is humor and pace and oh, so much beauty. The brilliance of this book lies in the lyrical writing. "My kingdom wavers between the realm of imagination and the world of reality." Ramadan strikes this balance perfectly as I found myself anticipating the next fairytale, while simultaneously savoring the “real-time” love story.
And, ultimately, Ramadan offers the best explanation I’ve read for why I appreciate authors who leave ambiguous endings – “We give to art as much as it gives to us...we complete the missing pieces left by true artists with pieces of ourselves.”
I cannot say enough wonderful things about this book. I can only hope that Ahmad Danny Ramadan is hard at work on another book.
This novel is a beautiful look into what it means to be a refugee on so many levels – from country, from family, even from “the norm.” Ramadan’s characters are estranged from others, but he allows us to look into their souls and see the immense beauty of their lives.
"I felt that our souls had been tangled for too long, then suddenly stretched apart until they broke. I didn't know which pieces of my soul were left within you, and I felt strange pieces of your soul residing within my own."
Within a few pages, this novel’s soul resided in my own. I loved the stories within the larger story which helped to reveal the characters and the themes. As these two lovers face their own mortality, the stories take us backward, into Syria and Turkey and Egypt, into places where people live on the edge of physical and emotional death constantly.
But it’s never maudlin. There is humor and pace and oh, so much beauty. The brilliance of this book lies in the lyrical writing. "My kingdom wavers between the realm of imagination and the world of reality." Ramadan strikes this balance perfectly as I found myself anticipating the next fairytale, while simultaneously savoring the “real-time” love story.
“For me, my memories are glass jars I squeeze endlessly but can't open. You take them from me, and suddenly they pour their goods out for us to taste."
And, ultimately, Ramadan offers the best explanation I’ve read for why I appreciate authors who leave ambiguous endings – “We give to art as much as it gives to us...we complete the missing pieces left by true artists with pieces of ourselves.”
I cannot say enough wonderful things about this book. I can only hope that Ahmad Danny Ramadan is hard at work on another book.
December 1, 2019
When Hakawati told his father he was gay the reaction was extreme. Well, this was mid 20th Century Damascus so the backlash was, perhaps, predictable. We learn that in time Hakawati escaped the country of his birth with his lover and they eventually found their way to Canada. We catch up with them when they are in their eighties and are preparing for the end of their lives. There are, essentially, three characters here: Hakawati, his lover (who is gravely ill) and Death, who lingers in the shadows. We are to learn much more of what happened in the intervening years as this story plays out.
The prose is beautiful but the messages are, for the most part, dark ones. We hear of Hakawati’s deranged, knife wielding mother and of a beating meted out on him by his friends when they learned of his sexuality. The lovers split and then re-unite as they struggle to come to terms with their new life in this strange Western country. Hakawati’s tells stories to his lover and lives in dread of being left alone. It’s bleak stuff, occasionally off-set by more uplifting stories from the past.
There is undoubtedly a large slice of the author’s life and experiences in this book and it certainly shows him to be a gifted writer who can pack a punch. But, to me, the virtually unremitting darkness of this tale made it hard going and I struggled through large sections of it. It will, I’m sure, find an audience – it’s already won a literary prize following its publication in Canada – and I wish it well, but it isn’t a book that will linger long in the memory for me.
My thanks to The Indigo Press for supplying a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The prose is beautiful but the messages are, for the most part, dark ones. We hear of Hakawati’s deranged, knife wielding mother and of a beating meted out on him by his friends when they learned of his sexuality. The lovers split and then re-unite as they struggle to come to terms with their new life in this strange Western country. Hakawati’s tells stories to his lover and lives in dread of being left alone. It’s bleak stuff, occasionally off-set by more uplifting stories from the past.
There is undoubtedly a large slice of the author’s life and experiences in this book and it certainly shows him to be a gifted writer who can pack a punch. But, to me, the virtually unremitting darkness of this tale made it hard going and I struggled through large sections of it. It will, I’m sure, find an audience – it’s already won a literary prize following its publication in Canada – and I wish it well, but it isn’t a book that will linger long in the memory for me.
My thanks to The Indigo Press for supplying a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
December 22, 2017
A poetic, elegiac first novel about an elderly gay Syrian man looking back on his life and telling stories while his partner is dying. The timeless, fairy tale feel of the stories he tells particularly reminded me of Helen Oyeyemi. Although dark at times (content includes suicide, mental illness, gay-bashing, sexual assault), the book is ultimately life-affirming as well as healing, for both the author and readers. Full review on my blog!
June 17, 2018
A heartbreakingly beautiful story (apparently a fictionalized account of parts of the author's life) of a gay man living as a Syrian refugee in Vancouver. The format of "Tell me a story" works as well as it does for scheherazade: I eagerly listened to each and waited impatiently for the next.
Ramadan tells the story of a lost country, lost to dictators and war, the beauty of a city (Damascus) turned into rubble. Against this political story, is also the story of the struggle for acceptance as a gay man in a culture hostile to his very being. And within that story is yet another: the story of his immediate family, the mother lost to insanity and the need to escape her. Always there is a yearning to find a better way. At one point, the author suggests someone is talking about nostalgia and is told that no, nostalgia is not always a happy feeling, the feeling in question is the ability to lose oneself in a purely happy moment.
But there are few such moments here. But amidst much pain and suffering, there is love and beauty. As well as friendship and ordinary pleasures. A community of people, many cast out from their family, finding comfort with each other against a background of horror and death and destruction.
The narrator talks with Death, a character in this moving story, fighting for the life of his lover. It's a battle we know that he'll ultimately lose, of course. But the stories he tells to buy time are endlessly interesting and engaging and haunted by the spectre of final loss.
A beautiful book.
Ramadan tells the story of a lost country, lost to dictators and war, the beauty of a city (Damascus) turned into rubble. Against this political story, is also the story of the struggle for acceptance as a gay man in a culture hostile to his very being. And within that story is yet another: the story of his immediate family, the mother lost to insanity and the need to escape her. Always there is a yearning to find a better way. At one point, the author suggests someone is talking about nostalgia and is told that no, nostalgia is not always a happy feeling, the feeling in question is the ability to lose oneself in a purely happy moment.
But there are few such moments here. But amidst much pain and suffering, there is love and beauty. As well as friendship and ordinary pleasures. A community of people, many cast out from their family, finding comfort with each other against a background of horror and death and destruction.
The narrator talks with Death, a character in this moving story, fighting for the life of his lover. It's a battle we know that he'll ultimately lose, of course. But the stories he tells to buy time are endlessly interesting and engaging and haunted by the spectre of final loss.
A beautiful book.
June 12, 2018
I can't imagine that Ahmad Danny Ramadan has never heard about Rabih Alameddine. Very spontaneously, I would say that the works of Rabih Alameddine inspired Ahmad Danny Ramadan for his very touching debut novel.
Beautifully written, heart-wrenching novel, an emotional mosaic out of memory fragments, a lyrical and very evocative prose.
September 24, 2023
⭐💀📝𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒞𝓁𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒮𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑔📝❤️🔥🌇
Hakawati tells stories to his dying partner several years later, after they left their home in Damascus. Still, the two ache for their old home, their old friends, and their love that has changed since then. Suddenly, their passionate love was transformed into a hesitance, a darkness that enshrouds both in its grasp. Death accompanies Hakawati in life, listening to his stories and waiting for Hakawati's partner's death to come. Then begins a story about an artist who was forced to be silenced, a little mermaid who meets a sailor, a woman who commits suicide, and more. The Clothesline Swing is an important novel that depicts the struggle for love when it cannot be freely given.
