Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes (26 page)
Read Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes Online
Authors: Kamal Al-Solaylee
Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Personal Memoirs, #History, #Middle East, #General
“As a beloved son and threatened citizen, Kamal Al-Solaylee tells a deeply rending story of his ‘escape’ from the toxic chaos of Middle Eastern politics and religious fundamentalism. The still-knotted emotions exposed here are boldly explored yet intensely understated. Here is a courageous personal history, all the more powerful for what it asks of every reader: What would
you
have done?”
—Wayson Choy, author of
All That Matters
“I don’t think you’ll find a more painfully honest memoir on the bookshelves.”
—Inside the News with Peter Mansbridge
“This wonderful book is the bittersweet story of a young man who grew up in Cairo and was irresistibly attracted to the freedom of the West—and the story of the sprawling family he left behind. As he journeyed toward a new life in Canada, his beloved mother, brothers and sisters succumbed to an increasingly repressive culture that gradually killed their hopes and dreams. Kamal Al-Solaylee has written a powerful memoir that will lift your spirits and break your heart.”
—Margaret Wente, author of
You Can’t
Say
That in Canada
“Kamal Al-Solaylee has written a beguiling memoir. The story of his family’s repeated dislocation and changing relationship with Islam provides a new lens through which to consider the recent upheaval across the Middle East. I’ve read many books on Islam and the Arab world, but none with the intimacy and emotional weight of this one.
Intolerable
is an immigrant tale, a queer history, a geopolitical lesson, and above all, it’s a love story.”
—Stephanie Nolen, author of
28: Stories of AIDS in Africa
Intolerable
Copyright © 2012 by Kamal Al-Solaylee.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.
EPub Edition © MAY 2013 ISBN: 9781443401845
Published by Harper Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Originally published in Canada by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd in a hardcover edition: 2012
This Harper Perennial trade paperback edition: 2013
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
All photographs courtesy of the author.
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Al-Solaylee, Kamal
Intolerable : a memoir of extremes / Kamal Al-Solaylee.
ISBN 978-1-55468-887-6
1. Al-Solaylee, Kamal. 2. Journalists—Canada—Biography.
3. Arab Canadians—Biography. I. Title.
PN4913.A4A3 2013 070.92 C2012-908341-0
RRD 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Acknowledgements
