Friday, April 27, 2012

HOUSE OF STONE : A MEMOIR OF HOME, FAMILY, AND A LOST MIDDLE EAST
by Anthony Shadid 

Anthony Shadid was a New York Times reporter who after having been captured in Libya and then freed, returned to Beirut to restore his great-grandfather's ancestral home. Shadid had been raised in Oklahoma City. The family moved there to escape the wars and constant strife. The home is a shambles and he uses artisans to recreate what was with beautiful mosaic tiles called "cemento."
Shadid writes about his family that once lived in Beirut, their flight to America, a country torn apart. The natives think that he is crazy to restore a home that they believe doesn't legally belong to him.
The writing is beautiful and though there are no pictures to showcase the house, just from reading his descriptions you can see the home spring back to life.
The greatest tragedy is, unfortunately, that Shadid is no longer around to enjoy his new/old home. He died in February of 2012 at the age of forty-four. 
So, we have spectacular visions of the Middle East from the past and the present but the writer has disappeared from the pages.
An absolutely stunning book.
Highly recommended.