"The sweetest kisses are the ones we share in forbidden places."
The Clothesline Swing is a soul-crushing, devastating look at the cruelty of love, and inevitable fate of death. I got to watch Danny Ramadan speak once at a book camp and I was instantly intrigued to read the story he had to offer. I was shocked by how much I fell in love with this story. In just a couple chapters I felt my heart feel as though it was instantly heavier. This story is the type that will make you feel as though you have more burdens. I was invested from the start, feeling myself immersed in the story.
"That smile, that beautiful, deep, unbearably sweet smile that breaks through layers upon layers of protective iron around your soul, that smile is what made me ask you to come with me to Mount Qasioun, what made me kiss you, what made me fall in love with you while we navigated a city engulfed by war."
The pages of this book chronicle the lives of Hakawati, Death, and his lover, all of whom struggle with their own bitterness. There is something so painful about seeing Hakawati's life through his stories, and the writing only complements this tone. The whole time, the book refers to his lover as "You" something that makes it feel all the more personal and direct. Watching Hakawati's lover drift away as he spends time in darkness makes everything hurt—because I see the transformation from a motivated lover to a man who is disconnected.
"When I was a boy I used to write stories to save my own life; now I'm telling you stories to save yours. You open your eyes; you're awake. You lift your body, you turn on the light and look at me. "Tell me a story," you say."
The romance was one of the most heartbreaking and complex I had ever seen. It shows how Hakawati and his lover moved away due to several factors. A way to describe the overall tone of the story would be: a yearning hunger for everything that never happened and everything a person never did. There is such pain written in the way that several characters longed for love from people who did not love them in the way they deserved to be loved.
"They don't feel like stories of mine; these are the stories of other men who lived them instead of me. Every stage of my life feels like a story of a different man, each one a man I don't know well. A man I don't understand anymore."
Regret is a thorn in a person's side. Guilt is a fire that eats at the mind and heart. Both are prominent feelings that our protagonist feels, which is evident. The writing was absolutely beautiful. Every single word was decorated with such gorgeous words. Every emotion was explained in such a way that it was really easy to feel as though those emotions spoke to me. My heart-💔
This book sort of destroyed me in a way no other book has. The romance had me shaken greatly by the emotional impact it had on me. This book had me in a vise-like grip as I found myself immersed in everything. I loved the side characters as well, which had fantastic characters.
"His pain started to fade away from his body. He couldn't feel it anymore. I became his hurt locker; I became his vessel of sorrow. He started to lose his grip on reality. While I remained behind, taking blows, he slipped into his fantasies."
The incorporation of Death added to the lyricism of the story. Death was like a companion that watched over the two of them, like a long-lost friend. The ending was everything I didn't want to happen, but not in a bad sense . . . I just honestly hoped the ending would be happy. It was, in its own way. The ending was beautiful, profound, dark, and moving. In conclusion, I recommend this to everyone and anyone with that in mind that this will be a dark book.
"He asked me, while darkness was coming over me, if I was ready to let all of this go and disappear with him into the unknown. I wasn't. "You're not telling the stories to keep him alive," he told me. "You are telling the stories because you don't want to face life without him."
☑️PLOT
☑️CHARACTERS
Quotes
"Am I in love with you, or the voyage of discovering you? Am I addicted to the emotional puzzle you place before my heart? Have I filled all the missing pieces with accurate representations of you, or was I painting the missing colors from my own canvas?"
___________________________________
"You toy with my emotions. You take me to your darkness with swift sentence, then pull me to your sunny light with a gesture. Like a fool, I follow. I'm hopelessly attached to your enigmatic love. The fact that I was your first love remains a sign of danger that glows red in the corner of my mind —even now, after a million years together. I worry that I'm imprinting upon you. I worry that I'm stealing you from your destiny to meet someone else.
Did I fail you? Was I supposed to work harder, to make you happier? Was I supposed to let you slip away from my complex history and my own burdens? Maybe if I did, someone else would have brought you happiness I couldn't. Maybe if I did, you wouldn't be dying, tumbling away away from me as we speak."
___________________________________
"Honestly, I couldn't look you in the eyes without falling in love with you once more. I couldn't stand being so close to you without calling you mine."
___________________________________
"He broke up with me because he couldn't handle my pain, while I was there for his." I hated you. All the photos of us I saw on Facebook were blaming me for trusting you. All the poems I wrote for you felt like unattached words, divorcing each other and walking in different directions."
___________________________________
"You loved him because he loved you like your mother never did, he accepted you like your father never did," she pointed out. "You loved him because you are addicted to finding his love for you between the layers of his silence. Sometimes, you could see the true love. Sometimes, it was just your own imagination."
___________________________________
"I offer you souvenirs: my stories, the pieces of my soul to help you sleep. I twist them and burn them. I turn them into an unrecognizable fable to amuse you, you catch me in the middle of my sentences, you see the truth behind my tales, and you pull it through the lines of my stories, like pulling a charred photograph from the ashes of fire."
___________________________________
"I loved people for so long before us, but as you get broken so many times because you love, you harden, you become resilient to falling in love again," you tell me. "I wish you could have lived with me in the land of the living, away from your monsters and your demons."
___________________________________
Hakawati tells stories to his dying partner several years later, after they left their home in Damascus. Still, the two ache for their old home, their old friends, and their love that has changed since then. Suddenly, their passionate love was transformed into a hesitance, a darkness that enshrouds both in its grasp. Death accompanies Hakawati in life, listening to his stories and waiting for Hakawati's partner's death to come. Then begins a story about an artist who was forced to be silenced, a little mermaid who meets a sailor, a woman who commits suicide, and more. The Clothesline Swing is an important novel that depicts the struggle for love when it cannot be freely given.
"The sweetest kisses are the ones we share in forbidden places."
The Clothesline Swing is a soul-crushing, devastating look at the cruelty of love, and inevitable fate of death. I got to watch Danny Ramadan speak once at a book camp and I was instantly intrigued to read the story he had to offer. I was shocked by how much I fell in love with this story. In just a couple chapters I felt my heart feel as though it was instantly heavier. This story is the type that will make you feel as though you have more burdens. I was invested from the start, feeling myself immersed in the story.
"That smile, that beautiful, deep, unbearably sweet smile that breaks through layers upon layers of protective iron around your soul, that smile is what made me ask you to come with me to Mount Qasioun, what made me kiss you, what made me fall in love with you while we navigated a city engulfed by war."
The pages of this book chronicle the lives of Hakawati, Death, and his lover, all of whom struggle with their own bitterness. There is something so painful about seeing Hakawati's life through his stories, and the writing only complements this tone. The whole time, the book refers to his lover as "You" something that makes it feel all the more personal and direct. Watching Hakawati's lover drift away as he spends time in darkness makes everything hurt—because I see the transformation from a motivated lover to a man who is disconnected.
"When I was a boy I used to write stories to save my own life; now I'm telling you stories to save yours. You open your eyes; you're awake. You lift your body, you turn on the light and look at me. "Tell me a story," you say."
The romance was one of the most heartbreaking and complex I had ever seen. It shows how Hakawati and his lover moved away due to several factors. A way to describe the overall tone of the story would be: a yearning hunger for everything that never happened and everything a person never did. There is such pain written in the way that several characters longed for love from people who did not love them in the way they deserved to be loved.
