House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East Paperback – February 5, 2013
by Anthony Shadid (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 170 ratings
“Wonderful . . . One of the finest memoirs I’ve read.” — Philip Caputo, Washington Post
In the summer of 2006, racing through Lebanon to report on the Israeli invasion, Anthony Shadid found himself in his family’s ancestral hometown of Marjayoun. There, he discovered his great-grandfather’s once magnificent estate in near ruins, devastated by war. One year later, Shadid returned to Marjayoun, not to chronicle the violence, but to rebuild in its wake.
So begins the story of a battle-scarred home and a journalist’s wounded spirit, and of how reconstructing the one came to fortify the other. In this bittersweet and resonant memoir, Shadid creates a mosaic of past and present, tracing the house’s renewal alongside the history of his family’s flight from Lebanon and resettlement in America around the turn of the twentieth century. In the process, he memorializes a lost world and provides profound insights into a shifting Middle East. This paperback edition includes an afterword by the journalist Nada Bakri, Anthony Shadid’s wife, reflecting on his legacy.
“A poignant dedication to family, to home, and to history . . . Breathtaking.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“Entertaining, informative, and deeply moving . . . House of Stone will stand a long time, for those fortunate enough to read it.” — Telegraph (London)
Editorial Reviews
Review
"This is not just the Arab world’s Year in Provence. It is as if Shadid has combined the breakthrough effects of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, and Frances Fitzgerald’s Fire in the Lake into one enormously likeable book. It is a masterpiece." — John Freeman, Boston Globe
"Elegiac, heartbreaking . . . A book conceived as an introspective project of personal recovery — as well as a meditation on politics, identity, craft, and beauty in the Levant — now stands as a memorial. It is a fitting one because of the writing skill and deep feeling [Shadid] unobtrusively displays." — Steve Coll, New York Times
"An apt testament — a moving contemplation of how the dead stay with us, and how war scrambles the narrative of family life." — The New Yorker
"Profound, insightful, tragic, and funny . . . There is not space here to sell out all of this book’s many rewards . . . The prose is ripe, the biblical landscapes vividly rendered." — Telegraph (London)
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"Shadid’s great skill as a journalist was that of a master storyteller, and he’s never been more effective than in his final book." — Bookforum
"An honest-to-god, hands-down, undeniable and instant classic . . . written with levity and candor and lyricism that makes the book, improbably, both a compulsive read and one you don’t want to end." — Dave Eggers, author of A Hologram for the King
From the Back Cover
Wonderful . . . One of the finest memoirs I ve read. Philip Caputo, "Washington Post"
In the summer of 2006, racing through Lebanon to report on the Israeli invasion, Anthony Shadid found himself in his family s ancestral hometown of Marjayoun. There, he discovered his great-grandfather s once magnificent estate in near ruins, devastated by war. One year later, Shadid returned to Marjayoun, not to chronicle the violence, but to rebuild in its wake.
So begins the story of a battle-scarred home and a journalist s wounded spirit, and of how reconstructing the one came to fortify the other. In this bittersweet and resonant memoir, Shadid creates a mosaic of past and present, tracing the house s renewal alongside the history of his family s flight from Lebanon and resettlement in America around the turn of the twentieth century. In the process, he memorializes a lost world and provides profound insights into a shifting Middle East. This paperback edition includes an afterword by the journalist Nada Bakri, Anthony Shadid s wife, reflecting on his legacy.
A poignant dedication to family, to home, and to history . . . Breathtaking. "San Francisco Chronicle"
Entertaining, informative, and deeply moving . . . House of Stone will stand a long time, for those fortunate enough to read it. "Telegraph "(London)
ANTHONY SHADID (1968 2012), author of Night Draws Near and Legacy of the Prophet, gained attention and awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes, for his front-page reports in the Washington Post from Iraq and for his work as Middle East correspondent for the New York Times. Tragically, on February 16, 2012, he died while on assignment in Syria.
"
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Product details
Publisher : Mariner Books; Reprint edition (February 5, 2013)
Language: : English
Paperback : 336 pages
ISBN-10 : 0544002199
ISBN-13 : 978-0544002197
Item Weight : 10.4 ounces
Dimensions : 5.52 x 0.84 x 8.28 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #554,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#27 in Lebanon Travel Guides
#139 in General Middle East Travel Guides
#483 in Historical Middle East Biographies
Customer Reviews: 4.3 out of 5 stars 170 ratings
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Hussain Abdul-Hussain
5.0 out of 5 stars Why the Arab obsession with home?
