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Saud Alsanousi

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The Bamboo Stalk Kindle Edition

by Saud Alsanousi (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3.9 126 ratings

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Josephine, a Filipino maid in Kuwait, naively thinks she has fallen in love with a young Kuwaiti, Rashid. But when she becomes pregnant with his child, and with the rumble of the Gulf War growing louder, Rashid abandons her and sends her home with their baby son, José.

José grows up clinging to the hope of returning to his father’s country someday, but will his Kuwaiti family live up to his expectations?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Absorbing." ―The New Yorker

"I was captivated from the first chapter. We need such literature. Alsanousi is an important emerging literary voice." ―Susan Abulhawa, author of MORNINGS IN JENIN

“Alsanousi is a voice of conscience.” ―The Independent

“A force to be reckoned with.” ―The Arab Times

“Ambitious, cultivated and brave.” ―Financial Times

About the Author

Saud Alsanousi is a Kuwaiti novelist and journalist, whose work has appeared in Al-Watan newspaper and Al-Arabi. He writes for Al-Qabas newspaper and lives in Kuwait City.
Jonathan Wright has translated several novels, two of which won the 2013 Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation and the 2014 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07RDJVRVR
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press; UK ed. edition (May 19, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 19, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1072 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 385 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 9927101775

Best Sellers Rank: #1,084,279 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #8,799 in Contemporary Literary Fiction
- #17,060 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #66,185 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
3.9 126 ratings

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Saud Alsanousi

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Saud Al-Sanousi is a Kuwaiti novelist and journalist, born in 1981. His work has appeared in a number of Kuwaiti publications, including Al-Watan newspaper and Al-Arabi, Al-Kuwait and Al-Abwab magazines. He currently writes for Al-Qabas newspaper. His first novel THE PRISONER OF MIRRORS was published in 2010 and won the fourth Laila al-Othman Prize, a prestigious award for novels and short stories by young writers. He won the first prize for his story 'The Bonsai and the Old Man' in the Stories on the Air competition organised in July 2011 by the Al-Arabi magazine with BBC Arabic.

He is currently writer in residence at The Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Cultural Centre and has dramatised and scripted a new version of the “Memoirs of a Sailor” musical; an epic written by poet Mohammed Al-Fayez and composed by musician Ghannam Al-Daikan. He's at work on another play.

WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR ARABIC FICTION (known as the 'Arabic Booker')

WINNER OF THE STATE OF KUWAIT PRIZE

FINANCIAL TIMES RECOMMENDED SUMMER READ

WINNER OF THE 2016 SAIF GHOBASH BANIPAL PRIZE FOR ARABIC LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION

VOTED PERSON OF THE YEAR IN THE KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN 2016

Zayed Book Award 2018/19 - longlisted for novel Hamam Al Dar

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5

126 global ratings

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Hitaff a.

Brutally True!

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2022

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As a Kuwaiti, this book makes me both proud and sad.

However, I do believe that a well-writen novel equally emphasizing the good, the bad, and the ugly, is all the social reform we need!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Lois W. Stern, Author, Creator of tales2inspire

An Interesting Theme from a talented, emerging author

Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2016

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This book has an interesting theme of a young man trying to find his place, caught between the worlds of his mother and father. From that perspective, it was an interesting theme, especially because these two worlds were places I am less familiar with, the Philippines and Kuwait. Like a method actor, Alsanousi had to immerse himself in the culture of the country to make himself first feel all its nuances before communicating them to his readers. It was interesting to explore those cultures with him, but I felt the story would have been more poignant with a little more angst and a little less verbiage. I know this book won an International Award for Arab Literature, and as I'm not familiar with the books it was competing against, it is difficult for me to comment here. I do think Alsanousi is a talented writer, so it will be interesting to follow his career as he matures.
Lois W. Stern
Author/Editor
Creator of Tales2Inspire (an Authors Helping Authors project)

4 people found this helpful

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George R

Really interesting story.

Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2023

Really interesting story, unusual settings in Kuwait and Phillipines. Good readable English translation.

Helpful

Ali Abdullah

One of the best books I have ever read

Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2015

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One of the best books I have ever read. I found it hard to put down and read it in two days. The Bamboo Stalk is a much needed critique of religious, social, and national identity in the modern Gulf States. The argument that Gulf labor is unfair in not a new but this novel offers a look into why migrant workers continue to flood to the Gulf regardless of the treatment that awaits them. This is a must read for any student who studies the modern Arab Gulf.

7 people found this helpful

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drclaudiap

Went on forever... only finished because it ...

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2016

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Went on forever...only finished because it was for bookclub. Redundant

2 people found this helpful

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Booklvr

For a better life....

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2016

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The main character's mom leaves her homeland to work as a maid in a country with a different culture, different language. It's an act that many foreign workers do today.

