The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)

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The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) is a 2025 dark comedic novel by Rabih Alameddine which recounts six decades in the life of a Lebanese family. It won the 2025 National Book Award for fiction. [1]

It has a non-linear format, told through a series of nested stories through the eyes of a gay 63-year-old philosophy teacher who confronts his past, his relationship with his mother, and his homeland. [1] [2] It covers the Lebanese Civil War, Lebanon's 2019 liquidity crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2020 port explosion in Beirut, which killed more than 200 and injured thousands more. [2]

Origins

The book is inspired in part by Alameddine's own relationship with his aging mother, who was losing her memory. [3]

References

  1. 1 2 Sun, Michael (2025-11-20). "Rabih Alameddine wins National book award for fiction with darkly comic epic spanning six decades". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2025-11-29.
  2. 1 2 "Rabih Alameddine's New Novel Is a Puzzle Worth Solving". Alta Online. 2025-08-25. Retrieved 2025-11-29.
  3. ↑ Simon, Scott (2025-11-22). "Rabih Alameddine talks about his novel,'The True True Story of Raja the Gullible'". NPR. Retrieved 2025-11-29.
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