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2012
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America celebrates immigration. Over the past few centuries, almost everyone who has moved here has found it welcoming, has had little trouble integrating, and - over a fairly short period of time - has found it inviting to call the country home. But not for the late New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid.
Born and raised in Oklahoma to second-generation Lebanese-American parents, Shadid was attracted to a different world, one that is not only thousands of miles away, but one hundred years back. In his House of Stone, Shadid described a "project" that he had undertaken. He moved back to his ancestral homeland in Marjayoun, south of Lebanon, and started renovating the long-vacant house of Isber Samara, his great grandfather.
"My family wasn't here," he wrote. "They had shown little interest in my project." Shadid said that on those occasions when he spoke to his daughter, Leila, she asked him what he was doing so far away, to which he answered: "Rebuilding our home." Shadid dreamt "of the day [he] would bring her... to a house she could call hers."
But why was Shadid exactly looking for a "house/home." What was wrong with Oklahoma where he grew up, or Maryland, where Leila lived with her mother, his ex-wife?
Shadid was not the first Arab-American to search for a place to call home. Before him, the late Edward Said, a Palestinian-American professor at the University of Columbia, published his memoirs in a book called "Out of Place."
And like Said, Sahdid mainly blamed the West for his lost home. Both men used their remarkably beautiful prose, ironically not in their native Arabic but in English, to describe the presumably harmonious Arab world that once existed before World War I, and before the colonials - first Britain and France and later the United States - wiped it out.
"Artificial and forced, instruments themselves of repression, the borders were their obstacle, having wiped away what was best about the Arab world," Shadid wrote. "They hewed to no certain logic; a glimpse at any map suggests as much. The lines are too straight, too precise to embrace the ambiguities of geography and history. They are frontiers without frontiers, ignorant of trajectories shaped by centuries, even millennia."
However, unlike Said who wrote about his displacement from the luxury of his Manhattan Apartment in New York, Shadid decided to do something about it. He immigrated back to Lebanon and was set to restore his ancestor's House of Stone to its past glory. "[I]magine I can bring back something that was lost," he argued.
That something was "Isber's world, which, while simpler, was no less tumultuous than my own." This begs the question: If Isber's world was disorderly, why blame the colonial borders for wiping "away what was best about the Arab world." And if Isber's world was already chaotic, why bring it back and insist on calling it home?
House of Stone is the story of Shadid's renovation project in southern Lebanon, interjected with his reconstruction of the history of his family in Marjayoun, and their emigration to the United States.
Along the way, Shadid narrated, mainly to a Western audience, the daily routine of his project, which included recruiting masons, haggling with suppliers and talking to friends. His narration, however, has a number of mistakes that gives away Shadid being a non-native. Despite his best effort to learn the Arabic language and culture during college days, Shadid still fell short of grasping all of the intricacies of Arab life.
For instance, when describing a fruit street vendor, Shadid wrote: "Bateekh, bateekh, bateekh, ala al sikeen ya bateekh," and translated it into: "Watermelon, watermelon, watermelon... a watermelon ready for the knife." While the translation might pass, Shadid missed the cultural nuance. When a Lebanese customer goes to buy a watermelon, he usually asks for assurances from the vendor about its "redness" and "sweetness." The vendor usually replies confidently that his watermelons are the best and takes out a knife offering to cut a small piece as a tasting sample to prove his claim. When vendors push their carts down the streets of Lebanon and shout "al sikeen ya batteekh," they don't mean "ready for the knife," like Shadid thought. Their "knife" call is an invitation to customers to challenge their claim.
In another paragraph, Shadid wrote: "In the Middle East, the tiles came to be known as sajjadeh, one of the Arabic words for carpet." In Arabic, at least in Lebanon, tiles mean blat. It is customary - especially in old houses - for tiles to be arranged in patterns to display nice geometric shapes, in which case they would be called "sajjadeh," or carpet.
Shadid died a few months ago because of his allergy to horses while being smuggled out of Syria where he had finished covering the ongoing revolution there. His book had not been published yet.
The book, his understanding of the heritage of his ancestors and their culture, summarizes his attempt to recreate what he thought was their better world, and live in it. That world, which perhaps never existed, he wanted to call home.
