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You are here: Home / Culture / Books / CATALOGUE OF A PRIVATE LIFE’s short stories create a rich tapestry of humanity

CATALOGUE OF A PRIVATE LIFE’s short stories create a rich tapestry of humanity

December 15, 2021 Category: Books, Reviews
Najwa Bin Shatwan, Catalogue of a Private Life
Najwa Bin Shatwan
Catalogue Of A Private Life - Najwa Bin Shatwan
Catalogue Of A Private Life – Najwa Bin Shatwan

Each story in Catalogue of a Private Life by Libyan author Najwa Bin Shatwan navigates a topic that feels resonant with our modern, more intimate understanding of worldwide worries. Strong images abound, stirring up questions: what can we as individuals do to help the collective good?

RELATED: ‘Edited by Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder, Black British Lives Matter adds up to a timely, eye-opening and empowering read.’

Passing, almost trivial statements stick in the mind – the first story (of eight) in Catalogue Of A Private Life includes the gem, “White socks were naturally a great measure at how fashionable a man was or how noble.” The dinkus is used to denote transitions through time, much like a film shifting through events. Another story, The Irresponsible Director, speaks volumes about the role food has in narratives: everyday observations that will likely strike a chord with us in their minutiae.

In Catalogue of a Private Life, Bin Shatwan writes complex characters into stories that create a unique space to explore the rich tapestry of human behaviour, of lives from a place that a Westerner such as myself may find difficult to fully comprehend. An air of religious sobriety underlines almost surreal scenarios – here, fictional elements are believable if you hold them within a heightened world built on truth.

KEEP READING: ‘With The Wife of Willesden, Zadie Smith puts her own modern spin on Chaucer, while remaining true to his original text.’

Catalogue Of A Private Life, Najwa Bin Shatwan [trans. Sawad Hussain] (Dedalus)

Price: £7.99. Info: here

words BILLIE INGRAM SOFOKLEOUS

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About Noel Gardner

Noel is the listings, reviews, music and books editor at Buzz and has been doing some or all of these things here since the days of dial-up internet. He was raised in Cornwall, lives in Cardiff and that is more or less all he has ever known.
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Tag: billie ingram sofokleous, buzz book review, Dedalus, najwa bin shatwan, sawad hussain

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