Death Is Hard Work
Published on 6. February 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-0-571-34605-9 (ISBN)
Description
"Searing . . . Khalifa is a soulful and perfectly unsentimental writer . . . The most amazing thing about this book is that it managed to exist, that it came to us out of the fire with its pages intact." Hisham Matar, Guardian
Death Is Hard Work is a tale of three people embarking on an absurd quest - an unforgettable journey into a contemporary heart of darkness.
At a hospital in Damascus, Syria, Abdel Latif's final wish is to be buried in the family plot near Aleppo - just a two-hour drive away. Bolbol, his youngest son, persuades his estranged brother and sister to accompany him and their father's body to the ancestral village. But Syria is a war zone, and the trials that confront the family on their journey will have enormous consequences for them all.
A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR
WINNER OF THE SAIF GHOBASH BANIPAL PRIZE
A FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS IN TRANSLATED LITERATURE
A FINALIST FOR THE PREMIO GREGOR VON REZZORI AWARD
Death Is Hard Work is a tale of three people embarking on an absurd quest - an unforgettable journey into a contemporary heart of darkness.
At a hospital in Damascus, Syria, Abdel Latif's final wish is to be buried in the family plot near Aleppo - just a two-hour drive away. Bolbol, his youngest son, persuades his estranged brother and sister to accompany him and their father's body to the ancestral village. But Syria is a war zone, and the trials that confront the family on their journey will have enormous consequences for them all.
A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR
WINNER OF THE SAIF GHOBASH BANIPAL PRIZE
A FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS IN TRANSLATED LITERATURE
A FINALIST FOR THE PREMIO GREGOR VON REZZORI AWARD
More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 132 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
155 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-571-34605-9 (9780571346059)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Khaled Khalifa was born in 1964, in a village close to Aleppo, Syria. He is the author of four novels, including In Praise of Hatred, which was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and No Knives in the Kitchens of this City, which won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2013. He lives in Damascus, a city he has refused to abandon despite the danger posed by the ongoing civil war.