Shadid was cremated and his ashes thrown over the House of Stone and over the world that never existed, the world that he never barely got a chance to live in.
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HBitar
5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful story about heritage belonging immigration and family
Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2020
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A must read for every Lebanese longing for flashbacks from a beloved land and people who have withstood the ravages of many wars and then immigration. The writing is animated and humourous yet compelling warm humanistic and truthful. Simply a great legacy of a great author who has given his life to telling the stories of an embattled middle East.
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Niftyfriend
5.0 out of 5 stars Poignant, emotional and historical
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2017
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A multi-generational story about Shadid's rebuilding his great-grandfather's house, he creates a mosaic of histories of his family, and the families of his friends and the builders.
He weaves the home's history and his families and friends histories with that of Lebanon and the nation's history before, during and after independence. His writing also an overview of Lebanon's civil war.
While a glossary with some of Arabic words might have been helpful, the book was obviously a passion for the writer and hopefully most of the readers will learn and understand those words through the context of the book.
I'm traveling to Lebanon in sixty days to stay with a Lebanese friend and her family. Thank you Mr. Shadid for sharing part of your country with me. Rest in peace.
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Jean Sue Libkind
5.0 out of 5 stars The Bookschlepper Recommends
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2012
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To read this book is to grieve: for Tony, gone too soon; for Lebanon, lost among the politicians; for the idea of "place," where a family could belong. Shadid uses all of his Pulitzer-Prize winning reporting skills to interweave the story of his family (now in diaspora), the "Lebanon" created by others, an ancient way of life now shattered, and his own desire to rebuild his great-grandfather's home in Marjayoun. [Anyone who has done even limited restoration or remodeling of a house will identify with the quirks of the craftsmen, their "explanations," the inexplicable delays, the pleasant and not-so-pleasant surprises inside old walls. They will also recognize the satisfaction accomplishment. In his two-year narrative of tiles and tribulations, he reconstructs the lives of the people who built the house and whose descendants now thrive in other parts of the world. Shadid clarifies the murky chain of events that has been Lebanese history since the nation's inception. He forages and gathers antique elements and explains the significance and processes of long-lost artisans. May Allah protect what he has revived and may his daughter come to love it as he did. May Anthony Shadid rest in peace in its garden.
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teewers
5.0 out of 5 stars Getting to know a house, a village, and the family that lived there
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2017
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Very well written. Through his interactions with his neighbors and workmen as well as his telling of his family's history, he provides insight into the cultural and political history of the village in Lebanon in which his parents and grandparents used to live. Clear-eyed and no sugar-coating, but no rants. Underlying all is his ongoing description of his efforts to restore his family's house and garden. Anyone who has attempted to restore an old house will appreciate the ups and downs of his experience. It becomes clear as the book progresses that the restoration of the house, although complicated, is possible. Sadly, though, the restoration of the previous culture and way of life in the village and the area around it is probably not, for a multitude of reasons.
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Betty D
4.0 out of 5 stars More than I expected
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2015
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This is a well written book. I feel like I am right there with the author while he is restoring his grandfather's house. To be honest, I have not finished this book yet. I feel like I have been reading it for a very long time. I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way, but it does seem to be taking a very l-o-n-g time to finish. I am certainly learning a great deal about the history of Lebanon and Syria, certainly more than I expected to learn while reading a memoir of a house restoration. Again, not meant to sound like a bad thing. The author is very familiar with his family's history and conveys it in a very natural way. He portrays the lifestyle of a very different culture in a way that is informative and casual, and yet still feels quite cozy. I would recommend this book readily.
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House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East
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House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East
by Anthony Shadid
3.62 · Rating details · 2,273 ratings · 364 reviews
“Evocative and beautifully written, House of Stone . . . should be read by anyone who wishes to understand the agonies and hopes of the Middle East.” — Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and author of Crossing Mandelbaum Gate
“In rebuilding his family home in southern Lebanon, Shadid commits an extraordinarily generous act of restoration for his wounded land, and f ...more
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Hardcover, 336 pages
Published February 28th 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (first published January 1st 2012)
Original TitleHouse of Stone
ISBN0547134665 (ISBN13: 9780547134666)
Edition LanguageEnglish
Literary AwardsArab American Book Award for Nonfiction (2013), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Autobiography (2012), National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction (2012)
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House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East
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Average rating3.62 · Rating details · 2,273 ratings · 364 reviews
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Dave Cullen
Oct 30, 2011Dave Cullen rated it it was amazing
So much about this book to love.
