Blood Test: A Novel (Middle East Literature In Translation)

Widely known throughout the Arab world as a leading poet, journalist, and literary critic, Abbas Beydoun's writing is infused with the politics and culture of his native Lebanon. In Blood Test, his only novel, Beydoun recounts the efforts of a young man to explore his own personal history and identity through his encounters with the family and friends that surround him. The sudden death of his father propels him to follow the physical and psychological traces he left behind, a journey that raises as many questions as it answers. The young man's search for a sense of belonging and rootedness is reflected in the reader's own experience, as the narration travels in time and place covering two continents and several generations.
Max Weiss's fluid translation effortlessly conveys Beydoun's impassioned language and textured storytelling. Blood Test is a passport to places both real and imagined, leaving readers enriched by their travels.