The Arsonists City, Hala Alyan
The Arsonists City, Hala Alyan
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

The Arsonists' City

Author: Hala Alyan

Narrator: Leila Buck

Unabridged: 19 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 03/09/2021


Synopsis

A rich family story, a personal look at the legacy of war in the Middle East, and an indelible rendering of how we hold on to the people and places we call home

The Nasr family is spread across the globe—Beirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. A Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children: all have lived a life of migration. Still, they’ve always had their ancestral home in Beirut—a constant touchstone—and the complicated, messy family love that binds them.

But following his father’s recent death, Idris, the family’s new patriarch, has decided to sell.

The decision brings the family to Beirut, where everyone unites against Idris in a fight to save the house. They all have secrets—lost loves, bitter jealousies, abandoned passions, deep-set shame—that distance has helped smother. But in a city smoldering with the legacy of war, an ongoing flow of refugees, religious tension, and political
protest, those secrets ignite, imperiling the fragile ties that hold this family together.

In a novel teeming with wisdom, warmth, and characters born of remarkable human insight, the award-winning author Hala Alyan shows us again that “fiction is often the best filter for the real world around us” (NPR).

About Hala Alyan

Hala Alyan is an award-winning Palestinian American poet and clinical psychologist whose work has appeared in numerous journals, including the Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, and Colorado Review. She lives in New York.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Anne on October 03, 2022

This is the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club October 2022 selection. Hala Alyan will join us for a live discussion! I was quickly swept up in the story of the complicated Nasr family, with its Syrian mother, Lebanese father, and three adult children flung across the globe. When the patriarch of the family......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on January 24, 2021

4.5 stars When I read Salt Houses by Hala Alyan I was blown away by her superb writing and the characters she created so it's fair to say I was super enthused about reading her latest novel Arsonist's City.    That enthusiasm was well rewarded within moments of starting and never let up.     Alyan's......more

Goodreads review by fatma on January 26, 2023

An irritating and deeply frustrating read. This book reminded me of The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo, which is just about the most damning indictment I can give it. There are some books I dislike, and there are some books I actively hate. This was the latter. Let's begin with the chara......more

Goodreads review by Jordan (Jordy’s Book Club) on March 31, 2021

QUICK-ISH TAKE: Taking placeover the course of several decades, TAC is told in two timelines: the first follows the members of the Nasr family- Syrian mother Mazna, Lebanese father Idris, and their 3 adult children- who travel from America to Beirut to stop Idris from selling his childhood home, a h......more

Goodreads review by Emily on August 23, 2022

A remarkable family drama that highlights the deepest aspects of the human condition. Each character is so multilayered, incredibly flawed but intensely real and endearing. Against the backdrop of Beirut and America, we see the consequences of jealousy, secrets, revenge, and silence. But we also see......more