{"product_id":"the-true-true-story-of-raja-the-gullible-and-his-mother-9780802166470","title":"The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Alameddine is a writer with a boundless imagination.\"--NPR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom National Book Award finalist and winner of the PEN\/Faulkner Award for Fiction comes a tragicomic love story set in Lebanon, a modern saga of family, memory, and the unbreakable attachment of a son and his mother\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a tiny Beirut apartment, sixty-three-year-old Raja and his mother live side by side. A beloved high school philosophy teacher and \"the neighborhood homosexual,\" Raja relishes books, meditative walks, order, and solitude. Zalfa, his octogenarian mother, views her son's desire for privacy as a personal affront. She demands to know every detail of Raja's work life and love life, boundaries be damned.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Raja receives an invite to an all-expenses-paid writing residency in America, the timing couldn't be better. It arrives on the heels of a series of personal and national disasters that have left Raja longing for peace and quiet away from his mother and the heartache of Lebanon. But what at first seems a stroke of good fortune soon leads Raja to recount and relive the very disasters and past betrayals he wishes to forget.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTold in Raja's irresistible and wickedly funny voice, the novel dances across six decades to tell the unforgettable story of a singular life and its absurdities--a tale of mistakes, self-discovery, trauma, and maybe even forgiveness. Above all, \u003ci\u003eThe True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)\u003c\/i\u003e is a wildly unique and sparkling celebration of love.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRabih Alameddine\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the novels \u003ci\u003eThe Wrong End of the Telescope\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eAngel of History\u003c\/i\u003e;\u003ci\u003e An Unnecessary Woman\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eThe Hakawati\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eI, the Divine\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eKoolaids\u003c\/i\u003e; the story collection, \u003ci\u003eThe Perv\u003c\/i\u003e; and one work of nonfiction, \u003ci\u003eComforting Myths\u003c\/i\u003e. He has won the PEN\/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He received the Dos Passos Prize in 2019, a Lannan Award in 2021, and the Bill Whitehead Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Grove Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51580364587282,"sku":"9780802166470","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9b29cb98-1000-4195-9093-9ca3d900d478.jpg?v=1756217842","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-true-true-story-of-raja-the-gullible-and-his-mother-9780802166470","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}