It's only the third book I've ever agreed to blurb. That tells you how much I loved it.
My blurb (and I wrote it myself, and meant every word):
“I was captivated, instantly, by Anthony Shadid’s lushly evocative prose. Crumbling Ottoman outposts, doomed pashas, and roving bandits feel immediate, familiar, and relevant. Lose yourself in these pages, where empires linger, grandparents wander, and a battered Lebanon beckons us home. Savor it all. If Márquez had explored nonfiction, Macondo would feel as real as Marjayoun.”
Reading it sometimes made me feel inadequate as a writer. I wish I could do some of the amazing things he does. Or maybe I wish I could do them so relentlessly. I tend to underline phrases I love, and the pages are covered in ink. Every other sentence leaps out at me. Hard to believe.
Reading it sometimes made me feel inadequate as a writer. I wish I could do some of the amazing things he does. Or maybe I wish I could do them so relentlessly. I tend to underline phrases I love, and the pages are covered in ink. Every other sentence leaps out at me. Hard to believe anyone can be that consistent. Faulkner, Nabokov, Denis Johnson and William Lychak are the only ones who have matched Anthony's underline rate for me.
Update, Feb 2013:
A year later, I still think about this book, and the impact it had on me. Beautiful. (less)
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Sue
Mar 04, 2012Sue rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: middle-east, kindle, history, bio-memoir, lebanon, read-2013
As I read, I found myself falling into the rhythm of this book--the stumbling attempt to rebuild an old house, the current state of Lebanon and surrounding countries, and the history of the Levant and how the open, multicultural area became a political firestorm. I found the history and current information fascinating as I really had only a superficial understanding of the historical events and little understanding of their impact on the people who lived there, people of such diverse cultures, prior to reading this book.
I also enjoyed seeing Shadid try to work with people who sometimes viewed him as the "rich American" or powerful newspaperman when he appears more to be a man running from his personal ghosts.
Lebanon in this new millennium still suffers from the many problems that began in the early 20th century when British and French created artificial territories in what had been an open multicultural trading area for hundreds of years. This was an outgrowth of the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Lebanon became one of these new "countries". Shadid's family hailed from Marjayoun, what had a formerly been an important town. These new borders altered so much. His quest becomes to rebuild his great-great-grandfather's home and along the way he teaches us about his family, and Lebanon, then and now.
"My aunts and uncles, grandparents and great grandparents
were part of a century-long wave of migration that occurred
as the Ottoman Empire crumbled then fell, around the time
of World War I. In the hinterland of what was was then
part of Greater Syria...the war marked years of violent
anarchy that made bloodshed casual. Disease was rife. So was
famine, created by the British and French, who enforced
a blockade of all Arab ports in the Mediterranean. Hundreds
of thousands starved to death in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine,
and beyond." (loc 114)
Shadid is returning to the ancestral home from which his family, all but the great great grandfather Isber and his wife, had left. The complexity of the terrain is obvious from his description of the area.
"Marjayoun is set on a plateau of muted and melded grays
browns, and greens, blended in harmony with the land's past.
..Beyond the town's entrance is the Hula Valley, in present day
Israel, where the finer families once kept prosperous estates.
To the west of the town, over a ridge, the Litani river flows,
...On the other side are Mount Hermon and its peaks, which
serve as borders of Israel and Syria. Beyond it are the Golan
Heights". (loc 684)
In the process of rebuilding his ancestor's home, Shadid learns much about his town, the people, the culture, on a deeper level---or so it appears to this reader. And as a reader, I learned much more about the Middle East. I will finish with one final quote about Lebanon.
"This is a nation in recovery from losses that cannot be
remembered or articulated, but which are everywhere---in
the head, behind the eyes, in the tears and footsteps and
words...We have lost the splendors our ancestors created,
and we go elsewhere. People are reminded of that every day
here, where an older world, still visible on every
corner, fails to hide its superior ways." (loc 1232)
I recommend this highly as a memoir of one man's personal mission and as a history of the complicated Middle East.
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Catherine
Apr 06, 2012Catherine rated it it was ok
Shadid was a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, and his posthumous memoir has been promoted on several TV shows and web sites. I was really looking forward to delving into his book.
