The topic of gay life in the Arab world is richly complex, and Haddad's cinematic, evocative prose rises to meet the sensitive subject matter.

The country that once existed was no more.' That pattern is perpetuated here, but for whose benefit? Haddad, a former aid worker and consultant, navigates Rasa's interior and exterior worlds with empathy and care. had become shorthand to describe an event. A debut novel that tells the story of Rasa, a young gay man coming of age in the Middle East Set over the course of twenty-four hours, Guapa follows Rasa, a gay man living in an unnamed Arab country, as he tries to carve out a life for himself in the midst of political and social upheaval. During America's post-9/11 bombing campaigns, Rasa thinks, 'The city. It's a puzzling choice for Haddad to keep the setting unnamed. Much as Teta spied on him and Taymour through a keyhole, Rasa examines his inadequate memories, trying to understand how everything fits together and how he can build a future, with or without the man he loves. Throughout the novel, episodes from Rasa's past bleed into the narrative. However, one morning Rasa's grandmother Teta discovers him and Taymour in bed together: 'There is everything that has ever happened, and then there is this morning.' The tumultuous day takes Rasa from his grandmother's apartment, to slums to interview Islamist rebels to a police station to bail out his best friend, activist and drag queen Maj to the underground gay bar Guapa and eventually to Taymour's lavish wedding to a woman. Disenchanted with the failed revolution of a few months prior and tired of his work translating for foreign journalists and businesses, Rasa finds hope and comfort in the arms of his lover, Taymour. Rasa is an American-educated young man living in an unnamed Arab country. In this time, we see how cultural tradition and law embed shame and fear surrounding his sexuality. It follows Rasa’s childhood, his relationship with absentee parents, his time living in America pre and post 9/11. Family, identity, and politics collide in Haddad's debut. Saleem Haddad’s Guapa tells the story of Rasa, a young gay man living in the Middle East, coming to terms with his identity.

Guapa by saleem haddad