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    Celestial Bodies
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    Celestial Bodies
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    Celestial Bodies
    Ebook263 pages4 hours

    Celestial Bodies

    By Jokha Alharthi

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

  • The first Arabic book to win the Man Booker International Prize, and the first female Omani writer to be translated into English
  • Previous winners of the Man Booker International Prize include Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, and The Vegetarian by Han Kang
  • Celestial Bodies invites readers into a world very rarely depicted for English language readers, Oman, both in its modern-day moment and in its fraught historical journey into a 21st century nation located on the most important oil transport waterway in the world.
  • The novel also offers a non-Western demonstration a feminist perspective and non-Western critique of patriarchy as well as a non-Western exploration of freedom and self-determination
  • The moving, intergenerational, and interconnected narratives will appeal to readers of literary family sagas, literature in translation, Arabic voices, and more
  • Catapult editor in chief Jonathan Lee won the American publication rights to Celestial Bodies in an auction
    Bookseller Praise for Celestial Bodies
  • "Jokha Alharthi is a major author. And Celestial Bodies is a monumental achievement." —Spencer Ruchti, Harvard Book Store (Cambridge, MA)
  • "Through the shimmering, quietly majestic portraits of three Omani sisters and their extended families, Jokha Alharthi manages to capture an entire country in the midst of swift and sweeping transformation. As these sisters grapple with their own desires and the deeply embedded expectations of their society and culture, Alharthi unearths the powerful emotions that thrive and fester in the rifts between generations—the envy, for instance, of the downtrodden old for the free young, or the latter's resentment and shame under the pressure of timeless traditions. Alharthi writes with such grace and fluidity that one might imagine her working not with a pen but a paintbrush, from which broad swaths of starlight and shadow and silk trail in breathtaking, hypnotic patterns. At once expansive and microscopic, dazzling and dark, Celestial Bodies announces an artist of formidable deftness, compassion, and intelligence." —Ben Newgard, Flyleaf Books (Chapel Hill, NC)
  • "Jokha Alharthi’s Celestial Bodies is a work to behold. Set in Oman—a country that didn’t formally abolish slavery until 1970—this novel spans decades and generations, all against the backdrop of the nation’s cultural and political transformations. In crisp prose, Alharthi (via translator Marilyn Booth) traces the contours of Oman’s changes through the daily goings-on of one upper-class family living in the rural village of al-Awafi. Celestial Bodies’s compassionate grasp of history warrants comparisons to the best works by Kundera and Márquez. But ultimately, this novel’s vision is its own, and its voice that of an essential new literary star." —Joshua Cuevas, Out West Books (Grand Junction, CO)
  • "An immersion into the generational changes of Omani culture, with a beautifully written narrative that keeps haunting me ever since I completed the book. This is the winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2019, and it sneaks up on you as the characters develop and their secrets are told. Your patience will be rewarded. Highly recommend." —Todd Miller, Arcadia Books (Spring Green, WI)
  • "A must-read for everyone. The beauty in the different voices as they tell their stories is unsurpassed as the characters describe their perspective." —Kristen Kuehnle, Fine Print Booksellers (Kennebunkport, ME)
  • "Jokha Alharthi's Man Booker International Prize–winning novel Celestial Bodies, translated by Marilyn Booth, carries heavy political and even historical weight with it, as the first novel by an Omani woman ever to be translated into English. It's a moving, intriguing, inventive entry into the new canon of contemporary Arabic literature in translation. Told by a wide cast of narrators in alternating chapters, the novel sketches a wide lan
    • LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCatapult
    Release dateOct 8, 2019
    ISBN9781948226950
    Author

    Jokha Alharthi

    Jokha Alharthi is the author of ten works, including three collections of short fiction, two children’s books, and three novels in Arabic. Fluent in English, she completed a PhD in Classical Arabic Poetry in Edinburgh, and teaches at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat. Celestial Bodies was shortlisted for the Sahikh Zayed Award for Young Writers and her 2016 novel Narinjah won the Sultan Qaboos Award for culture, art and literature. Her short stories have been published in English, German, Italian, Korean and Serbian.

