The Last Day

Mikhail Naimy

"In this novel, Mikhail Naimy depicts the experience of a man who, at midnight, learns that the next twenty-four hours are all that remain of his life. Thus, Musa al-Askari, in these few hours, must confront his entire fifty-seven-year life like a man facing his burning home: with all his cleverness and speed, he must discern, in the growing flame, between what he considered essential before the fire and what is truly essential. He must snatch the latter and escape with it before everything turns to ashes. Within this framework, Mikhail Naimy, with astonishing realism and masterful storytelling, miraculously narrates the events of these last twenty-four hours, which form the core of the entire book. As he puts the events of that narrative to the test of death, or rather, as he plunges them into the crucible of death, the clear distinction between what is truly false and what is genuine in people's lives becomes perfectly evident. "