toxicity

Once again, Waddah Sharara writes a new novel, "Sumaya," following his debut novel, "Yesterday Today." Waddah, considered one of the most prominent Lebanese academics, writers, and intellectuals, and the most prolific and influential since the 1970s, has devoted himself for decades to publishing critical books on sociology, politics, and culture. While venturing into the field of the novel, with his unique language, he selects characters belonging to social eras rich in their transformations. Sumaya Romaizan, the heroine of his new novel, is a daughter of the city, but she is also the daughter of some of its social transformations, which leave a significant impact on her personality. She leaves the city for a job and marriage, before deciding to return permanently. The author follows her life, in its daily details, and the decisions she made in her marital, familial, and professional relationships. It is an individual portrait of Sumaya as a daughter, a wife, and a working woman. However, the more he delves deeper into her character, the more he touches upon the concerns common to an entire generation of women.

"The mother's body relaxed for a moment. Sumaya thought her mother had fainted, as happened in the first weeks after her stressful, close births. Sumaya described herself as unlucky, cursing herself as she embraced her mother's shoulders and chest, felt the softness of the fabric of her dress, and smelled the rosewater in which her mother dipped cotton in the morning, wiping it lightly on the sides of her forehead, ears, and the top of her neck. A slight nausea overcame her before panic overwhelmed her when it seemed to her that her mother's entire body was soft, almost lacking in bones and solidity."