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    Reviews for Celestial Bodies

    3.5/5

    125 ratings6 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This is definitely more of a character study than a novel with a propelling plot, so this will be a hard sell for many readers. I found the brief glimpses into the life of a family and village in Oman to be fascinating, though there were so many characters that it became hard to keep track at times. Probably a 3.5/5 for me.
    • 3/5
      In the village of al-Awafi in Oman, there are three sisters who are choosing different paths for their future. Mayya and Asma have taken the decision to marry, one out of duty, one after the man she loved broke her heart. The third sister, Khawla, heads to Canada after her beloved emigrated there. As Oman society goes through the changes from a traditional, slave-owning society, and into its current modern and complex version, Mayya gives birth to a girl. Rather than choose from the traditional names and she is heavily pressurised to do so by her family, she picks the name London.

      This new child is the prism that shows Omani society. The Oman that she grows up into is changing but still remains very traditional in its outlook, with control from the patriarch of the family. The story is told from a variety of different perspectives each chapter, which occasionally can overlap and get a little confusing. It is not bad overall and is a fast read. What it does do well on though is an insight into Omani culture and customs and the complexity that that arises from family matters.
    • 3/5
      A multigenerational family tale in Oman as the country modernises. Family tensions exaggerated by the modern world impinging on old traditions. Each family member tells their own tale in brief chapters. The family tree at the beginning of the book is essential to follow who is who and how they are related. Interesting but frustrating. The author should have worked harder to put it all into a single, solid story.
    • 5/5
      An insight into village life in Oman.I loved this book! But I was, sadly, the only one in my book group who did. While I can see why others were less keen, for me, it was just so atmospheric. I should add that I was listening to the audio by Laurence Bouvard and I think this version truly enhanced the book.It does skip in time (a lot) and this can be pretty confusing. It may have helped that I listened over a few days; I'm sure if I'd taken a break in the middle, I'd have forgotten half of the characters, of which there are many. The book version has a family tree at the beginning, I could really have done with that, but obviously this would not have been compatible with the audio format.The narrative is basically a bird's eye view of the life of a small community in Al Alwafi, Oman. It covers three generations. The grandparents' generation own slaves and think it quite normal. Their offspring's generation is living in amongst the slaves but no longer owns them. They may work for the family, but they are technically free. By the time we get to the most recent generation, about 40 years ago, many of the slaves have moved off to seek their fortunes, in a very similar way to some of the offspring of the villagers.Muscat, the capital of Oman, is growing and causing a 'pull' to many of the younger villagers. It offers little by today's standards, but it's considerably more than what is available back home.Village life is a microcosm, virtually closed to non Arabic speakers, and this book was a wonderful insight into the way people lived and how they saw the world. While travelling in Oman, I have had the occasional opportunity to join with an Omani family for coffee or breakfast, and this book opened up the hidden world behind my fleeting glimpses. Already the concrete dwellings are showing signs of age, but the vacated mud brick houses are washing back into the soil and returning to the dust whence they came.As well as an insight into village life, I learned about a war that took place in Buraimi (now just over the Omani border from Al Ain, in the UAE). And another that took place on Jebel Aktar, a mountain range currently enjoyed by hikers, climbers and holiday makers to Oman.I highly recommend the audio version of this book for the spoken Arabic (which I would have just skimmed) and the way the narrator enhances the characters.Wonderful.
    • 4/5
      Celestial Bodies, Jokha Alharthi (Author), Marilyn Booth - translator(Author), Laurence Bouvard (Narrator),In a world that is dominated by the needs of men, a world where women are totally subservient and duty bound to serve them, what will happen when modernity interferes with that way of life? This book examines the changes in an Omani family, over about a century of time, as world events, education and enlightenment put their fingerprints on the lives of three generations of men and women.Will cousin still marry cousin, will the marriages be arranged, will women be allowed out of the home, will they be allowed education, will they ever drive or choose their spouse and career? If they obtain more freedom and more rights, will the individuals be prepared to handle them?As they go from some living in tents in the desert, to others living in luxury, how do their needs and lifestyles change? From the men who expect to be catered to in every way to the women who believe it is their duty to cater to them, how will their lives change if customs and traditions are