I’m so sad to say that this was a slog from start to finish. The book is partially about the renovation of his ancestor’s home in Lebanon. That portion of the story was typical of so many others I’ve read, full of construction delays, eccentric characters, and discovering “home.” But there was nothing really unique. For me, most of the characters, with only a few exceptions (Dr. Khairalla and perhaps—and I’m being generous—Abu Jean), just weren’t interesting enough to include.
Another part of the story was not only his family’s history but also Middle Eastern history. Perhaps he should have stayed strictly to his family’s history. The history, while informative, strayed a bit from the book being a personal memoir.
I kept thinking as days passed and I still hadn’t finished the book that perhaps the author was just too close to the material, unable to edit himself in a way that made the stories more intriguing. He thanked his editor at the end of the book. But I have to say that had the editor done a better job of actually editing the text, taking out unnecessary overly worded descriptions, perhaps the book would have read more like a heartfelt, soulful reflection of the author’s memories. Instead there seemed to be too much fretting over the writing. Words can be beautiful and descriptive and lovely, but in this case, for me, it became too much of a good thing.
The Epilogue was the best chapter by far. Had the entire book read like that section, I believe I would have enjoyed the book much more. (less)
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Marcy prager
Oct 29, 2012Marcy prager rated it it was amazing
Anthony Shadid was a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and with every page I read of this novel, he deserved this coveted prize. Anthony's great grandfather, Isber, left war-torn Lebanon with his family to live in America, where he could secure their future, "where his children could realize their ambitions and create their own families without the distractions of fear and conflict."
In better times in Marjayoun, Isber had built a magnificent "house of stone," done in the Levant style when life was tolerant, and "more indulgent" in the Middle East. Isber's homeland "was, in essence, an amalgamation of diversities where many mingled, a realm of intersections, a crossroads of language, culture, religions, and traditions. All were welcome to pass through the territories and homelands within its landscape, where differences were often celebrated. In idea at least, the Levant was open-minded, cosmopolitan; it did not concern itself with particularities or narrow definitions or identities." The era after the Ottoman rule, lands were split up, and war ensued. "Two codes of justice, old imperial and new colonial, clashed and confused. Economies changed, currencies multiplied in the wake of the Ottoman Empire's collapse. First came the Egyptian pound, pegged to the British sterling, then the Syrian pound, fixed to the French franc. Sectarianism and nationalism, the dangerous kinds, reared their heads in spectacles of horror and cruelty." Isber's Lebanon "was perched before an abyss, more unpredictable than the Great War, and nothing, not France, not Arab leaders, not the British army across the border, not the potentates of the old order- could pull it back."
Anthony grew up in Oklahoma. He became a war correspondent and had covered three years of war in Iraq and Baghdad. His wife, "obsessed with the lethal aspects" of Anthony's career, divorced him. Tired of war and the stress of his life, Anthony had one desire, to return to his roots and transform Isber's war-torn home "to one of grace."
The community of eccentric people Anthony befriends and hires to rebuild "the house of stone" in his great-grandfather's home town bring tears to the readers' eye, mostly with laughter, and sometimes great sadness. Anthony listens endlessly to friends who hold grudges, and continue their feuds. He hires a list of characters to rebuild his great-grandfather's home - drinkers, smokers of cigarettes and pot, war-wounded, and Jean Abu, the elderly, indolent "leader" of the workers who smokes and drinks coffee all day, who actually never works on the house. The work on the house is always delayed. Workers do not show as promised, and Jean Abu's reaction to Anthony's pleading is "If this person doesn't come, if that person doesn't come, what am I supposed to do? Should I pull them by their ear, drag them, and make them work? Should I ask God to invite him over? Should I bring God from heaven and make him bring this guy here?"
Meanwhile, Anthony becomes obsessed with buying the Cemento tiles of the past, with the purpose to lay them in patterns on portions of each room's floor, to lift his great-grandfather's history, and bring back a bygone era. Anthony was in search of his identity, and influence of what Marjayoun used to represent during the height of the Ottoman empire. His great-grandfather's story rivals his own. Both stories captured my attention and my heart.
I was saddened to learn that Anthony Shadid lost his life before this book was published at age 43. Another writer wrote, "Knowing that Shadid lost his life shortly before this book was published makes each piece of tile he polished, each plant he nurtured, feel all the more significant. It also raises the quiestion: Who will watch the house now that this exceptional man is gone?"