"They don't feel like stories of mine; these are the stories of other men who lived them instead of me. Every stage of my life feels like a story of a different man, each one a man I don't know well. A man I don't understand anymore."
Regret is a thorn in a person's side. Guilt is a fire that eats at the mind and heart. Both are prominent feelings that our protagonist feels, which is evident. The writing was absolutely beautiful. Every single word was decorated with such gorgeous words. Every emotion was explained in such a way that it was really easy to feel as though those emotions spoke to me. My heart-💔
This book sort of destroyed me in a way no other book has. The romance had me shaken greatly by the emotional impact it had on me. This book had me in a vise-like grip as I found myself immersed in everything. I loved the side characters as well, which had fantastic characters.
"His pain started to fade away from his body. He couldn't feel it anymore. I became his hurt locker; I became his vessel of sorrow. He started to lose his grip on reality. While I remained behind, taking blows, he slipped into his fantasies."
The incorporation of Death added to the lyricism of the story. Death was like a companion that watched over the two of them, like a long-lost friend. The ending was everything I didn't want to happen, but not in a bad sense . . . I just honestly hoped the ending would be happy. It was, in its own way. The ending was beautiful, profound, dark, and moving. In conclusion, I recommend this to everyone and anyone with that in mind that this will be a dark book.
"He asked me, while darkness was coming over me, if I was ready to let all of this go and disappear with him into the unknown. I wasn't. "You're not telling the stories to keep him alive," he told me. "You are telling the stories because you don't want to face life without him."
☑️PLOT
☑️CHARACTERS
Quotes
"Am I in love with you, or the voyage of discovering you? Am I addicted to the emotional puzzle you place before my heart? Have I filled all the missing pieces with accurate representations of you, or was I painting the missing colors from my own canvas?"
___________________________________
"You toy with my emotions. You take me to your darkness with swift sentence, then pull me to your sunny light with a gesture. Like a fool, I follow. I'm hopelessly attached to your enigmatic love. The fact that I was your first love remains a sign of danger that glows red in the corner of my mind —even now, after a million years together. I worry that I'm imprinting upon you. I worry that I'm stealing you from your destiny to meet someone else.
Did I fail you? Was I supposed to work harder, to make you happier? Was I supposed to let you slip away from my complex history and my own burdens? Maybe if I did, someone else would have brought you happiness I couldn't. Maybe if I did, you wouldn't be dying, tumbling away away from me as we speak."
___________________________________
"Honestly, I couldn't look you in the eyes without falling in love with you once more. I couldn't stand being so close to you without calling you mine."
___________________________________
"He broke up with me because he couldn't handle my pain, while I was there for his." I hated you. All the photos of us I saw on Facebook were blaming me for trusting you. All the poems I wrote for you felt like unattached words, divorcing each other and walking in different directions."
___________________________________
"You loved him because he loved you like your mother never did, he accepted you like your father never did," she pointed out. "You loved him because you are addicted to finding his love for you between the layers of his silence. Sometimes, you could see the true love. Sometimes, it was just your own imagination."
___________________________________
"I offer you souvenirs: my stories, the pieces of my soul to help you sleep. I twist them and burn them. I turn them into an unrecognizable fable to amuse you, you catch me in the middle of my sentences, you see the truth behind my tales, and you pull it through the lines of my stories, like pulling a charred photograph from the ashes of fire."
___________________________________
"I loved people for so long before us, but as you get broken so many times because you love, you harden, you become resilient to falling in love again," you tell me. "I wish you could have lived with me in the land of the living, away from your monsters and your demons."
___________________________________
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August 4, 2023
Ich gebe zu: seitdem ich Teil der Bookstagram-Welt bin lasse ich mich gerne mal vom Neuerscheinungs-Fieber anstecken, dabei wissen wir ja eigentlich alle, dass sich die richtigen Juwelen oft abseits der Bestseller-Listen verstecken.
Eines dieser Schätzchen schlummerte seit Juni ’22 einen völlig unberechtigten Dornröschenschlaf in meinem Regal; da hat mir @frl.flitziliest nämlich „Die Wäscheleinen-Schaukel“ von Ahmad Danny Ramadan zum Geburtstag geschenkt. Übersetzt von Heide Horn und Christa Prummer-Lehmair, 2021 erschienen im Orlanda Verlag und zusätzlich auch in der schicken Ausgabe der Büchergilde erhältlich.
Die Wäscheleinen-Schaukel ist ein bewegender Roman, der mit seiner poetischen Sprache und tiefgründigen Charaktereindrücken fesselt. Die Geschichte entfaltet sich in der turbulenten Umgebung von Damaskus und erzählt die Reise zweier junger syrischer Flüchtlinge.
„Gekriegt“ hat mich Ramadan schon auf den ersten Seiten mit seinem Talent, Geschichten zu erzählen. Er versteht es meisterhaft, die psychologischen Auswirkungen von Krieg und Verlust darzustellen. Die eindringliche Schilderung der Sehnsucht nach Heimat und Geborgenheit ist mir direkt durch die Zeilen ins Blut übergegangen.
Die Wäscheleinen-Schaukel ist aber noch so viel mehr als „nur“ ein Flüchtlingsdrama; es ist eine queere Geschichte über Liebe, Hoffnung und die Kraft der Menschlichkeit. Ramadan spricht drängende Themen an, die über Ländergrenzen hinausreichen.
Wenn sein Erzähler im hohen Alter von über 80 Jahren am Bett seines sterbenden Partners sitzt und Zwiegespräche mit dem Tod führt, ist das nicht nur sehr berührend, sondern in erster Linie auch ein sehr kreatives Erzählkonzept, das für mich voll aufgegangen ist. Ramadans Protagonist erzählt seinem Partner Geschichten, um ihn am Leben und den Tod noch etwas länger auf Distanz zu halten.
Der Schmerz und die Liebe sind dabei so spürbar, dass ich entgegen all meiner Gewohnheiten sogar zum Stift gegriffen habe, um mir besonders schöne Formulierungen zu markieren (großes Lob an die beiden Übersetzerinnen).
Eine Hommage an die Stärke des menschlichen Geistes und ein aufrüttelndes Plädoyer für Mitgefühl und Solidarität 🖤
Eines dieser Schätzchen schlummerte seit Juni ’22 einen völlig unberechtigten Dornröschenschlaf in meinem Regal; da hat mir @frl.flitziliest nämlich „Die Wäscheleinen-Schaukel“ von Ahmad Danny Ramadan zum Geburtstag geschenkt. Übersetzt von Heide Horn und Christa Prummer-Lehmair, 2021 erschienen im Orlanda Verlag und zusätzlich auch in der schicken Ausgabe der Büchergilde erhältlich.
Die Wäscheleinen-Schaukel ist ein bewegender Roman, der mit seiner poetischen Sprache und tiefgründigen Charaktereindrücken fesselt. Die Geschichte entfaltet sich in der turbulenten Umgebung von Damaskus und erzählt die Reise zweier junger syrischer Flüchtlinge.
„Gekriegt“ hat mich Ramadan schon auf den ersten Seiten mit seinem Talent, Geschichten zu erzählen. Er versteht es meisterhaft, die psychologischen Auswirkungen von Krieg und Verlust darzustellen. Die eindringliche Schilderung der Sehnsucht nach Heimat und Geborgenheit ist mir direkt durch die Zeilen ins Blut übergegangen.