altered and one gender is no longer totally subservient to the another?Although it is confusing at times, with so many characters popping up and a timeline that is often not linear, it is written with a prose that is far and above most books today. Filthy language and overt sex scenes to titillate the reader are nowhere to be found as they are in most of the mass produced fiction of today. Rather, the story stands on its own merit.The novel follows a family from Oman. It takes the reader through the changes in culture, choices, and individual freedoms, especially regarding women’s rights in the Arab world and it travels through world events as these changes occur, illustrating its effects on the family members and servants. It examines the thoughts of several individuals, with insight, as their desires develop and/or change.With additional freedom comes responsibility. Are any of the characters ready to handle it? Do they even understand what is expected of them since women, especially, are unaware of what goes on in the world around them, are largely uneducated and are ruled by superstition. They are dominated by the rules and wishes of the men around them and have very little freedom of choice. Men are reared to have all their desires and needs attended to by women. Supposedly they only have to show their wives respect, provide for their needs and the needs of the children, in order to keep them happy. Women are raised to believe that it is their duty to serve men, disregarding their own needs and desires. They are kept largely ignorant of the ways of the world, the workings of the body, and opportunities available to others. When the flood gates open, will women disregard all rules and throw caution to the wind? Will men simply acquiesce to the needs and rights of women? Does the world really change or does morality? How does freedom change the world and the people?Three sisters with different personalities are followed through their lives, with the preceding and succeeding generation’s fingerprints upon their lives. From wife beating to respecting wives, from subservient women to educated women, from secrets to lies, from change to change, the reader witnesses the growth of a people as it morphs from one entity to another. Rather than the world revolving around the celestial bodies, it begins to revolve around the needs of individual people. As this change takes place there is a rise in decadence and disobedience, so is the change and enlightenment beneficial? The book will make one wonder if it was better before or after the people gained more knowledge, more freedom and obtained greater individual choice. One will wonder what freedom really is.; does it eventually entrap you? The world was filled with the hypocrisy of rules that kept one sex subservient to the other. There were slaves in the society who actually believed it was their duty to be slaves. When those oppressed were granted rights and greater freedoms, how did that work out for them? As the sheltered women demanded more rights, they were not always prepared to handle them. Did some succeed while others failed? Was the result of modernity beneficial to society or the individual? What was seen was not always what was real. Although someone was perceived in one way, it may not have been the true face or personality of that person. It was how they were taught to behave and present themselves to the world.The customs around marriage changed and with the changes there were positive and negative results. When a marriage was arranged, it most often lasted. When the young were free to choose their own mates, the choices often failed and rather than men asking for divorce, women soon did, as well. A car was something that occupied a place of honor and symbolized material wealth and success. It had the power of life and death in some parts of the world where it was difficult to travel. Getting to a doctor was tedious and time consuming. Only the wealthy and educated were aware of what tools were available to them. The wealthy were in charge and often were heartless. Even the furniture in the home which once stood for honor and respect in a family, soon evolved into more modern pieces with no ties to ancestry or antiquity.So, in summary, over about a century of time, as the Omani culture is brought into modernity, the changes bring some positive and some negative effects. Was life better or worse in the end? Depression and divorce were some negative byproducts. What will the reader think was positive and/or negative? It makes for good discussion.This book is narrated beautifully by the reader. All the characters are appropriately portrayed and his interpretation does not get in the way of the novel’s intent.
    • 3/5
      A craftily written tale of relationships and life in Oman. The story covers several generations of linked individuals up to the recent past. While the book successfully paints a picture of life and living in Oman, I found the structure, with each short chapter told in the voice of the different characters at different times in their lives, a little distracting. The disjointed nature of the narrative made it more difficult to track who was who - names are introduced with no explanation or background. I spent more time than I would have wished doing word searches to check for previous references to individuals.But, on reflection, I think it worked. It certainly worked on the Booker International judges. So, worth reading, but not an instant classic.