First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

Lit by the sublime beauty and tragedy of classical Arabic poetry, Adam Dannoun, a Palestinian falafel seller in New York, sets out to piece together the fragments of his family history into a novel. But it is only when he encounters Blind Ma’moun, the teacher and father figure of his early childhood, that Adam discovers the story he must tell. Ma’moun’s testimony brings Adam back to the first years of his life in the ghetto of Lydda, in Palestine, where his family endured thirst, hunger, and terror in the shadow of a massacre.

With unmatched literary craft and burning empathy for the oppressed, Khoury peels away layers of lost stories and repressed memories to reach the heart of Adam’s trauma. Children of the Ghetto: My Name is Adam weaves history, memory, poetry, and atrocity in a sprawling memorial to the Nakba and the strangled lives left in its wake.

Happy Friday everyone! Well, technically it is already Monday; from the end of the week to the start of the following week. This weekend we had our company outing which precluded me from writing. I guess I was also a little too tired although the company outing did help me to rest for a bit. However, I had to endure two seven-hour bus trips in two days. These long rides, exacerbated by the oppressive heat, were also exhausting in themselves. Nevertheless, I hope everyone had a restful weekend. I hope everyone was able to recuperate after enduring yet another tedious workweek. With the start of another workweek, I hope everyone manages to make it through it. I hope that the workweek will move smoothly. Thankfully, I will be on leave for the rest of the week. I have more time to rest and recover. Or perhaps not because I will be scaling yet another mountain in the coming days.

Woah. On another note, I realized that we are nearly two-thirds through the fifth month of the year. I know this has become cliché but I can’t help but reiterate how time flies. Time flows naturally sans any regard for anyone. It does not wait for anyone. With this, how has the year been so far? Has it been treating you well? I do hope that 2025 is going great for everyone. I hope it is going the way you wanted it to. I hope that you are headed to your destination. However, if you are still figuring it all out, it is still fine. There is no need to be in a rush because you will eventually achieve clarity. If your year is going otherwise, I hope you experience a reversal of fortune. I hope positive energies, blessings, and good news flow into your lives in the remaining months of the year. I hope you are get to achieve your goals this year. More importantly, I hope you are all doing well, in body, mind, and spirit.

Speaking of goals, I have several, reading-wise. I am glad to say that I am making headways on these reading goals. My 2025 reading journey is in full swing. This takes me to my current reading motif. This month, I extended my foray into the works of Asian writers, a journey I started in April. Technically, this reading journey started in January when I started a reading quarter full of East Asian writers. Anyway, I am currently in the Middle East – at least my literary journey took me to this part of the literary world I rarely ventured to – which I am exploring through a name I may have heard of previously but whose oeuvre I have yet to explore. It was through online booksellers that I first encountered Lebanese writer Elias Khoury (إلياس خوري). Curious about his body of work, I obtained a copy of his novel, My Name is Adam. Apart from the book piquing my interest, one of the main drivers for making it part of my ongoing Asian literary adventure is that the book explores contemporary Palestinian history.

Originally published in 2016 as أولاد الغيتو- اسمي آدم, My Name is Adam is the first volume of the highly-heralded Lebanese writer’s latest series, Children of the Ghetto. The titular Adam is Adam Dannoun, a melancholic Palestinian self-exiled in New York. However, his identity is not palpable at the start because Khoury makes it as if he is telling the story. Further, the initial pages pass as a rumination into the process of writing. I guess this is the initial tone, with Khoury walking the readers through the process of writing the story of Adam, hence, in the process, he earns the reader’s sympathy. It also comes across as a book about writing; somehow, it is a book within a book. It was a little all over the place, at least at the start. There were too many threads. But as the story moves forward, some of the details start to come together a picture starts to form and a sort of clarity starts to be achieved.

In the novel’s introduction, we learn that while living in New York City, Khoury was introduced by Sarang Lee, a Korean woman who was one of his students, to the man who would be the spiritual guide across the novel. Adam Dannoun, we learn, is an Israeli man working in a Middle Eastern café/restaurant. Further, Sarang, who lived for a while in Tel Aviv, already knew about Adam. However, their friendship was nipped in the bud when a film based on Khoury’s book Gate of the Sun was shown. Adam storms off and the two soon lose touch. Later, Khoury learns of Adam’s passing; he died from a fire. However, some of Adam’s notebooks survived the fire. Sarang gave these notebooks to her mentor who decided to publish them. These notebooks contain Adam’s notes for two books he was planning to write. One was an attempt at writing his own novel while the other was an attempt to write about his life.

But as I have noted initially, several ambiguities permeate Adam’s story. For one, Adam’s identity cannot be ascertained, well, at least to the point I finished reading. Adam speaks Hebrew. It was his medium of communication with Sarang. However, Khoury communicates with him in Arabic with a Palestinian accent. Is he an Israeli passing as a Palestinian or the other way around? This surely is not an easy book to decipher, at least initially. There are also segues in literature, particularly Arabic poetry. Nevertheless, these cultural touchstones make the novel even more interesting. It adds different layers and textures; it is a vessel to understand Arabic/Middle Eastern literature.

But it seems that there is more to the story than meets the eye. For one, it is what answers do the past provide? Will it unmask Adam and reveal his identity? The title, for sure, piques one’s curiosity. Is Adam really Adam? Is he who he purports himself to be? These are just among the questions that I want to delve into as the story develops. Further, I want to understand how his past connects with the present, especially with how the novel was prefaced by Khoury. There are so many things to look forward to, on top of this being opportunities to explore a new world and an unfamiliar writer whose oeuvre I have yet to explore. How about you fellow reader? What book or books have you read over the weekend? I hope you get to enjoy whatever you are reading right now. Happy weekend!