“No Knives in the Kitchens of This City” by Khaled Khalifa is a heartbreaking story of a Syrian family navigating Aleppo as politics, the president and loyalties ravage the city. Khalifa, who was born in Aleppo, is the author of four novels and the editor of the literary magazine Alif. He does not hold back in his descriptions of how Aleppo, from the 1960s to the 2000s, has fallen around families who have no choice but to live through the disasters. Translated into English by Leri Price in 2016, the novel won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2013 and was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2014.
Khalifa’s story is told and retold by his characters who long for the past when life was not as difficult. Following one family, the novel reveals the story of a mother who died “ten years too late,” according to her son. Her family must find their way through the streets of Aleppo amid its dwindling lettuce fields, overcrowded streets and loyal party members looking for allegiances and punishing those who do not praise the leader as they do.
Not a loyalist and marred by misfortune, the mother must make do with her life, even if her son’s birthday is marked by the Ba’athist coup of 1963, an event in history she despises which makes her feel as if “her life was a collection of mistakes that could never be resolved.” Her life deteriorates slowly after she, a dreamy woman with dark eyes, marries for love and eventually is left by her husband for another woman. She is abandoned by her own family, except for her brother known as Uncle Nazir, and forced to continue life as a school teacher with three children and her shame. But as her own life takes a turn down a twisted and unplanned path, so does Syria’s and its beloved city of Aleppo.
The regime’s takeover is swift — it forcefully grasps the country and its people. Neither their lives nor their surroundings are in their hands anymore.
From the narrator’s grandfather Jalal Al-Nabulsi, who is “proud of being from a family which had been in Aleppo for a thousand years,” one of the first employees of the Railway Institute and one of the only witnesses to the inception of the Syrian railway system, to a mother who “perpetually extolled the past and conjured it up with delight as a kind of revenge for her humble life,” to Sawsan who at first is irrepressible and then “immersed herself into radicalism and fatwas day after day,” Khalifa’s book weaves through the generations of the family.
His book depicts a fading picture, one that was once vibrant and full of life. He moves from Aleppo to Midan Akbas and back, through dusty roads and the Cinema Opera where childhoods were filled with Egyptian and Bollywood movies “with happy endings.” He tells the stories of women who leaf through trinkets and forgotten wares in the Bab Al-Nasr second-hand shop and bring them back to life to feel a semblance of magic. As “walking in the streets had become a terrifying experience” and violence and temperamental political attitudes take hold, his sentences and metaphors captivate the reader and will immerse you in Syria.
Time and age weigh heavily on the pages as a collapsing life and city add to the darkness that begins to take hold of Aleppo. Tales of love and dreams, of faded images that serve as motivation to move forward, are rampant. Mother manages to move on when she believes she is “divorced, not abandoned,” but for others, it is a little more difficult to convince themselves and find inspiration to move forward.
Khalifa’s book is reminiscent of Turkish novelist Sabahattin Ali’s style in the manner in which he hints that it is life that shapes people and not people who shape life. Like Ali, Khalifa’s story is about how circumstance decides the path one’s life will take. His love for the city and for Syria is ever-present in his every description and metaphor. He can enchant the reader with details of the city and its history, its buildings and the “rising fumes of death and the fear present in every street and on the face of every man and woman hurrying home in the early evening.”
But amid the fear are pockets of people who cling to music and passionate love, who attempt to keep hate away and defy the powers that be. Within the dark alleyways and molding walls, art, poetry and theater flourish. Sometimes, the characters live in their own momentary bubbles and are blind to the outside world in their pursuit of self-discovery and purpose. But ultimately, they are forced back to face the world and themselves.
In the darkness are bouts of light, but it is neither bright nor long-lasting and that is the truth and reality of Syria. Despite this, the resilience of Khalifa’s characters in their journeys is hopeful. This book paints horrifying pictures as beautifully as it does optimistic ones. Khalifa’s writing is whole, his sentences memorable, his characters strong and fearless. His strength lies in his ability to reveal harsh truths and ugly realities beautifully, to bring through the seas of hate, love and resilience.
In the end, when life hangs on by a thread, there is hope amid the pessimism as “Aleppo still embodied a dream of wealth and urbanity even though three-fourths of it had turned into slums unfit for human habitation.”