Die Wäscheleinen-Schaukel ist aber noch so viel mehr als „nur“ ein Flüchtlingsdrama; es ist eine queere Geschichte über Liebe, Hoffnung und die Kraft der Menschlichkeit. Ramadan spricht drängende Themen an, die über Ländergrenzen hinausreichen.
Wenn sein Erzähler im hohen Alter von über 80 Jahren am Bett seines sterbenden Partners sitzt und Zwiegespräche mit dem Tod führt, ist das nicht nur sehr berührend, sondern in erster Linie auch ein sehr kreatives Erzählkonzept, das für mich voll aufgegangen ist. Ramadans Protagonist erzählt seinem Partner Geschichten, um ihn am Leben und den Tod noch etwas länger auf Distanz zu halten.
Der Schmerz und die Liebe sind dabei so spürbar, dass ich entgegen all meiner Gewohnheiten sogar zum Stift gegriffen habe, um mir besonders schöne Formulierungen zu markieren (großes Lob an die beiden Übersetzerinnen).
Eine Hommage an die Stärke des menschlichen Geistes und ein aufrüttelndes Plädoyer für Mitgefühl und Solidarität 🖤
April 18, 2020
'Saudade is the enjoyment of remembering, a feeling that comes to you when you remember things from your past and feel good about them.'
Review to follow.
Review to follow.
March 7, 2018
הגיבור ששמו האמיתי לא ידוע ומכונה בכינוי מספר הסיפורים, מספר לאהובו שנמצא על ערש דווי זיכרונות של חיים שלמים מסוריה הרחוקה.
השניים היגרו לוונקובר ב 2012 והספר כביכול מתרחש 40 שנים לאחר מכן.
כבר עכשיו אני יכולה לכתוב בוודאות שאני לא נהנית מקריאת הספר. לא נראה לי שזה הולך להשתנות במחצית השניה של הספר כי עד כה הפרקים מסופרים בסגנון די אחיד.
לא ציפיתי, אפילו לא בחלומות שלי, שהספר יהיה רווי תיאורי סקס, חלקם בוטים אפילו לז'אנרים מוצהרים שזו מטרתם - להביא את הגיבורים לסקס סוער. נכון, הספר גם רווי תיאורי כמיהה, אהבה, חמלה וזיכרונות כואבים. יתכן שהוא גם קצת יותר מידי מלודרמטי. אבל על כל אלה מאפילים תיאורי הסקס בין גברים, שנמצאים בכל פרק ופרק. החידוש כבר מזמן מיצה את עצמו ואני כבר מרגישה קצרת רוח ומאיסות מהתיאורים האלה. אפילו בפרק בו הוא מתאר את הפרידה הכואבת שהם חוו, משובץ תיאור סקס של הגיבור בשירותים עם גבר מזדמן. אני לא מבינה, במה התיאור הזה בכלל מקדם את ההבנה של הקורא את הפרק? הפרק לא היה שלם ונוגע ללב בלי התיאור הסתמי הזה? פיסקה שצריך לתקוע לקורא בעין כדי שלא ישכח שהמספר הוא לא רק מוסלמי, ממדינה נחשלת אלא הוא גם הומו.
אני גם לא מצליחה לרדת לשורש ההתפייטות והמלודרמטיות של חלק מהפרקים. מלודרמטיות זה understatment.
פעם, גם בתקופתי, ילדים קיבלו עונשים משמעותיים. ילדים גם חטפו מכות מההורים שלהם. כבוד הילד וחירותו הגיעו לארץ עם קדמן וההורים איבדו את הסמכות ההורית והפכו לחברים של הילדים שלהם רק בעשור האחרון.
פעם לא היה צריך לגדול במדינה נחשלת עם הורים לא נאורים שלא לאמר בורים וחשוכים כדי לחטוף. לא צריך להיות הומו כדי שאבא שלך יפרק לך את הצורה. נכון עצם העובדה שאתה הומו לא מצדיקה את האלימות הברוטלית של האב. אבל זו היתה נורמת ההתנהגות, זה לא משהו שהפתיע אותי ולא ציפיתי לקרוא שאביו חיבק אותו וקיבל אותו כמו שהוא. כן הפתיעה אותי הדרמטיזציה שמטביעה את העובדה שהיחידה הנאורה במשפחה שהיתה מוכנה גם לעזור לילד היתה סבתא שלו.
וכך חלק מהמסרים של הספר הולכים לאיבוד בגלל הרעש שמסביב לעלילה המרכזית.
לא אהבתי את הספר. אבל אני יכולה להעריך את הפואטיות שבחלק מהקטעים שבו ולכן 2 כוכבים.
השניים היגרו לוונקובר ב 2012 והספר כביכול מתרחש 40 שנים לאחר מכן.
כבר עכשיו אני יכולה לכתוב בוודאות שאני לא נהנית מקריאת הספר. לא נראה לי שזה הולך להשתנות במחצית השניה של הספר כי עד כה הפרקים מסופרים בסגנון די אחיד.
לא ציפיתי, אפילו לא בחלומות שלי, שהספר יהיה רווי תיאורי סקס, חלקם בוטים אפילו לז'אנרים מוצהרים שזו מטרתם - להביא את הגיבורים לסקס סוער. נכון, הספר גם רווי תיאורי כמיהה, אהבה, חמלה וזיכרונות כואבים. יתכן שהוא גם קצת יותר מידי מלודרמטי. אבל על כל אלה מאפילים תיאורי הסקס בין גברים, שנמצאים בכל פרק ופרק. החידוש כבר מזמן מיצה את עצמו ואני כבר מרגישה קצרת רוח ומאיסות מהתיאורים האלה. אפילו בפרק בו הוא מתאר את הפרידה הכואבת שהם חוו, משובץ תיאור סקס של הגיבור בשירותים עם גבר מזדמן. אני לא מבינה, במה התיאור הזה בכלל מקדם את ההבנה של הקורא את הפרק? הפרק לא היה שלם ונוגע ללב בלי התיאור הסתמי הזה? פיסקה שצריך לתקוע לקורא בעין כדי שלא ישכח שהמספר הוא לא רק מוסלמי, ממדינה נחשלת אלא הוא גם הומו.
אני גם לא מצליחה לרדת לשורש ההתפייטות והמלודרמטיות של חלק מהפרקים. מלודרמטיות זה understatment.
פעם, גם בתקופתי, ילדים קיבלו עונשים משמעותיים. ילדים גם חטפו מכות מההורים שלהם. כבוד הילד וחירותו הגיעו לארץ עם קדמן וההורים איבדו את הסמכות ההורית והפכו לחברים של הילדים שלהם רק בעשור האחרון.
פעם לא היה צריך לגדול במדינה נחשלת עם הורים לא נאורים שלא לאמר בורים וחשוכים כדי לחטוף. לא צריך להיות הומו כדי שאבא שלך יפרק לך את הצורה. נכון עצם העובדה שאתה הומו לא מצדיקה את האלימות הברוטלית של האב. אבל זו היתה נורמת ההתנהגות, זה לא משהו שהפתיע אותי ולא ציפיתי לקרוא שאביו חיבק אותו וקיבל אותו כמו שהוא. כן הפתיעה אותי הדרמטיזציה שמטביעה את העובדה שהיחידה הנאורה במשפחה שהיתה מוכנה גם לעזור לילד היתה סבתא שלו.
