Guapa MP3 CD – Unabridged, October 25, 2016

“Guapa” by Saleem Haddad is a day-in-the-life story of a 27 year-old American-educated, gay Arab young man, named Rasa, living and working as an interpreter in his native city/country (unnamed, but it could be Cairo/Egypt). It does not matter in which country the story is set. The difficulties and threats attached to being gay and Arab are universal in North Africa and the Mid-East. His father is long dead; his mother left years ago. He lives with his grandmother, Teta.Rasa, at 70% through the story, asks the ultimate question: “Why am I so stuck in the past?” His answer is, “Because the present has spun out of my control.” The bulk of the story, though, is not really about the one day, but is comprised of a series of long, detailed flashbacks describing how Rasa’s life unfolded to this one present day.Power to change things is what this novel is about. The story is clumsy, disconnected, rambling, often politically strident, and at times disappointing in its superficiality and ordinariness, but nonetheless it makes its point with profundity. When does anyone ever have the power to change anything, except the minutiae of our own small lives? Rasa’s life is small, really small, and he wails, “I am not sure of such except that I’m unbearably alone, and it’s unbearably hot.” (Again at 70%) And alone he is indeed. Aren’t we all? He never reconciles his ultimate dilemma of a lost lover, a completely absent family life, and a culture which rejects him with his realities of the present.During this long, painful day for Rasa, he has lost his one true love, Taymour, to, of all things, marriage to a woman. This is the night of the wedding, and it is considered eib (shame) not to attend. So, Rasa, descends further into despair and submits to tatemae (false societal pretense). Even the friendly, familiar confines of Guapa, where he goes prior to the wedding, a gay bar that is sometimes shut down, seems only to depress him further, except for the free drinks. Even his best friend Taj, who is the star drag queen at Guapa, and who has been arrested and released, but beaten, seems not to understand Rasa.In many ways the life of a young gay male in an Arab country in the early 2000’s reminds me of what it was like to be gay in America in the 60s. 70s, and early 80s, with one’s personal focus on secrecy, bizarre illegal drag cabarets, cigarettes, booze, and hidden thoughts and deeds, all the while living a double life in a bigger culture that thoroughly despises you and would rather you did not exist. The AIDS epidemic changed everything in Western countries, because it forced gay men to take political action (which worked), but not so in the Arab-speaking world. Thus, it’s a form of time-warp there today.There’s a big dose of self-pity in Rasa’s persona and in his musings and his silent or often vocal complaining. He’s a big complainer. Such a personality trait does not endear him to a reader. There’s also a lot of simplistic political polemic, with lightweight summaries of the arguments for and against various political theories. However, political theory is not at the heart of this book. Rasa, of course, is one of the disenchanted demonstrators when the much-touted “Arab Spring” dissolved into nothingness – and worse. The USA is held mostly in contempt, eventually, by Rasa, even though he went to university in America for 4 years. American characters in the book are fundamentally unlikeable and weird. I did not recognize one of them.There is a crisis of sorts at the end, but the story has no denouement at all. The day ends, the next day begins, and life proceeds. That’s one of the problems with day-in-the-life books.Rasa comes from an upper-middle class family, and he maintains this singular perspective throughout. He rarely shows that he understands his beneficent background or an in-depth understanding of his privileged social position.I never quite understood the character of his grandmother, Teta – his father’s mother. She is an awful person, the ever-present voice and authority of the past, the enforcer of old Arab ways, despising change and modernity, especially influences from the West. When Rasa returns from America after University she throws away all his American clothes, and, what’s worse, he lets her. He never achieves independence from this tyrant. Does she represent all corrupt, backward-looking political leaders of Arab countries? At least so it seems. Her significance is so omnipresent and oppressive that even the reader feels intimidated by her.All-in-all, while not at all compelling, “Guapa”” is an interesting read. You’ll maybe not care much for any of the characters, but hey, who liked Madame Bouvary anyway? It’s a real treat to find the primary character in any novel who is a young gay Arab and written by someone whose last name is Haddad. With all that in mind, it’s barely a 3.51, rounded up to 4 for recognition of the author’s sheer effort and monumental chutzpah.

