beirut noir Edited by Iman Humaydan

This is an anthology of stories written by different Lebanese authors. As no surprise, these war stories were, at times, painful to read. However, some stories were poetic. There is the mention of numbers, the soul, dolls and numbers. Beirut is also seen as a "companion of death" and as the "city that dances on its wounds." Although those descriptions made me fall back and regroup, I did not want to add the city of Beirut to my bucket list as a place to see.

I only became excited about the city after reading about the lives of the characters. Their lives made me want to look at the photos and bios of the authors at the back of the book. I wondered did their faces in some way match the character in the story? I wanted to read why they had chosen the plot. Was it a true incident they had experienced, or was it one the author had heard from a friend? I did learn that Alawiya Sobh had a deep interest in issues that women faced. Hyam Yared's interest is that no author should face oppression due to what he or she has written. This is his freedom fight.

Hearing about Beirut on the news throughout the years was another reason why I wanted to read these stories. Each author chooses to portray the war in the finest detail. In "Sails On The Sidewalk," by Marie Tawk, the dead father is remembered just by a cough. In this story, I also learned that our personal lives can become entwined very tightly with the war. So tightly that we use the war as the reason for taking a certain action.

I did not expect to care so deeply about the characters. I also thought the war would add a ho-hum background. I am glad to say Beirut Noir edited by Iman Humaydan surprised me. Thank you for the tour of a city.akashicbooks.com/catalog/beirut-noir/