וכך חלק מהמסרים של הספר הולכים לאיבוד בגלל הרעש שמסביב לעלילה המרכזית.
לא אהבתי את הספר. אבל אני יכולה להעריך את הפואטיות שבחלק מהקטעים שבו ולכן 2 כוכבים.
January 12, 2018
Tell me a story, please.....
This is a continuous echo in this 'story'. Our unnamed narrator's companion continuously asks him to tell him a story, and another one and another one. Because the stories create a tangible link between them, it staves of pain, fear, anger, gives them time to rest, to heal and also to know each other more intimately. Because each story is really made up of what the story teller tells you and how you hear it (or read it in our case), our own personal filter matters. The story I hear, is not the story you hear even though we hear the same words. That is what I mean when I say they get to know each other more intimately because through a life time of stories between them, they have given each other bits and pieces of their intimate selves, like little, tiny mosaic pieces trying to form a whole. Bit by bit we get to know each other by the stories we tell and how we hear them and what they make us feel. As you can see Ramadan has created something intimate which is so intrinsic to us here at this site. We too continuously beg our authors, our books, tell me a story and they do and then we talk about it here. And the chain continuous and we get to know ourselves and each other and our world a little better.
So yes please Mr Ramadan, tell us a story, another one please.............
This books satisfies prompt 10 of my 2018 reading challenge - a book about death or grief A link to my reading list challenge 2018
This is a continuous echo in this 'story'. Our unnamed narrator's companion continuously asks him to tell him a story, and another one and another one. Because the stories create a tangible link between them, it staves of pain, fear, anger, gives them time to rest, to heal and also to know each other more intimately. Because each story is really made up of what the story teller tells you and how you hear it (or read it in our case), our own personal filter matters. The story I hear, is not the story you hear even though we hear the same words. That is what I mean when I say they get to know each other more intimately because through a life time of stories between them, they have given each other bits and pieces of their intimate selves, like little, tiny mosaic pieces trying to form a whole. Bit by bit we get to know each other by the stories we tell and how we hear them and what they make us feel. As you can see Ramadan has created something intimate which is so intrinsic to us here at this site. We too continuously beg our authors, our books, tell me a story and they do and then we talk about it here. And the chain continuous and we get to know ourselves and each other and our world a little better.
So yes please Mr Ramadan, tell us a story, another one please.............
This books satisfies prompt 10 of my 2018 reading challenge - a book about death or grief A link to my reading list challenge 2018
January 1, 2018
Beautifully written and deeply moving story of love and war and fairy tales in modern Syria and future Canada.
Also, the hero is a fellow geek, which made me love him even more.
Also, the hero is a fellow geek, which made me love him even more.
March 8, 2018
This reads like a collection of short stories, which was unexpected. I felt the narration jumped around a lot ...going back and forth in time, told by different characters. It was confusing for the most part. But I soldiered on and thought it was okay.
This was one of those books you can't fly through, or you'll miss everything. I don't think his writing style is for me. However, the prose is stunning. Every line was done with finesse. It read like poetry. It was just the structure I couldn't get with. Since there were so many sub-plots it was hard for me to connect with any of the characters on a deeper level, and I felt the fables were a distraction from the stories. But I did like the educational value that the story provided. I found the Syria civil war conflict interesting.
The story is about a nameless gay Canadian-Syrian man who takes care of his dying lover. Meanwhile he's struggling to come to terms with his past where he was abused and discriminated against during a tumultuous time in Syria. He ruminates over his estranged mother trying to put sense to their broken relationship while adapting to a strange, new, culture.
Overall, the novel was bleak. There were a lot of killings and emotional abuse. There was very little romance, which I wish there was more of. The ending was bittersweet, yet satisfying.
Do I recommend it? Yes. If you like issues dealing with Syria and the Middle East. Reading this novel reminded me of Guapa by Saleem Haddad and Tears of the Desert by Halima Bashir...It also has a Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison feel. This would make a great book club discussion, a lot to analyse.
February 7, 2018
Every once in a while a book comes along that feels so personal, that the authour has laid so much bare, the it's beyond review; that was my experience with this book. In reading The Clothesline Swing, I couldn't help but feel that I was taking a peek into Ahmad Danny Ramadan's life in Syria that was never meant to be for me, but that he felt compelled to share. I don't know how much of this book is true or what was embellished, but it's clear that these stories were inspired by truths: in his acknowledgements, Ramadan thanks those who have shared their "happiness and sorrow" with him. I highly recommend watching Ramadan's TED Talk after reading this book - you'll fall in love with him.
The format is unique: two lovers reminisce over their youth in Syria through fables and memories - there are stories within stories. Death, a surprisingly welcome character, joins the men as Hakawati comforts his aging partner with stories of his childhood. Death lingers on the sidelines, providing occasional commentary, waiting for his final breath.
This book is heavy, both in content and in prose, but also descriptive and beautiful, and so worth the effort. Readers should take this book slowly, absorb every word, and appreciate the education that Ramadan provides. We learn not only about life for gay youth in Damascus and Aleppo, but about the beauty that Syria has to offer. And yes, we learn about the war. For anyone ready to open their minds and enjoy a beautifully told narrative, do yourself a favour a pick this one up.
The format is unique: two lovers reminisce over their youth in Syria through fables and memories - there are stories within stories. Death, a surprisingly welcome character, joins the men as Hakawati comforts his aging partner with stories of his childhood. Death lingers on the sidelines, providing occasional commentary, waiting for his final breath.
This book is heavy, both in content and in prose, but also descriptive and beautiful, and so worth the effort. Readers should take this book slowly, absorb every word, and appreciate the education that Ramadan provides. We learn not only about life for gay youth in Damascus and Aleppo, but about the beauty that Syria has to offer. And yes, we learn about the war. For anyone ready to open their minds and enjoy a beautifully told narrative, do yourself a favour a pick this one up.
October 20, 2017
This is a solidly-written book and the author's writing is beautiful in many parts. I felt the overall feel of the book was disjointed regardless of the multiple story construct. I would have appreciated a stronger unifying apparatus. The stories and the book need a build up and then a climax.
I did appreciate the settings of Syria, Lebanon and Egypt and the times in which the stories occurred. These were compelling.
I did appreciate the settings of Syria, Lebanon and Egypt and the times in which the stories occurred. These were compelling.
January 9, 2018
Beautiful
May 5, 2020
Magnifique.
Je suis complètement renversée, ébahie, par ce livre. Oui, la force de raconter et de montrer comme il est important de pouvoir le faire. Oui, la très grande poésie. Oui, la force d'évoquer des images puissantes qui révèlent toute une réalité qui était jusqu'alors inaccessible.
On retrouve tout ça dans cette œuvre d'Ahmad Danny Ramadan. On retrouve tout ce pour quoi je ne m'acharnerai pas à ne pas réussir à trouver les mots justes pour dire ce qu'il y a aussi...
Il fera partie de ces livres qui trouvent les mots pour ce que je pensais indicible, un langage pour aimer, pleurer, combattre et vivre un peu plus fort. C'est un livre pour découvrir tant de choses et se sentir moins seul.e.
