Moving the Palace, Charif Majdalani
Moving the Palace, Charif Majdalani
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Moving the Palace

Author: Charif Majdalani, Edward Gauvin

Narrator: Jonathan Davis

Unabridged: 5 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/11/2017

Synopsis

At the dawn of the twentieth century, a young Lebanese adventurer leaves the Levant to explore the wilds of Africa, encountering an eccentric English colonel in Sudan and enlisting in his service. In this lush chronicle of far-flung adventure, the military recruit crosses paths with a compatriot who has dismantled a sumptuous palace in Tripoli and is transporting it across the continent on a camel caravan. The protagonist soon takes charge of this hoard of architectural fragments, ferrying the dismantled landmark through Sudan, Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, attempting to return to his native Beirut with this moveable real estate. Along the way, he encounters skeptic sheikhs, suspicious tribal leaders, bountiful feasts, pilgrims bound for Mecca and T. E. Lawrence in a tent. This is a captivating modern-day Odyssey in the tradition of Bruce Chatwin and Paul Theroux.

About Charif Majdalani

Charif Majdalani, born in Lebanon in 1960, is often compared to a Lebanese Proust. Majdalani lived in France from 1980 to 1993 and now teaches French literature at the Université Saint-Joseph in Beirut. The original French version of his novel Moving the Palace won the 2008 François Mauriac Prize from the Académie Francaise as well as the Prix Tropiques.

About Edward Gauvin

Edward Gauvin has received prizes and fellowships including those awarded by PEN America, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fulbright program. His work has won the John Dryden Translation Prize and the Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Award. He has translated over 200 graphic novels.

About Jonathan Davis

Jonathan Davis has received widespread critical acclaim for his narration in a variety of genres. He has won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration in 2009, 2011, and 2012, as well as being a finalist for an Audie in 2007, 2013, and three times in 2014. He has also garnered accolades from Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and AudioFile magazine.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lark

I'm reminded once more of how idiosyncratic and personal reading can be, because much of what I loved in this novel would have been why I might have put it down another time. The story is told as if through antique glass--with bubbles, waves, and occasional clarity--and it begins with a narrator loo......more

Goodreads review by Tamara

Imagine yourself transplanted to Lebanon in the early 1900s. You are a Westernized Lebanese, fluent in Arabic, English, and with a smidgen of French. You decide to leave Lebanon and head to the Sudan where you become a translator for the British colonial administration. Your employment entails traip......more

Goodreads review by Robert

A truly entertaining little novel that transgresses genres and expectations in a wonderfully quiet manner. It could have been an adventure novel of caravans in the deserts of the Sudan and Arabia during wartime, but it’s not. People are unexpectedly honest, mysteries don’t end up mattering much, lov......more

Quotes

“Renders the complex social landscape of the Middle East and North Africa with subtlety and finesse…Yet one doesn’t need to care about the region’s history, or its present-day contexts, to enjoy Moving the Palace…brio and Majdalani’s richly textured prose are reason enough.” Wall Street Journal

“A Middle Eastern heart-of-darkness tale that flows like a dream, occasionally turning nightmarish, but is always rendered with a hypnotic quality beautifully captured in Edward Gauvin’s elegant translation…Majdalani’s novels are much praised in the Francophone world and with good reason. His seductive prose twists and turns, deftly matching hallucinatory content with form.” New York Times Sunday Book Review

“The reader remains captivated long after having completed this epic and comic novel.” Le Monde (Paris)

“Charming and gently humorous…Majdalani’s writing sparkles…Those looking for an enjoyable and brisk literary adventure will be very satisfied.” Publishers Weekly

“This utterly charming and, yes, moving novel takes us on a journey…and the result is a victory of human ingenuity and a joyous picaresque…Beautiful fun that also gives a deeper sense of Middle East history.” Library Journal

“Through this fascinating adventure, Charif Majdalani constructs one of the most beautiful epics I’ve ever read.” Antoine Volodine, author of Minor Angels

“Charif Majdalani has a ripping yarn to tell and tells it with a raconteur’s bravura. Transporting, wholly engaging, deeply moving. This book is why I travel and why I read.” Andrew McCarthy, author of Just Fly Away

“An eloquent, captivating excursion through a Middle East history that is more relevant today than ever.” Rawi Hage, author of De Niro’s Game

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