Book description
Beirut in the 1930s: a young woman has the gift of seeing the past in
her dreams, and she can also predict the future. Over the course of
three nights, Milia recalls her love affair with Mansour, between Beirut
and Nazareth, and dreams of episodes in the lives of her family: of a
grandmother who regains her virginity after the birth of her son; of the
bizarre death of an uncle, who accidentally hangs himself by a
church-bell rope; of her relationship with her mother. Dreams are a way
to escape all forms of oppression, whether from family, religion or
politics; Milias visions are of a kind of Garden of Eden, of frangipani
trees and orange blossom, and yet she foretells the political and social
transformations to come: Jewish immigration to Palestine, the influence
of foreign Christian missions and the Westernization of morality. As
Though She Were Sleeping is a reminder of what life once was in the
Middle East; Elias Khoury has again crafted a compelling and
many-layered narrative of great sensuality. Beirut in the 1930s: a
young woman has the gift of seeing the past in her dreams, and she can
also predict the future. Over the course of three nights, Milia recalls
her love affair with Mansour, between Beirut and Nazareth, and dreams of
episodes in the lives of her family: of a grandmother who regains her
virginity after the birth of her son; of the bizarre death of an uncle,
who accidentally hangs himself by a church-bell rope; of her
relationship with her mother. Dreams are a way to escape all forms of
oppression, whether from family, religion or politics; Milias visions
are of a kind of Garden of Eden, of frangipani trees and orange blossom,
and yet she foretells the political and social transformations to come:
Jewish immigration to Palestine, the influence of foreign Christian
missions and the Westernization of morality. As Though She Were Sleeping
is a reminder of what life once was in the Middle East; Elias Khoury has
again crafted a compelling and many-layered narrative of great
sensuality.