J'ai ressenti aussi une grande douleur suivie d'une immense sensation de chaleur à ma lecture, comme lorsque j'avais lu The End d'Anders Nilsen, qui se passe après la mort de l'être aimé. Il y a toute une expérience à faire de la vie qui s'entremêle avec la perte sous plusieurs formes, et qui donne l'impression de pouvoir mieux se retrouver au terme de la lecture, c'est très fort, je suis abasourdie de savoir que des auteurices sont capables de nous faire vivre tout ça. La littérature est magique. La balançoire de jasmin est une grande œuvre.
Je suis complètement renversée, ébahie, par ce livre. Oui, la force de raconter et de montrer comme il est important de pouvoir le faire. Oui, la très grande poésie. Oui, la force d'évoquer des images puissantes qui révèlent toute une réalité qui était jusqu'alors inaccessible.
On retrouve tout ça dans cette œuvre d'Ahmad Danny Ramadan. On retrouve tout ce pour quoi je ne m'acharnerai pas à ne pas réussir à trouver les mots justes pour dire ce qu'il y a aussi...
Il fera partie de ces livres qui trouvent les mots pour ce que je pensais indicible, un langage pour aimer, pleurer, combattre et vivre un peu plus fort. C'est un livre pour découvrir tant de choses et se sentir moins seul.e.
J'ai ressenti aussi une grande douleur suivie d'une immense sensation de chaleur à ma lecture, comme lorsque j'avais lu The End d'Anders Nilsen, qui se passe après la mort de l'être aimé. Il y a toute une expérience à faire de la vie qui s'entremêle avec la perte sous plusieurs formes, et qui donne l'impression de pouvoir mieux se retrouver au terme de la lecture, c'est très fort, je suis abasourdie de savoir que des auteurices sont capables de nous faire vivre tout ça. La littérature est magique. La balançoire de jasmin est une grande œuvre.
August 7, 2019
השנה היא אי שם בעתיד (משהו כמו שנת 2,064) וזוג הומואים בני כשמונים חיים בוונקובר. אחד מהם גוסס והשני אל-חכוואתי (מספר הסיפורים) מספר לו סיפורים, כמו שחרזדה, כדי שלא ילך ממנו. הסיפורים חלקם זכרונות וחלקם זכרונות מעובדים, מתארים את חייהם בסוריה בזמן המרד של 2011 (ואת פליטותם במצריים ובלבנון עד הגעתם לקנדה), את תולדות משפחתם, את תולדותיהם כהומואים ולסביות בחברה שמרנית תחת מלחמה, אהבותיהם ואת המוות שמסביבם ובתוכם.
זהו לכאורה סיפור חיים ובעצם סיפור על מוות שנמצא בתוכנו וכאן בספר הזה המוות הוא ממש בן משפחה, כמעט חבר.
הסיפורים פיוטיים ויפים, כמה מהתיאורים בספר ריגשו אותי מאוד (בעיקר הקטע בו איך המוות הגיע לחייו אחרי פטירת אביו); המהלך של מבט לאחור לעבר שהוא בעצם ההווה שלנו והתיאורים על חייהם שם, עוצמתי מאוד וממחיש בלי להטיף את מצבם של הומואים ולסביות במדינות ערב כמעט היום.
ובעיקר מעל הכל, זהו ספר יפהפה על זוגיות ארוכת שנים, על אהבה למרות הכל.
זהו לכאורה סיפור חיים ובעצם סיפור על מוות שנמצא בתוכנו וכאן בספר הזה המוות הוא ממש בן משפחה, כמעט חבר.
הסיפורים פיוטיים ויפים, כמה מהתיאורים בספר ריגשו אותי מאוד (בעיקר הקטע בו איך המוות הגיע לחייו אחרי פטירת אביו); המהלך של מבט לאחור לעבר שהוא בעצם ההווה שלנו והתיאורים על חייהם שם, עוצמתי מאוד וממחיש בלי להטיף את מצבם של הומואים ולסביות במדינות ערב כמעט היום.
ובעיקר מעל הכל, זהו ספר יפהפה על זוגיות ארוכת שנים, על אהבה למרות הכל.
September 1, 2020
As a man is slowly dying, his lover tells him stories and recounts their lives in Syria before coming to Vancouver as refugees. Death keeps them company and adds ghosts of people they knew who have died. I found the book beautifully written.
June 23, 2020
This novel is gorgeously written, a beautiful elegy to Syria and its people. It stirs the soul in lyrical, and provocative ways, while the author's creative use of language guides you deftly through a dreamscape filled with horrors and pleasures both subtle and bracing.
February 2, 2018
I read The Clothesline Swing in its entirety over the course of a weekend after it arrived last month. I should say devoured, really. At first I thought that I was consuming the book and then about halfway through I realized that the narrative was consuming me. The story is riveting. The narrative is enthralling. The style is undeniably brilliant and the voice of the narrator is unique, haunting. It made me weep and laugh out loud.
I have a lot of undigested feelings and thoughts still, but Mr. Ramadan should be celebrated for writing and publishing such a heartbreakingly beautiful novel. The book also embodies what Brandon Taylor refers to as a "queer aesthetic" that "permits the true simultaneity of queer experience". Ramadan's queer characters' interaction with the world is real and palpable. It is at once joyous and sorrowful, whimsical and serious, extraordinarily magical and unremarkably quotidian.
The story comes off to the reader as if they are experiencing it firsthand or reliving it in the most vivid possible memory. It had a strange effect on my psyche: I dreamt in Arabic for the first time in years after the first night I spent reading the book, something that make me feel joy upon waking. I think it must have been the elegant logic and form of the narrator's voice and the code-switches into Arabic in the narration.
I have rarely read a novel this rapidly or completely, and I read a lot. I flew through the pages but hung on every word too. And I couldn't wait to have another few hours each day to sit down and drink in the story and let the imagery wash over me. Suffice it to say, I loved it. It is an utter triumph as a work of literature. Bravo!
I have a lot of undigested feelings and thoughts still, but Mr. Ramadan should be celebrated for writing and publishing such a heartbreakingly beautiful novel. The book also embodies what Brandon Taylor refers to as a "queer aesthetic" that "permits the true simultaneity of queer experience". Ramadan's queer characters' interaction with the world is real and palpable. It is at once joyous and sorrowful, whimsical and serious, extraordinarily magical and unremarkably quotidian.
The story comes off to the reader as if they are experiencing it firsthand or reliving it in the most vivid possible memory. It had a strange effect on my psyche: I dreamt in Arabic for the first time in years after the first night I spent reading the book, something that make me feel joy upon waking. I think it must have been the elegant logic and form of the narrator's voice and the code-switches into Arabic in the narration.
I have rarely read a novel this rapidly or completely, and I read a lot. I flew through the pages but hung on every word too. And I couldn't wait to have another few hours each day to sit down and drink in the story and let the imagery wash over me. Suffice it to say, I loved it. It is an utter triumph as a work of literature. Bravo!
July 20, 2018
This book brings a completely different kind of perspective on the life of refugees. As a Canadian living among other Canadians with protectionist opinions about the recent influx of refugees, this book granted the idea that no one truly wants to leave their homes.
This book creates a whole new intimacy on the difficulties in the Middle East, forbidden and accepted love and the idea of home. We have to remember that as grateful as someone is to get away from war, that was still their home, and they love their home just as we love ours. The difference is we can leave freely and always come back. People from war torn countries cannot without risking death.
