Celestial Bodies

Starred review from August 19, 2019
Alharthi’s ambitious, intense novel—her first to be translated into English and winner of the 2019 Man Booker International Prize—examines the radical changes in Oman over the past century from the perspectives of the members of several interconnected families. With exhilarating results, Alharthi throws the reader into the midst of a tangled family drama in which unrequited love, murder, suicide, and adultery seem the rule rather than the exception. She moves between the stream-of-consciousness musings and memories of businessman Abdallah as he flies to Frankfurt and vignettes from the lives of those in his family, the slaves who raised him under the rule of his abusive father, and the members of the large family he married into. These include, among many others, a wife who apparently loves her sewing machine more than him, her two conflicted sisters, a father-in-law conducting a torrid love affair with a Bedouin woman, and an unhappy physician daughter. The scenes establish the remarkable contrasts among the generations, whose members are united primarily by a fierce search for romantic love. The older generation has grown up with strict rules and traditions, the younger generation eats at McDonald’s and wears Armani jeans, and the members of the middle generation, particularly the women, are caught between expectations and aspirations. The novel rewards readers willing to assemble the pieces of Alharthi’s puzzle into a whole, and is all the more satisfying for the complexity of its tale.

Through narrator Laurence Bouvard's varied performance, listeners are treated to a family saga and a history of the development of Oman. Mayya, Asma, and Khawla are three sisters whose lives and concerns are vividly brought to life by Bouvard. She is a talented female narrator who is up for the challenge of depicting these very different women with distinct personalities. Listeners are brought into shy Mayya's inner thoughts by a soft, contemplative voice. Asma sounds much much more strident as she claims her rights in a male-dominated society. As Khawla, Bouvard seethes at the frustrations of a life dictated by others. Fans of world literature will sink into the large cast of characters and rich setting. M.R. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine