Is This How You Eat a Watermelon?

by Zein El-Amine

Is This How You Eat a Watermelon? invites readers into a world where love, war, and trauma collide with the desire to consume life—or be consumed by it.

Here, a dozen boarding school students find themselves stranded at the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War. A young man, a young woman, and a mistreated monkey unite in a bid to survive. Even Israel’s war on Lebanon cannot stop an old woman from getting her fix of nicotine. A young Lebanese student on a visit to Bahrain is wrongly implicated as a terrorist and placed in a prison with other political prisoners where light and hope is absconding. Fresh snow compels a sacrilegious undertaking from a father much to the shock of his children. Shared trauma takes the shape of spectral phantoms. And in the titular story, a hedonistic man eats himself to an early death with the desecration of the city of Beirut forming the backdrop.

Proficient and empathetic, these seven short stories span war-torn Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the United States to tell stories of transit and survival. With commitment to the vulnerability of the human experience and a fierce loyalty to characters bearing the trauma of war, Zein El-Amine’s collection is joyful and devastating, daring the reader to look away.

"Brimming with both tenderness and boldness, Is This How You Eat a Watermelon? is a powerful, concise collection that had me enthralled from the first story to the last. These richly crafted stories are sometimes humorous, always compelling, meditations on love and passion, cruelty and beauty, and fear and loss during times of war, including the wars raging quietly inside of us.”

—Deesha Philyaw, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.

Genres: Fiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published November 8, 2022

Reviews

[Mary Daniel Cheek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am I entering my short story era??

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories of human defiance amidst the inhumanity of war. Set mostly in a country I know appallingly little about (Lebanon) during and after their civil war, Zein El-Amine poetically shows how similar we all are underneath the trappings of culture, gender, and war.

[Kayla Boss · Rating 3 out of 5]

thank you @radixmedia for the review copy!

i found each story surprising, sometimes humorous, always insightful. the author draws on human experience and simplistic stories to reveal deep emotions and the complexity of war

synopsis:
Is This How You Eat a Watermelon? invites readers into a world where love, war, and trauma collide with the desire to consume life—or be consumed by it.
Here, a dozen boarding school students find themselves stranded at the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War.

Proficient and empathetic, these seven short stories span war-torn Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the United States to tell stories of transit and survival. With commitment to the vulnerability of the human experience and a fierce loyalty to characters bearing the trauma of war, Zein El-Amine’s collection is joyful and devastating, daring the reader to look away.

[Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written essays set both in Lebanon and in Maryland, both of which I've called home.

[Ziggi Chavez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a talented writer. Everything held a weight of authenticity and humanity to it. Great and easy short read!

[Maitreya Ravenstar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Touching and somber

[Fatima Landin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t wait to read it!!