This book was very well written and did a great job in creating an intimacy with the current events involving places like Syria. It makes you realize that people who fled from their country had very similar lives when there was no war. They had marital problems, prayed, laughed, socialized and loved, they had hobbies, had crushes on people and had distaste for people for no reason. We tend to forgot that when reading the news. I think anyone who is a sceptic of the influx of refugees into any stable country should read this book and those who want to learn more about the political climate of the Middle East and the struggles of growing up there, as well as fleeing the war. We need to educate ourselves more before we jump to conclusions.
This book creates a whole new intimacy on the difficulties in the Middle East, forbidden and accepted love and the idea of home. We have to remember that as grateful as someone is to get away from war, that was still their home, and they love their home just as we love ours. The difference is we can leave freely and always come back. People from war torn countries cannot without risking death.
This book was very well written and did a great job in creating an intimacy with the current events involving places like Syria. It makes you realize that people who fled from their country had very similar lives when there was no war. They had marital problems, prayed, laughed, socialized and loved, they had hobbies, had crushes on people and had distaste for people for no reason. We tend to forgot that when reading the news. I think anyone who is a sceptic of the influx of refugees into any stable country should read this book and those who want to learn more about the political climate of the Middle East and the struggles of growing up there, as well as fleeing the war. We need to educate ourselves more before we jump to conclusions.
August 16, 2017
This novel has captivated my soul from its first line. It took me on an emotional journey to the world of Hakwati and his lover, made me an uninvited guest in their Vancouver residence and in their path of struggle, hope and love in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon all the way to Canada. Ramadan does not only tell us about his characters' life, he takes us there, immereses us in moments of beauty and ugliness, of compassion and hatred, of faith and despair in the human spirit.
The writing is stellar and breathatking, poetic prose that creates a world of its own.
Read "The Clothesline Swing", a book that will take you high above the clouds of bigotry and prejudice and will make you fly to a world of grace and understanding.
The writing is stellar and breathatking, poetic prose that creates a world of its own.
Read "The Clothesline Swing", a book that will take you high above the clouds of bigotry and prejudice and will make you fly to a world of grace and understanding.
February 26, 2018
From the first few pages of reading this, i thought to myself "I have never read anything like this before". Danny Ramadan's style of writing is so unique and poetic. This novel transcends time, space, and mortality while being so intimate. I felt a strong connection while reading. This is a book that I'll forever cherish.
December 26, 2017
Ahmad Danny Ramadan opens the novel by dedicating it to the children in Damascus. He tells them that this is what he does with his pain and asks what about their pain.
As can be expected, the novel is about longing, nostalgia and loss, which the writer purifies, chapter after chapter, into a single emotion: love.
The plot revolves around the life of Al-Hakawati – the story teller, a broken young man from a broken family who lives in Damascus while the city is torn apart, changes before his eyes in the clutches of the monstrous, destructive war. He escapes, returns, falls in love and finally immigrates to Canada.
Simple as that – beginning, middle, end. But that’s not the whole story.
Although he and his lover’s relationship had its ups and downs, eventually their love was so strong that only death seems able to separate them. And death tries.
The story begins with the old couple, after living for decades in Canada, leading a mostly steady, safe life. Years of drinking and neglect have let Al-Hakawati to believe he will be the first of them to die. But eventually, his lover succumbs first to old age, and is now dying.
The only thing that appears to keep him breathing is the stories that of the storyteller who is petrified of being left alone in the dark.
The stories his lover demands are deceptive; they are lively and imaginative like fairytales, but they are horrifyingly realistic. In various ways, through thousand voices and narratives, with toil and hardships, in short, painful episodes, Al-Hakawati tells the truth about the past.
Through a colorful fantasy the narrator tells his own lifestory, the story of the man he loves and the story of how their love grew out of difficulties, pain and innumerous obstacles.
He creates a true-to-life image of the everyday life in Damascus, Egypt, Lebanon and Canada, and marvelously paints them in lively colors from his copious imaginative inner world. He reveals the complexity of the LGTB scene in Middle East and the life under a constant threat of war. He tells the pain of a rejected child with shattered dreams, the discovery of sexuality for a boy who knows he is different, on hiding and scarcity, the solid comradery of the persecuted and the deep, silent force of love that can overcome all evil.
What I love most about the novel is the way in which the author touches so many subjects, without burdening the story. Like a true storyteller around the bonfire or near the hearth, he manages to tie all the subjects together in a delicate chain of love and agony.
It is a live story of a love that dare not speak its name, especially not in Syria, under the rule of Bashar al-Assad, under the ever-opened eye of a patriarchal culture. Ramadan does not spare his critique from the Syrian country – he loves the land and some of it’s people but detests their behavior. He gently weaves into the novel an elegy to the country he cannot return to, and the family and friends he lost, or lost contact with.
But what defines the story eventually is undoubtedly the love story, which makes the novel so special and touching for me. Love, and the need for it, is what moves the plot and the characters.
In addition to the play of identities one may expect to find in such a novel, in which the narrator is defined from the very beginning as a gay immigrant, the speaker holds another identity, just as significant, and as persecuted – in Syria anyway.
The protagonist in the story is gay in Syria, an immigrant in Canada and a geek everywhere.
Ramadan manages to connect the geek culture and the LGTB culture, not only because both culture symbolize the narrator’s connection to western culture. The storyteller appears to still be captured in the magic of folktales, legends and myths, which accompany him from a very early age, and he chooses to express in as an adult by referring to superheroes, vampire series’ and even a character who recalls Terry Pratchett’s beloved character – Death.
The role of the references shows not only the connection to western culture that the narrator is attracted to - despite, or perhaps because it is forbidden and banned in the country he came from. Geekness is, as I see it, a crucial part of his identity as a storyteller.
We see Throughout the story how his being a geek, like being homosexual, signifies him as an outsider in his own culture – not only because is illegal to consume, but also because the viewpoint of the storyteller often separates him from the crowed, makes him see society from outside, thus often experience some measure of isolation, and loneliness.
The thought came to my mind as I read the part where the narrator refers to the comic books of Thor and Loki – I felt that these superheroes where chosen knowingly and deliberately, as representors of both comic books and Norse mythology. The narrators combines them with the refences to One Thousand and One Nights and with falling in love with another boy who is different like him – geeky and gay, to create a marvelous tessellation of old and new traditions, and connects all his different identities.
The narrator reveals what the modern legends signify for him in the crazy world he experiences, and how meaningful the geek-culture is for him in the hardest of times - I think most geeks in the world can relate to that – myself included.
Eventually what I have to say is that this novel is first and foremost a wonderful love story that takes the reader to the highest peaks of beauty and the deepest chasms of suffering. It contains political criticism and reflects impossible situations in which people must struggle for their own sense of humanity.
As always, the publishing chose the best translator; only a poet could find the right words to tell this story in another language – and this specific poet, Lee Evron, has done an amazing work.
It’s beautiful and important. Go read it. NOW.
As can be expected, the novel is about longing, nostalgia and loss, which the writer purifies, chapter after chapter, into a single emotion: love.
The plot revolves around the life of Al-Hakawati – the story teller, a broken young man from a broken family who lives in Damascus while the city is torn apart, changes before his eyes in the clutches of the monstrous, destructive war. He escapes, returns, falls in love and finally immigrates to Canada.
Simple as that – beginning, middle, end. But that’s not the whole story.
Although he and his lover’s relationship had its ups and downs, eventually their love was so strong that only death seems able to separate them. And death tries.
