New novel · 2025
The True True Story of Raja the Gullible
2025 novel by Rabih Alameddine
Summary
The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) is a 2025 dark comedic novel by Rabih Alameddine which recounts six decades in the life of a Lebanese family. It won the 2025 National Book Award for fiction. It has a non-linear format, told through a series of nested stories through the eyes of a gay 63-year-old philosophy teacher who confronts his past, his relationship with his mother, and his homeland. It covers the Lebanese Civil War, Lebanon's 2019 liquidity crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2020 port explosion in Beirut, which killed more than 200 and injured thousands more.
From the Wikipedia article “The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources & data
- Facts from Wikidata; summary from Wikipedia.