Ali and His Russian Mother
- 114 pages
- 4 hours of reading
Alexandra Chreiteh Books
Alexandra Chreiteh is a Lebanese author celebrated for her frank prose and her unflinching portrayal of the barriers encountered by Arab women. Her work delves into the complexities of female experience within patriarchal societies, often exposing the tensions between tradition and modernity. Chreiteh's writing is characterized by its directness and uncompromising style, prompting readers to confront societal norms and expectations. Through her narratives, she explores the intricate landscapes of identity, desire, and the pursuit of liberation in cultural contexts where women's voices are frequently marginalized.
The narrator of Always Coca-Cola, Abeer Ward (fragrant rose, in Arabic), daughter of a conservative family, admits wryly that her name is also the name of her father’s flower shop. Abeer’s bedroom window is filled by a view of a Coca-Cola sign featuring the image of her sexually adventurous friend, Jana. From the novel’s opening paragraph—“When my mother was pregnant with me, she had only one craving. That craving was for Coca-Cola”—first-time novelist Alexandra Chreiteh asks us to see, with wonder, humor, and dismay, how inextricably confused naming and desire, identity and branding are. The names—and the novel’s edgy, cynical humor—might be recognizable across languages, but Chreiteh’s novel is first and foremost an exploration of a specific Lebanese milieu. Critics in Lebanon have called the novel “an electric shock.”