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Marieke
Apr 17, 2013Marieke rated it really liked it
Shelves: e-book, brand-spankin-new, 2013, memoir, kindle, non-fiction, journalism-opinion, lebanon
I liked this book more and more as I read, but also felt sadder and sadder with Anthony Shadid's death in the back of my mind. Maybe Dr. Khairallah is teaching him how to care for bonsai now, somewhere in an alternate dimension. Or something...
Here on Earth in the living realm, I found the predictions of the syrian conflict scattered about in the book quite unsettling. On a less morbid note, I really enjoyed reading about his family coming to America and creating their life here. I have an even deeper appreciation now for the immigrant experience here. Not to politicize things too much, but I do hope that those people in the US who are profoundly anti-immigrant take time to look back at their own families' histories...Anthony Shadid was a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist; his grandmother crossed the Mexican border illegally after her uncle, with whom she was coming to America, was rejected at Ellis Island because of an eye infection. I thought that was quite interesting.
Those are my thoughts for now...maybe I'll come back to this. (less)
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رولا البلبيسي Rula Bilbeisi
May 04, 2012رولا البلبيسي Rula Bilbeisi rated it liked it
“Empires fall. Nations topple. Boarders may shift or be realigned. Old loyalties may dissolve or, without warning, be altered. Home, whether it be structure or familiar ground is, finally, the identity that does not fade.”
With such a profound introduction, the story begins. His poetic words and sincere emotions captivated my attention in the beginning, especially when describing how home “bayt” is perceived here, in the Middle East. I quote: “A house was a display of pride and in time it would become a refuge, and finally a memory”.
However, in following chapters, detailed description of the renovation made me struggle to go on. Tile after tile, stone after stone, pipes and paint, that was too much to go through.
As chapters followed, it was like a rollercoaster ride. I was very involved once he starts talking about the immigration of his ancestors to the states, which reminded me of an Arabic novel called “America” that also described in length the Lebanese immigration and life in the states. Then back to the house and its tiles and windows, which was to me very boring.
I really wanted to know more about him, Anthony the man, who was absent in this story, so was his experiences in war zone areas like Iraq and the west bank, or more interesting the time he was held captive in Libya.
I was so sorry to know that he actually died before enjoying his Bayt (home). However, his ashes were spread between the olive trees he planted, covered with his favorite tiles. As if he renovated the house for that reason. In the end, he found his way back home.
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Rob Warner
Oct 22, 2012Rob Warner rated it it was amazing
As we age, our hearts eventually turn to our fathers, and we try to understand those who went before, what they were like, how they faced life, what challenges they overcame, and we gauge whether we measure up to our ancestors. House of Stone chronicles Shadid's return to his roots as he tries to restore the family home in Marjayoun, Lebanon, and also tries to understand his ancestors and his homeland. His quest evokes admiration for Shadid's family, sorrow for the tragedies they faced, and thoughts to return to one's own roots.
As I read, I marveled at the wars and strife that pervade Shadid's homeland, which stem from the intolerance people have for others' beliefs. In the United States we deplore such violence and intolerance, believing ourselves much more tolerant and open to others. If we honestly look at ourselves, however, we find that we are becoming much less tolerant, much more judgmental, and much less able to acknowledge that others' world views have us much validity as our own. We avoid bloodshed over religion and politics only because we avoid discussing them, but we avoid them less and less and clash more and more. Shadid helps us understand what we are becoming.
Knowing that Shadid has passed away brought melancholy as I read. I went to high school with Shadid and have seen his passion, and I felt his pain as he discussed his broken marriage and agonized over his faulty fatherhood. I loved learning about his family history as he made his ancestors come alive. I would love to see the home he restored, and applaud him for making that happen. (less)
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Mary
Nov 28, 2012Mary rated it it was amazing
Generally, I avoid memoirs, but since this book was up for the National Book Award, I decided to read it.
I am so glad I did.
Shadid combines the story of rebuilding his families' hundred year old home in Lebanon, which had been hit by a rocket, with his own story and that of his extended family. The story of rebuilding the house is captivating in itself. Anyone who has ever built a home or taken on a renovation project can relate to all the difficulities that Shadid experiences with finding and affording appropriate materials and reliable and skilled workmen. However, because although he speaks Arabic, he is not at home in the land of his grandfathers, so his problems are much more difficult than running off to Home Depot or using the Yellow Pages. He also brings to life many of the people he meets in the town of Marjhoun. Abu Jean the general contractor who old,irrascible, very much in charge, but in the end reliable. Dr. Khairalla, the intellectual, who is a skilled gardener,and maker of stringed instruments.
