This isn't a quick read, and it wasn't a particularly easy read. But it was a beautiful read. Alameddine's language was so vivid, elegant, and poetic it was easy to get lost in the words.

The subject matter - a woman who doesn't fit into her world, and how she chooses to put some structure around her life - is one that appeals to me a lot, since I enjoy reading about complex and nuanced female characters. While Aaliya doesn't develop as a character exactly, the way that Alameddine slowly unwraps the character was great to read.

The prose in this book.

I loved this book.
If you are a lover of literature, classical music, streams of consciousness, or just adore gorgeous writing, you should read this book. Also, if you enjoy discussions of the intricacies of translation, you should read this book. I almost never read books more than once, but this will be an exception.

Me parece un buen libro, aunque le falto un toque de acción, un momento con mas clímax. La primera parte me pareció más interesante que la ultima parte, pero el final me gusto. También me sentí identificada con el personaje, esa mujer que vivía a través de los libros, por amor a ellos, con su obsesión a la lectura y todas esas referencias de obras literarias y las reflexiones que hace, me han dado ganas de leer algunos.
Además creo que el autor hizo un trabajo muy bueno con tantas voces femeninas, los hombres tienen importancia pero no son pilares fundamentales. El libro se construye a través de mujeres y que lo haya escrito un hombre es interesante.

gave up on, felt sooo long and boring

This is one of the rare books that got better (to me) the farther I read. I really loved the ending. Mainly, it’s a reading list for those who want to explore world literature, but it’s also a meditation on how one chooses to spend one’s life and whether it’s necessary to make one’s work public or keep it private

I picked this up to complete my Read Harder challenge for the year - it fits the task of reading a book with a female protagonist over the age of 60. It's a good example of a book I most likely would not have picked up on my own and I'm so incredibly glad that I did. Aaliya is a self-taught translator and intellectual living in Beirut whose experience of life is more varied and interesting than one would expect for someone who is practically a hermit. The writing is beautiful and sprinkled with references and quotations that span a vast spectrum of literature and philosophy. This book is not plot-driven and it drags a bit in the middle as a result, but I found the ending to be surprisingly satisfying. Recommended for lovers of character studies, excellent prose, and world literature, as well as anyone looking to learn more about the recent history of Beirut through a fictional lens.

This started out as a very promising book: a spunky but solitary elderly divorcee who loves & translates books and just accidentally dyed her hair blue while drinking red wine. What's not to love? But it quickly becomes too convoluted to follow thanks to her semi-arbitrary flashbacks and is peppered with so many literary references that it alienated me (not being familiar with many of them). Still, there were several lines that tickled my fancy, and two of my favorites were:

"I long ago abandoned myself to a blind lust for the written word."

"I thought I'd be reading a new book today, but it doesn't feel right, or I don't feel like it. Some days are not new-book days."

For a more patient bibliophile, this might very well become a new favorite.