The Others

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Product Details

ISBN-10 1-58322-871-3
ISBN-13 978-1-58322-871-5
Publication Date Sep 2009

Description

Nominee, 2010 Stonewall Book Awards

"Intensely detailed, trance-like storytelling with moments of pure recognition." -Ariel Schrag

A best-selling book when it appeared in Arabic, The Others is a literary tour de force, offering a window into one of the most repressive societies in the world. Seba al-Herz tells the story of a nameless teenager at a girls' school in the heavily Shi'ite Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Like her classmates, she has no contact with men outside her family. When the glamorous Dai tries to seduce her, her feelings of guilt are overcome by an overwhelming desire for sexual and emotional intimacy. Dai introduces her to a secret world of lesbian parties, online flirtations, and hotel liaisons—a world in which the thrill of infatuation and the shame of obsession are deeply intertwined. Al-Herz's erotic, dreamlike story of looming personal crisis is a remarkable portrait of hidden lives.


Reviews

Press Reviews

Al Hayat
This could be the most controversial novel to emerge in our times, not just from Saudi Arabia, but from the whole of the Arab world.

Out in Print
Seba Al-Herz's prose is as sweet and dense as a mouthful of dates... The Others is a sumptuous feast of a read, challenging but well worth the time and thought.

Book Marks
Queer readers are likely to be drawn first to this novel's Sapphic content... The nameless character’s flirtations alternate between exhilarating and ambivalent, explosive and shameful – reactions not at all at odds with the process of same-sex sexual initiation in the Western world.
- Richard Labonte

New York Magazine
. . . Offers a rare personal glimpse into the repressive kingdom.

The Advocate
Al-Herz's tome features truly revolutionary prose—meaning it's considered likely to start a revolution in the Saudi Arabia where this pseudonym operates in a highly oppressed, underground lesbian culture. Her characters bring a conflicted voice to people barely believed to exist.

Modern Tonic
. . . Provides a rare glimpse into lesbian life in an oppressive culture.

Il Venerdi di Repubblica
So much sex. . . . But don't expect a winking Melissa P. of the desert. Here we’re talking about stifling gynaecea and cracks of madness reminiscent of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath; cynical
...more

- Marco Cicala

Kirkus Reviews
Debut novel offers a rare window into young, lesbian Saudi culture. . . . The protagonist's journey of self-discovery and questions she reflects upon have universal appeal. . . . Poetic, valuable look at the difficulties of being a woman in Saudi Arabia, and of growing up anywhere in the world.

Gay & Lesbian Review
The Others is a trance-like excursion into contemporary Saudi Arabian life, where divisions between people inform every aspect of social behavior. Mysterious and commonplace, nationalist
...more


NewsReview.com
First-time author al-Herz's language ... is dense and intoxicating.



Experts

[The Others] opens a door into one of the darkest and least-known corners of this society and the view is revelatory, sometimes shocking, always compelling.
-Neel Mukherjee


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