The stories of Shadid's ancestors weave through out the book. The danger of war is present through out the span of time discussed in the book. Readers watch the past flow by as Shadid's grandparents send their children away to safety and opportunity in the United States. The book is the story of these immigrants success in the United States to become doctors, lawyers, and a grandson a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist.
Almost finished with the book, I became curious about what Shadid was doing now, so I googled him only to find that he died in February 2012 at the age of 43 from an asthema attack. Knowing this made all the parts of the book where he addresses his young daughter about his hopes for her and his reasons for rebuilding the house more important. I learned that he remarried and had an infant son at the time of his death. At least, these children can come to know their father through this book. I was sadden to learn that we as readers had lost this talented writer with a sense of what is important in life.
I plan to read one of his other books Night Draws Near.
House of Stone is a wonderful read.
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Kkraemer
Aug 20, 2017Kkraemer rated it really liked it
After a bad patch in his life, Anthony Shadid took a year off to rebuild his grandparents' home in Lebanon. Raised in Oklahoma City, he was more than knowledgeable about the wars and conflicts that had plagued the area, and he wanted to get a sense of its history beyond these travesties, a sense of the real people, the real geography, the family to which he belonged.
The story of his year, then, is rife with descriptions of his friends and the people who come to work on this house, and of their particular perspectives on the world. The story also tells of the grandfather who built the house as a testament to his own success and power, and of the fact that this grandfather sadly came to the understanding that his children had to leave not only the house but the country if they were to thrive. It's the story of his grandmother, too, who lived in the house until her 90's, a presence he feels in every stone and every tile.
The stones of Marjayoun bear scars and witness to the people of this place and their ongoing position as a point of crossfire between Europe and the Middle East; Muslim, Christian, and Jew; and families who have bickered for generations. The stones are deep and beautiful, if a bit irregular...
Along the way, Shadid reflects on the Arabic language and culture, on the history of an area torn by strife and rich in tradition, and on the central importance of olives, almonds, and citrus in any garden, any gathering, any good society.
Because Shadid is, at once, an outsider and an insider, he offers windows into Marjayoun that would be blocked to anyone else. Because he is both a deeply reflective man and an excellent writer, he offers insights unequaled by anything else I've read.
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Kelly
Feb 16, 2013Kelly rated it did not like it
I really wanted to read this book when I saw that article about Shadid's death in Syria from an asthma attack. It finally came in at the library, and I started to read it with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, that enthusiasm quickly turned to disappointment as I felt that it became a chore to read. I can honestly only think of one book that I have had such a hard time reading that I did not finish, and it was by a religious zealot that was trying to preach through a series of disjointed stories. While Shadid had a continuous train of thought and a purpose to his book, I just could not get into it. It's a shame, really, because I enjoyed his reporting and had seen reviews of this book about how it was personal and moving and blah blah blah blah. Instead I found it plodding and slow and you needed a chart to keep track of the cast of characters. I made it through 40% of this book in three weeks (compared to my normal speed of finishing a book like this in 2-3 days) and honestly was a bit relieved when the library loan ended and I could no longer access the book on my Kindle. I'm sorry, but while I wish the family and followers of Shadid well and will miss his contributions, I just couldn't get behind House of Stone. (less)
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Emi Bevacqua
Mar 30, 2012Emi Bevacqua rated it liked it
Shelves: journalist, mideast
This is the first Anthony Shadid I've read and he came across as rather guarded. He's much more generous in his descriptions of the foibles and weaknesses of all his ancestors, neighbors and contractors. I did learn a good bit about Lebanon's history, and the country's identity within complicated constructs of cultures and politics (Christian, Muslim, Arab, Maronite, Druze, Levant...).
The story is about an American journalist who gets divorced and takes a leave of absence from the Washington Post to travel to his ancestral home in Lebanon, to rebuild the ruined wreckage in to a beautiful home for its founders' great-great-grand-daughter hopefully. The project takes nearly three years. But I want to know what happened to his ex-wife the doctor, and how his daughter Laila gets along with his new wife and their son, I want to know that everybody is okay since Anthony Shadid died leaving Syria (of an asthma attack), prompting the early release of this book. I guess I'm just nosy. (less)
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