Laila Lalami

Oh, and stock up on bottled water.

Norma Khouri has yet to speak up to defend the allegations made last week by Malcom Knox that she completely fabricated her best-selling memoir about her “friend” Dalia, a Muslim woman killed by her Jordanian father for her relationship with a Christian man. Knox, who first broke the story, reports that Khouri has “fled her Bribie Island home” and that her publisher, Random House, has withdrawn the book from sale. One of her neighbors, though, says that “she’s sure [the book] is all true.” Yeah, and I’m sure all Australians are boisterous crocodile hunters.

Aleksandar Hemon’s review of Daniel Wagner’s A Movie…and a Book, which calls the novel “the worst book I have ever voluntarily read,” is being compared to Dale Peck’s (in)famous take-down of Rick Moody. Hemon isn’t just upset with this novel; he makes a compelling case for why any novel written with the movie “adaptation” in mind doesn’t make for very good literature. I must say I have sympathy for Hemon’s more general argument, though I suspect this review (like Peck’s) will be remembered for its first line. And, of course, now I actually want to read the book myself.

Although bloggers had many good wishes for the Tanenhaus-directed NYBTR, their patience is wearing thin. Both CR and TEV have posted rants about the NYBTR‘s fiction coverage. CR, in particular, touches on an issue dear to my heart: the paucity of reviews/attention given to foreign literature. Says CR:

And — ah, we can’t help ourselves — foreign literature ? We had to go back four issues, to that of 4 July, to find any review of a book originally written in a foreign language (in the “Books in Brief” section) — and back another two issues, to the 20 June issue, to find a full-length review of any book originally written in a foreign language (there were two; predictably, they were both works of non-fiction). All the protestations we heard when the search was on for the McGrath-successor that Sam and the whole NYT gang love fiction look more and more like junior Bush-administration-type spin. Week after week, the NYTBR proves otherwise. Sure, there’s token coverage — but right now it doesn’t look much more than token.

Mark’s comments take the form of an open letter to Tanenhaus, which concludes thus:

For the record, NYTBR isn’t Foreign Affairs; nor is it The New Republic; nor is it any other political journal. It’s a review of books – I know ’cause it says so in the title.

Depressing, to be sure. But the space being vacated can (and is) used by bloggers.

Mine was 640 (um, 97th percentile.) OK, now where’s my book deal?

That’s it for me this week. I’m off to visit family in Miami. Regreso enseguida.

Last summer, I walked into a Barnes & Noble in Manhattan Beach to find a copy of Norma Khouri’s Honor Lost: Love and Death in Modern-Day Jordan prominently displayed on the main table. (In the UK and Australia the book was titled Forbidden Love.) I read the back flap and discovered that this was a memoir written by a Norma Khouri about her childhood friend and business partner Dalia, whose affair with a Christian man was discovered, leading to her being stabbed and murdered by her father. Norma, fearing for her life, managed to smuggle herself out of the country and escaped to freedom.
At the time, my instinct was to say, Goodness, is this what publishers want? More of these poor-oppressed-Arab-women-being-abused-by-their-men? Well, apparently, yes, that was what publishers wanted. The book was published in 15 countries and sold well, particularly in Australia where Khouri immigrated (her publisher helped out with her residency paperwork.) Australians even voted her memoir one of their 100 favorite books of all time.
Well, the cliche, it turns out, is false. And, according to The Age this Norma Khouri is a fraud. For starters, she has only lived in Jordan for about three years, as a toddler.

She has an American passport and lived from 1973 until 2000 in Chicago. She is married with two children, 13 and 11. She has four American siblings and a mother who are desperate to hear from her.
But she has managed to conceal this double life from her publishers, her agent, lawyers in several continents, the Australian Department of Immigration, and, until now, the public.

The 18-month investigation by Malcom Knox coincided with another report, this one coming from Jordan, and which found “73 serious errors and exaggerations.” Still, Khouri is undeterred. Her next book, A Matter of Honor, comes out in November.
Update: Here’s another fact-check, from the Sydney Morning Herald. And another one.

There’s an interesting (and civil) discussion going on in the comments section over at Beatrice about the recent Stanley Crouch-Dale Peck smackdown. Check it out.

Getting your book published is an enormous accomplishment, but here’s yet another story that confirms that it’s only half the battle. In a guest column, author Stephen Policoff (Beautiful Somewhere Else) talks about his attempts to get his book publicized.

Tina [Pohlman]‘s assistant, who took over her projects, swore to me that he would be in touch frequently he never called me again. The first publicity person assigned to the book quit; the second one, who vowed she would be with me to the end, seemed unable to get anything done: Many people to whom I requested the book be sent never received it; she did get me one reading on Cape Cod (the novel takes place there) and seemed quite pleased with herself. But when I asked her to get me other readings – in northern California, for instance, where we were going on a visit – she claimed she couldn’t. My mother got me one instead.
And no one – no one – reviewed the book.

Go on over to Mark’s blog for the full story.

For Powells.com‘s tenth anniversary, the Portland-based independent bookstore is having an essay contest. The topic: What was your most memorable reading experience of the last ten years? The ‘reading experience’ can be ‘any book or group of books, or individual essays or stories published within a larger volume, regardless of publication date, form, or subject matter.’ Submit here.
Link via Chicha.