Saleem Haddad's debut novel "Guapa" takes place in a single day in an unnamed Middle Eastern country during the recent Arab Spring uprising. Because the story seems so raw and fully imagined, and because of the parallels between the author's and the narrator's life, I sometimes forgot that this was a novel rather than a memoir that Haddad was presenting.It's perhaps disingenuous to say that the novel takes place in a single day because major portions of the novel are flashbacks that Haddad presents to explain how he got to the day on which the novel nominally takes place. Some of the stories are more pertinent than others but most of them eventually pay off, and a few of them pay off extraordinarily well. The idea of a single day in the life of a young, outgoing, gay, Arab man that goes from bad to worse to revelation is a terrific structure, but because of the required backtracking and explaining, "Guapa" sometimes drags in the middle. The fabulous ending at a lavish wedding, however, blasts away most of the gritty and carefully laid details to reveal an emotional world that ties the previous stories together.The narrator, Rasa, lives with his grandmother and brings his handsome boyfriend home for the evening, which leads to one of the major events and conflicts of the novel. Rasa, educated in the US, works as an Arab-English translator, which also puts him at the center of a number of dangerous political situations.Taymour is Rasa's closeted boyfriend. Taymour feels it's best to stay quietly closeted, which is a requirement to thrive in a strictly Muslim country but forces Rasa to make decisions that wouldn't be necessary otherwise and drives the novel to its solid ending.Rasa's campy friend Maj dances in Middle-Eastern drag in the underground club called Guapa. He's rounded-up during a pre-Stonewall-style morality clean-up from a cinema noted for gay cruising. Maj is the opposite to the survivor Taymour; he's the queeny complement to Taymour's straight-laced pretender.A major part of the story that Haddad slowly reveals centers around his strict grandmother Tata (and her maid) with whom he lives, as well as more (but incomplete) background about his mother and father.The novel is moderately erotic when appropriate and has some pretty good sex. It's also very visual and suspenseful at times.I've never been to the Middle East and am often unsure of the nuanced politics, but "Guapa" felt real and, while sometimes surprising in its details, leads me to believe that some battles are the same around the world. But the emotional story, intercut with family drama and work stresses and political instability, demonstrates the truly life-and-death differences between cultures. Highest praise for bringing this story to such terrific life.

This reading was difficult for me personally. It describes in almost relentless detail the depths that gay men suffered exposure and what they did to hide in the closet. It is a study that is so true. I do recommend this book as a glimpse of the reality of gay men of the recent past. It is a testimonial of pain and the paranoia that can result from bigotry. It was a hard read because of the pain that comes through the experience of others with no reason for "comic relief."

Guapa is worth reading. Our protagonist, Rasa. is a young gay man in an "unnamed Arab country" who is grappling with a closeted, same-sex relationship, his controlling grandmother, and his place in the political turmoil facing his country. Saleem Haddad, makes many powerful observations throughout but at times the novel becomes too didactic - so, "let me teach you," that the storytelling falls by the wayside. Rasa evokes a lot of sympathy as his story unfolds over the 24 hours of the novel and brings him to make a big change in his life. Some of the other characters don't work as well. In particular, Taymour (his love interest) and Teta (the tyrannical grandmother) don't feel real. One can be annoyed with the vagueness of the place, and especially in this case, where the city is also a very important character in the story and the writer seems to want us to feel like we are right in the middle of big Middle East event. However, it is still a very good book with some rough edges and about a gay life in a region we know too little.

Set over a 24 hour period in an unnamed Arab country, we follow a young man named Rasa who, at the start of the book, is discovered in bed with his male lover by his grandmother who does not react well.As Rasa escapes the house and roams the city streets he reflects on the key moments in his life that brought him to this point and the deep love he has for his lover Taymour. The setting is depicted so vividly that I felt like I was walking the streets with Rasa and really got to know him throughout the course of the book.The novel explores Rasa's experiences as a gay man in a country where homosexuality is illegal as well as his experiences as a Muslim in America during the 9/11 terror attacks when he was studying for his degree. Seeing how these parts of his identity have made him vulnerable to prejudice and judgement was truly heartbreaking to read but these topics were handled so beautifully in the book.I am really glad to have discovered this book and look forward to seeing more from this author.

Excellent. Thought provoking. Well written account of a gay man in a non friendly gay culture . His straggles to be honest with himself and his surroundings in an Islamic country. the question we all have to ask ourselves is to what extent are we prepared to accept unjust laws or accept the struggle to be ourselves.

Guapa blew me away, I couldn't put the book down. A captivating and honest story that feels like it has been wanting to be told for so long. Some of my favourite bits include the personal battle with shame and living up to the way society tells us we should be. Also the challenges of cultural identity that so many of us struggle to find. Relatable on many levels and written beautifully.

A very profound (but so easy to read) insight into an Arab man battling not only with his sexuality but with society, culture and guilt. Beautifully written and extremely relatable to anyone and everyone who has battled with questions of who life expects you to be... and shame.

Beautifully written and well-paced, this is a book I definitely recommend. Haddad does a great job transporting the reader into Rasa's world and the elegant descriptions of love and self-understanding are relatable and profound. Stunning first novel!