Is This How You Eat a Watermelon?

by Zein El-Amine

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 phantom spectrals. 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.



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

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

200 pages, Paperback

First published November 8, 2022

Reviews

[Mary Daniel Cheek]

Am I entering my short story era??

[John]

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]

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]

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

[Ziggi Chavez]

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

[Maitreya Ravenstar]

Touching and somber

[Fatima Landin]

Can’t wait to read it!!