Book Review: A Syrian family stands tall as Aleppo falls
Book Review: A Syrian family stands tall as Aleppo falls
What We Are Reading Today: The Conqueror’s Gift by Michael Maas
Ethnography is indispensable for every empire, as important as armies, tax-collectors, or ambassadors. It helps rulers articulate cultural differences, and it lets the inhabitants of the empire, especially those who guide its course, understand themselves in the midst of enemies, allies, and friends.
In “The Conqueror’s Gift,” Michael Maas examines the ethnographic infrastructure of the Roman Empire and the transformation of Rome’s ethnographic vision during Late Antiquity.
Drawing on a wide range of texts, Maas shows how the Romans’ ethnographic thought evolved as they attended to the business of ruling an empire on three continents.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Social Wasps of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean’
Author: Chris Alice Kratzer
Social wasps like hornets and yellowjackets use the power of teamwork to build complex societies and architectural wonders, and though they comprise only a fraction of the thousands of species in North and Central America, they are almost solely responsible for giving wasps a bad reputation.
This beautifully illustrated field guide covers all known species of social wasps from the high arctic of Greenland and Alaska to the tropical forests of Panama and Grenada.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Dinosaur Behavior’ by Michael J. Benton
Paleobiology has advanced from a speculative subject to a cutting-edge science. Today, researchers are applying the latest forensic technologies to the fossil record, revealing startling new insights into the lives of dinosaurs.
This illustrated guide explores the behavior, evolution, physiology, and extinction of dinosaurs, taking readers inside the mysterious world of these marvelous animals.
With specially commissioned illustrations by Bob Nicholls, “Dinosaur Behavior” explains how the dinosaurs lived and courted, fought and fed, signaled and interacted with each other, and much more.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Orientalism’ by Edward Said
- This binary framing, Said argues, has historically shaped Western attitudes and policies toward the Middle East, Asia, and North Africa, with effects that persist today
Author: Edward Said
Edward Said’s “Orientalism” is a landmark work that reshaped the understanding of how the West perceives and portrays the East.
First published in 1978, the book is a critique of the constructed image of the “Orient” as an exotic, monolithic “other,” created by the West to assert cultural and political dominance.
Through a meticulous examination of literature, art, and academic scholarship, Said reveals how this distorted portrayal served to justify colonial rule and perpetuate stereotypes.
Central to Said’s argument is the idea that orientalism is not merely a scholarly discipline but a political and cultural discourse used to reinforce Western superiority. He illustrates how this discourse characterizes the East as irrational, backward, and static, contrasting it with a rational and progressive West.
This binary framing, Said argues, has historically shaped Western attitudes and policies toward the Middle East, Asia, and North Africa, with effects that persist today.
Said’s interdisciplinary approach draws on history, literature, and politics, making “Orientalism” a rich and provocative analysis. He sets out how even seemingly objective academic studies and media representations have reinforced reductive stereotypes, showing how power shapes knowledge. By doing so, he challenges readers to critically examine the narratives they encounter about the “East.”
Although “Orientalism” is deeply rooted in historical context, its relevance endures in contemporary discussions of cultural representation and global politics. It continues to resonate in a world where stereotypes and biases influence international relations and public perception.
Said’s writing is both rigorous and accessible, blending scholarly depth with a moral clarity that makes his arguments compelling. While the book’s density may challenge some readers, its insights are invaluable for understanding how cultural narratives are constructed and used to assert dominance.
Ultimately, “Orientalism” is a profound critique of the structures that perpetuate inequality and division. It remains an essential read for anyone seeking to understand the cultural legacies of imperialism and the enduring power of representation.
Said’s work is not only an academic achievement but also a call to rethink entrenched attitudes and strive for a more equitable understanding of cultural difference.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Difference’ by Scott E. Page
In this landmark book, Scott Page redefines the way we understand ourselves in relation to one another.
“The Difference” is about how we think in groups—and how our collective wisdom exceeds the sum of its parts.
Why can teams of people find better solutions than brilliant individuals working alone? And why are the best group decisions and predictions those that draw upon the very qualities that make each of us unique? The answers lie in diversity—not what we look like outside, but what we look like within, our distinct tools and abilities.