The story begins with the old couple, after living for decades in Canada, leading a mostly steady, safe life. Years of drinking and neglect have let Al-Hakawati to believe he will be the first of them to die. But eventually, his lover succumbs first to old age, and is now dying.
The only thing that appears to keep him breathing is the stories that of the storyteller who is petrified of being left alone in the dark.
The stories his lover demands are deceptive; they are lively and imaginative like fairytales, but they are horrifyingly realistic. In various ways, through thousand voices and narratives, with toil and hardships, in short, painful episodes, Al-Hakawati tells the truth about the past.
Through a colorful fantasy the narrator tells his own lifestory, the story of the man he loves and the story of how their love grew out of difficulties, pain and innumerous obstacles.
He creates a true-to-life image of the everyday life in Damascus, Egypt, Lebanon and Canada, and marvelously paints them in lively colors from his copious imaginative inner world. He reveals the complexity of the LGTB scene in Middle East and the life under a constant threat of war. He tells the pain of a rejected child with shattered dreams, the discovery of sexuality for a boy who knows he is different, on hiding and scarcity, the solid comradery of the persecuted and the deep, silent force of love that can overcome all evil.
What I love most about the novel is the way in which the author touches so many subjects, without burdening the story. Like a true storyteller around the bonfire or near the hearth, he manages to tie all the subjects together in a delicate chain of love and agony.
It is a live story of a love that dare not speak its name, especially not in Syria, under the rule of Bashar al-Assad, under the ever-opened eye of a patriarchal culture. Ramadan does not spare his critique from the Syrian country – he loves the land and some of it’s people but detests their behavior. He gently weaves into the novel an elegy to the country he cannot return to, and the family and friends he lost, or lost contact with.
But what defines the story eventually is undoubtedly the love story, which makes the novel so special and touching for me. Love, and the need for it, is what moves the plot and the characters.
In addition to the play of identities one may expect to find in such a novel, in which the narrator is defined from the very beginning as a gay immigrant, the speaker holds another identity, just as significant, and as persecuted – in Syria anyway.
The protagonist in the story is gay in Syria, an immigrant in Canada and a geek everywhere.
Ramadan manages to connect the geek culture and the LGTB culture, not only because both culture symbolize the narrator’s connection to western culture. The storyteller appears to still be captured in the magic of folktales, legends and myths, which accompany him from a very early age, and he chooses to express in as an adult by referring to superheroes, vampire series’ and even a character who recalls Terry Pratchett’s beloved character – Death.
The role of the references shows not only the connection to western culture that the narrator is attracted to - despite, or perhaps because it is forbidden and banned in the country he came from. Geekness is, as I see it, a crucial part of his identity as a storyteller.
We see Throughout the story how his being a geek, like being homosexual, signifies him as an outsider in his own culture – not only because is illegal to consume, but also because the viewpoint of the storyteller often separates him from the crowed, makes him see society from outside, thus often experience some measure of isolation, and loneliness.
The thought came to my mind as I read the part where the narrator refers to the comic books of Thor and Loki – I felt that these superheroes where chosen knowingly and deliberately, as representors of both comic books and Norse mythology. The narrators combines them with the refences to One Thousand and One Nights and with falling in love with another boy who is different like him – geeky and gay, to create a marvelous tessellation of old and new traditions, and connects all his different identities.
The narrator reveals what the modern legends signify for him in the crazy world he experiences, and how meaningful the geek-culture is for him in the hardest of times - I think most geeks in the world can relate to that – myself included.
Eventually what I have to say is that this novel is first and foremost a wonderful love story that takes the reader to the highest peaks of beauty and the deepest chasms of suffering. It contains political criticism and reflects impossible situations in which people must struggle for their own sense of humanity.
As always, the publishing chose the best translator; only a poet could find the right words to tell this story in another language – and this specific poet, Lee Evron, has done an amazing work.
It’s beautiful and important. Go read it. NOW.
April 5, 2018
I devoured this book in a matter of days, which is rare for me. This book is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. The stories and relationships in this book are magical and heart-wrenching and eye-opening. It is a timely read that I cannot recommend enough, as it offers insight into worlds often overlooked, ignored, and wrongly stereotyped. I'm honestly surprised I only cried at the end, and in part it was because I didn't want it to be over (although there were multiple points throughout the book where I nearly shed tears).
Now I just need to find friends who have also read it so I can endlessly talk about how much I love The Clothesline Swing!
Now I just need to find friends who have also read it so I can endlessly talk about how much I love The Clothesline Swing!
October 22, 2021
Remarkable, masterful and incredibly moving. That last page took my breath away.
July 7, 2017
Danny Ramadan’s lyric tales affected me like few books ever have. His stories are poignant, anguished, nostalgic, and resilient. Death is always in the room, but seems to have met his match in a storyteller who faces the ravages of war in Syria, exile, homophobia and aging. The Clothesline Swing is beautifully told by a young author who is writing in his second language (I love that Danny puts a new and amusing twist on certain familiar phrases). As an older gay man who has experienced ostracism and violence, alongside exquisite moments of love and change, I found this novel hauntingly recognizable. I aspire to be as brave as a refugee who, wrenched from his home and culture, endures great hardship, then manages to survive and become Hakawati.
April 8, 2021
This book is unlike any I've ever read in my life. It is impossible to describe or summarize. It simply must be read and experienced. At the same time, it is folklore, magic realism, metafiction, a documentary on the Syrian civil war, a manifesto for LGBTQ rights in the Middle East, an immigrant's take on Vancouver, and a love poem. Oh, and, not to be forgotten, it is also A Thousand and One Nights. And a ghost story. And a memoir of friendships. And . . . you get the point. Just buy the darn book and read it. I have a feeling that, like me, you are going to commit yourself to reading it over and over, because it is the kind of book, with so many levels, that each succeeding read will surely reveal something new and profound that you missed before.
January 6, 2019
Why I read it:
Our local library does a great job of pulling visitors into books with intriguing displays. I hadn't heard of this book, but saw it standing separately from the rest of the collection. I think it was the author bio on the back page that made me sign it out: "Ahmad Danny Ramadan's personal experience as a Syrian refugee and advocate has made him passionate about volunteerism, democracy, social justice and LGBTQ refugees' rights. He has previously authored two collections of short stories in Arabic and has been published in the Washington Post, the Guardian and Foreign Policy. Ramadan lives in Vancouver, B.C., where he was grand marshal for the city's Pride Parade in 2016."
What I thought:
I read that this was the author's first book in English, and it's completely poetic. There are sentences that have to be read more than once because they're just so beautiful and need to be fully consumed. It's easily the most gorgeous book I read this year.
Our local library does a great job of pulling visitors into books with intriguing displays. I hadn't heard of this book, but saw it standing separately from the rest of the collection. I think it was the author bio on the back page that made me sign it out: "Ahmad Danny Ramadan's personal experience as a Syrian refugee and advocate has made him passionate about volunteerism, democracy, social justice and LGBTQ refugees' rights. He has previously authored two collections of short stories in Arabic and has been published in the Washington Post, the Guardian and Foreign Policy. Ramadan lives in Vancouver, B.C., where he was grand marshal for the city's Pride Parade in 2016."
What I thought:
I read that this was the author's first book in English, and it's completely poetic. There are sentences that have to be read more than once because they're just so beautiful and need to be fully consumed. It's easily the most gorgeous book I read this year.
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