This was a compelling story of the son who grapples with having a Muslim name with a Filipino face. He often finds that he is accepted in neither his father's or mother's homeland as he grows from child to young adult.

2 people found this helpful

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sally tarbox

"The decision wasn't your father's. A whole society stood behind him"

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2017

Read as part of a round-the-world challenge, this Kuwaiti novel was quite compelling, following the plight of Filipino immigrant workers in Kuwait.
Narrator Jose/ Isa (his Filipino and Kuwaiti names) is the child of a poor Filipino maid by the son of the wealthy family she works for. Pressure from his scandalized grandmother means the maid is sent back home with her child ... but always the vague promise that he can return one day when the time is right.
Brought up in poverty, with a horrible grandfather and prostitute aunt, Jose never quite knows who he is. "I was more like a bamboo plant, which doesn't belong anywhere in particular. You can cut off a piece of the stalk and plant it without roots in any piece of ground...the stalk sprouts new roots and starts to grow again in thew new ground with no past, no memory."
His mother doesn't press Catholicism on him, convinced he'll become a muslim one day. And then one day he gets to visit his father's homeland...
A sad tale which brings out the prejudice and snobbishness of a supposedly religious country.
Not the greatest literature, but quite a good read, maybe *3.5

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2016

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Was highly recommended by a friend...I recommend it too!

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Vaibhav Sunder

Good book

Reviewed in India on March 10, 2019

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Very well written, the dilemmas and problems of immigrants well written

Ali Abdullah

It is one of the best books I have ever read in my career

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 12, 2015

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The Bamboo Stalk is Saud al Sanousi's fictional account of Issa/José, the legitimate son of a Kuwaiti man and his Filipino maid. It is a story so well written that if you did not know it, you would think that it were true. Once you start the book, you will not want to put it down until the end. It is one of the best books I have ever read in my career.

Issa is born in Kuwait to the son of a well-known family and their maid, whom he marries in secrecy. Upon feeling the pressure of family obligation, the father is forced to send Issa and his mother back to the Philippines. It is there that he is known as José. Raised poor in the Philippines, José is told stories about the father he would never know and is despised by his grandfather. Upon reaching adulthood, José is sent for by his father's best friend and soon finds himself in Kuwait where he is known as Issa and recognized by the state as a Kuwaiti citizen. Nonetheless, he has to endure the rejection of his grandmother and aunties. Only his younger sister comes to fully accept him as a member of the family. Ultimately, he has to make a decision to remain in Kuwait as Issa or to return to the Philippines and live as José.

I had two basic questions when I started the book. First, as a Kuwaiti, to what extent would he capture the essence of the Philippines and the Filipinos? Second, as a Kuwaiti, to what extent would he be critical of Kuwaiti society and identity? I can I was more than satisfied on both accounts and can confidently claim that had I not known the background of the author prior to reading, I would have never guessed that he was Kuwaiti. In relation to the first question, anyone with an intimate relationship with the Philippines and Filipinos will find Alsanousi's treatment of the Philippine landscape and the reality of the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) satisfying. As for the second question, Alsanousi's critique of Kuwaiti national identity is so profound that it can be extended to the regional level. It is the national narrative of each of the GCC states- constructed national identities that are used to distinguish between familiar (citizen) and other (non-citizen). What is unique to Issa's situation is that he is treated as familiar by the state but as an other by his family.

Some have claimed that it is a novel on the treatment, or mistreatment, of migrant workers, but that is not the case. Instead, it deals with how migrant workers understood their reality in Kuwait and why migrant workers continue to flood into the Gulf States regardless of the situations they face. In the case of Issa, he can sympathize with the workers because of his experiences as both José and Issa yet is paid as a Kuwaiti. In actuality, there is more about religiosity in the novel than there is about mistreatment of migrant workers. The Issa/José protagonist has to navigate between being born a Muslim, raised Catholic, discovering Buddhism while in Manila, and encountering Muslims conservatives, moderates, and Shia while in Kuwait. Interestingly, all of these forces, even Shi'ism according to recent research, have played significant roles in shaping the national narrative of the Philippine nation-state.

Finally, The Bamboo Stalk is the journey of a young man who searches for belonging and love, both of which he finds in the end. It is a must read for anyone interested in identity and race in the Gulf, OFWs, and Kuwaiti or Gulf nationality. Any student, teacher, or researcher of contemporary Gulf Studies must make this part of their required reading.

3 people found this helpful

ish

Excellent author

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 11, 2020

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This is an interesting book from a not so well known author in Europe. The book sheds light on several real issues in relation to domestic labour in Kuwait. The story, although a bit corny, in entertaining and reads very easily. Definitely recommend this excellent book

Noufallina

Happy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 1, 2018

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I’m very pleased with what I received.

Sheena

great read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 25, 2015

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Absolutley loved reading this book! Such an absorbing story!