Overview
"Alzayatās slim, powerful debut collection showcases the authorās deep empathy and imagination in stories about grief, assimilation, and trauma... This intelligent collection is a force to be reckoned with." āPublishers Weekly, starred review
The award-winning stories in Dima Alzayatās collection, Alligator and Other Stories, are luminous and tender, whether dealing with a woman preforming burial rites for her brother in āGhusl,ā or the great-aunt struggling to explain cultural identity to her niece in āOnce We Were Syrians.ā
Alzayatās stories are rich and relatable, chronicling a sense of displacement through everyday scenarios. There is the intern in pre-#MeToo Hollywood of āOnly Those Who Struggle Succeed,ā the New York City children on the lookout for a place to play on the heels of Etan Patzās kidnapping in āDisappearance,ā or the ādangerousā women of āThe Daughters of ManÄtā who struggle to assert their independence.
The title story, āAlligator,ā is a masterpiece of historical reconstruction and intergenerational trauma, told in an epistolary format through social media posts, newspaper clippings, and testimonials, that starts with the true story of the lynching of a Syrian immigrant couple by law officers in small-town Florida. Placed in a wider context of U.S. racial violence, the extrajudicial deaths, and what happens to the coupleās children and their childrenās children in the years after, challenges the demands of American assimilation and its limits.
Alligator and Other Stories is haunting, spellbinding, and unforgettable, while marking Dima Alzayatās arrival as a tremendously gifted new talent.
"Dima Alzayat scrys the past, spinning narratives that are ahead of our time. War, politics and power come clashing together in these inventive stories that flit between styles and perspectives with dexterity. Alzayat may be the first person to realize that our history is our own black mirror." āJacob Hoefer, Labyrinth Books (Princeton, NJ)
This book title, Alligator - 9781937512897, ISBN: 9781937512897, by Dima Alzayat, published by Two Dollar Radio (May 29, 2020) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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