The Family Clause, Jonas Hassen Khemiri
The Family Clause, Jonas Hassen Khemiri
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The Family Clause

Author: Jonas Hassen Khemiri, Alice Menzies

Narrator: Oliver Hembrough

Unabridged: 10 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/24/2020

Synopsis

A tender, bruising novel of a family in crisis as a proud patriarch encounters the harsh realities he has inflicted on his children.“The son did as he was told. All his bloody life, he has done as he has been told. Time to change that, he thinks, grabbing a pen. He doesn’t write that this will be the last time his father stays here. He doesn’t write that he wants to break the father clause. Instead, he writes: Welcome, Dad. Hope you had a good flight.”A grandfather who lives abroad returns home to visit his adult children. The son is a failure. The daughter is having a baby with the wrong man. Only the grandfather is perfect—at least, according to himself.But over the course of ten intense days, relationships unfold and painful memories resurface. The grandfather is confronted by his past. The daughter is faced with an impossible choice. The son tries to write himself free. Something has to give. Per a longstanding family agreement, the grandfather has maintained his Swedish residency by coming to stay with his son every six months. Can this clause be renegotiated, or will it chain the family to its past forever?Through a series of quickly changing perspectives, in The Family Clause Jonas Hassen Khemiri evokes an intimate portrait of a chaotic and perfectly normal family, deeply wounded by the death of a child and the disappearance of a father.

About Jonas Hassen Khemiri

Jonas Hassen Khemiri is the author of six novels, seven plays, and a collection of short stories and essays. His work has been translated into more than 35 languages. The Family Clause was a finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature and received the Prix Médicis Étranger in France. Khemiri has been a finalist for Sweden’s most prestigious literary prize three times, winning it once. His play Invasion! earned an Obie Award for Best Script.A recipient of the Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library, Khemiri’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and numerous other publications. His novel, The Sisters, is his first book written in English. Khemiri lives in Brooklyn with his family and teaches creative writing at NYU.

About Alice Menzies

JONAS BONNIER is a screenwriter and journalist as well as a novelist. He was the CEO & President of the Bonnier Group from 2008 to 2014. Bonnier lives with his wife and two children in Miami.ALICE MENZIES holds a master of arts in Translation Theory and Practice from University College London, specializing in the Scandinavian languages. She lives in London.

About Oliver Hembrough

Oliver Hembrough is an actor known for his performances in the films The Book of Unwritten Tales, The Joy of 8mls, and Screen Two. Also an accomplished audiobook narrator, his readings include books by Abigail Tarttelin, Sarah Burton, Winston Graham, and Piers Torday.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Annika

Det här är en fantastisk roman, en vacker och berörande och självklar bok om hur det är att vara familj. Kanske Khemiris bästa bok och jag hoppas att du skriver minst tio till. Det finns två saker som framför allt utmärker skickligheten i denna bok: stilistiken och perspektivtagandet. Stilistiskt är......more

Goodreads review by Paula

3,5* Era a tal por quem ele sempre tinha esperado. Porquê? Porque tinha uma gata chamada Duras. Com “A Cláusula Familiar”, Jonas Hassen Khemiri além de ter recebido o Prix Médicis Étranger, foi nomeado para outros prémios internacionais, e eu de facto encontrei aqui habilidade e talento que o justifiq......more

Goodreads review by Kuszma

Amikor megszületik egy új generáció, övé lesz a világ. Csak a többieknek senki nem szól erről. Elődeik úgy élnek tovább, mintha ez még az ő bolygójuk lenne, a saját szabályaikat tekintik érvényesnek - hallatlan. Zavaró jelenségként keringenek apák és anyák a gyermekek élete körül. Aztán ezzel az új......more

Goodreads review by Patricija || book.duo

Toks stiprus 3.5, bet iki 4 nepritempiau. Labai gražus rašymo stilius, puikus humoras, ypač pirmuose skyriuose. Bet link vidurio man jau gerokai pakyrėjo - truputį tas pats per tą patį - visi jaučiasi nuskriausti, bet save laiko herojais, nesugeba pasikalbėti, išsikalbėti ir t.t. Labai žmogiška, bet......more

Quotes

“Satisfying…Khemiri succeeds at creating an infectious sense of melancholia as the poisonous patriarch is forced to reckon with the truth. In a slow build of quotidian moments, Khemiri constructs a familiarly flawed universe that lays bare what it means to be human.” Publishers Weekly

“Depicting his characters’ perceptions of one another, and themselves, Khemiri points to universal truths: in this and any family, roles change over time, and, with any luck, so do the people in them.” Booklist

“Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s The Family Clause is a bold and remarkable novel—a marvel of form and imagination that is also miraculously full of heart and compassion.” Dinaw Mengestu, author of All Our Names

“The Family Clause vibrates with rueful humor and quiet wisdom. The more you get to know the characters contained within it, the more you see how tremendously large Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s heart must be. His redemptive vision is rare and needed in these dark times.” Joshua Furst, author of Revolutionaries

“A beautiful study of familial need and mess, in which the universal and the particular play footsie with each other. Deft, artful, but above all insightful till it hurts, this is Khemiri’s best yet.” Nikita Lalwani, author of The Village

“Khemiri works impressively artfully with the finest tools of the realistic prose…Smart and simple, and with a greatness hidden in the details, in the human patterns that are exposed, The Family Clause is Khemiri’s best novel—and also one of the literary year’s brightest highlights.” Expressen (Stockholm)

“It is a rich tale, full of grief and beautiful language. Khemiri continues to be a writer that should not be missed.” Borås Tidning (Borås)

Awards

  • National Book Award
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