A review by kurtwombat
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Hidden like a book on a shelf, the life of Aaliya Sohbi is slowly revealed in AN UNNECESSARY WOMAN. She has retired from the world, supplanting her life with literature. Relating her uneasy life through the reassuring eyes of books promotes peace and understanding within her and gives the reader access to depths we might not have expected. From the first page I was at home in her shabby apartment. No matter the weather outside, it feels overcast inside. I can almost smell the mildew, feel the mustiness of a stagnant life clench at my nostrils.  Books are always a refuge. 
 
For a woman who has chosen isolation, her most interesting relationship is with the city she lives in. 
She at once sees Beirut how it is and how it used to be. She has turned it into another book—many chapters and many viewpoints, part history-part biography. 
 
"Beirut…is the Elizabeth Taylor of cities: insane, beautiful, tacky, falling apart, aging, and forever drama laden. She'll also marry any infatuated suitor who promises to make her life more comfortable, no matter how inappropriate he is." 
 
She broadens her reading experience by each year translating a book—the process is really a kind of deep reading since she has no plans to publish or even let anyone else see them. Each translation is  like a relationship that runs it’s course. 
 
The writing is direct and personal. Once in her apartment, drifting with her thoughts, I was content like her. Her life is a path not too distant from my own possibilities. And that is why, when there is an eruptive evolution at the end of the book I was especially delighted. Imagine I would have been happy anyway—as drawn into the narrative as I was. 
 
Quietly seductive and worth the visit.