The True True Story of Raja the Gullible

and His Mother

Rabih Alameddine

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Paperback

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English

Corsair
02 September 2025

Fiction & Literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

From the inimitable Rabih Alameddine - National Book Award finalist and winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award - comes a tragicomic saga set in Lebanon, a modern story of family, memory, and the unbreakable (and insane) attachment of a son and his mother.

In a tiny Beirut apartment, sixty-three-year-old Raja and his mother live side by side. A beloved high school philosophy teacher and the 'neighbourhood homosexual,' Raja relishes books, mediative walks, order, and solitude. Zalfa, his octogenarian mother, views her son's privacy as a personal affront. She craves nothing more than to know the ins and outs of Raja's work life and love life, boundaries be damned.

When Raja receives an invite to an all-expenses-paid writing residency in America, the timing couldn't be better. It arrives on the heels of a series of personal and national disasters that have left Raja itching for peace and quiet away from his mother and the heartache of Lebanon. But what at first seems a stroke of good fortune soon leads Raja to recount and relive the very disasters and past betrayals he wishes to leave behind.

Wickedly funny, heartbreaking, and told in Raja's irresistible voice, The True, True Story of Raja the Gullible dances across six decades to tell the unforgettable story of a singular life and its absurdities - a tale of mistakes, self-discovery, trauma, and maybe even forgiveness. Above all, it's a wild and sparkling celebration of love.

By: Rabih Alameddine
Imprint: Corsair
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 228mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 30mm
Weight: 400g
ISBN: 9781472160522
ISBN 10: 1472160525
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 02 September 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Rabih Alameddine is the author of the novels An Unnecessary Woman; I, the Divine; Koolaids; The Hakawati; and the story collection, The Perv.

Reviews for The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)

Alameddine is gifted at finding the humor in what for most writers would be singular traumatic themes, including AIDS, the Lebanese Civil War, and the plight of Middle Eastern migrants. Here, he applies his sardonic wit again to the Civil War as well as the calamities of Covid-19, Lebanon's banking collapse, and the 2020 Beirut port explosion... a peculiar but lively and humane book [and] a sharp exploration of resilience in dark times * Kirkus Reviews * A novel as expansive, funny, and poignant as its title promises. With his signature wit and irreverence, Rabih Alameddine charts decades of Beiruti history and trauma through the life of his narrator, Raja, a reclusive, aging teacher of French philosophy... [a] loving, heartwrenching novel * Shelf Awareness *