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Night Counter, The: A Novel (2009)

by Alia Yunis(Favorite Author)

3.64 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1299225764 (ISBN13: 9781299225763)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Broadway Books

review 1: "The Night Counter" follows Fatima, an old woman from Lebanon who emigrated to the US as a young girl with her first husband. Fatima has received a visit from Scheherazade, the mythical storyteller, every night for the last 995 nights. Starting with the 996th night, this book recounts Fatima's stories, and those of her children and grandchildren, while Fatima prepares for her death at the end of the storytelling.I was extremely intrigued by the premise, and thought it could be fascinating. And it was - in the beginning. It felt almost like I read several short stories about everyone in the family and Fatima's history in Lebanon just as she was talking about it. I initially loved the idea, but I quickly got annoyed with the changing points of view. The author follows the sa... moreme pattern, Fatima tells the story, then Scheherazade will visit the person in question, then the person describes her own live, and then Scheherazade flies back. Thrown in now and then are episodes of Amir, Fatimas grandson who takes care of her, but they cease to be entertaining at some point.Most importantly, I got annoyed with a lot of the characters. I don't like it when every character in a book is messed up somehow, and that was the case her. Not one person had any idea how to be happy and really mean it. Plus, talking in slang might be alright, but that one chapter filled with the f***-word was a bit too much for my taste. Even though I'm not American. Oh yes, if you're not American either, you might recognize some approaches to life, or ways to behave, that seem odd to you. At least I attributed it to that because they seem pretty clichéd from my European point of view. Despite all these flaws, the book fulfilled several of my requirements - I could remember all the characters and their names and whatnot (which is very rare, and basically means that there is a very strong characterization going on), I never got bored enough to give up (which might seem like an odd compliment, but with the story build like that I thought I would. Honestly. So me not falling asleep was caused by a lot of clever planning and writing on the author's part).Mostly though, I felt for the characters, even when I couldn't stand the chapters they were in.I even cried a few tears after I've finished the book - which is why the original three & 1/2 stars get rounded up to four.
review 2: This is definitely worthwhile. It's a super-creative way to tell the story of generations of a large Lebanese family in the United States. Scheherazade comes to visit the matriarch of the family for 1001 nights, and through that, you hear the story of the entire family. It's also really humorous in a sweet way. I loved the story until the very end--it's a little madcap in tying up all the loose ends. (But it still gets away with it!) less

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