Vénus Khoury-Ghata

In this brief, perplexing and surreal novel by Vénus Khoury-Ghata—a Lebanese writer who has resided in Paris for many years—a family living in a poor Lebanon village before and during the civil war undergoes a series of tragic misfortunes and mishaps. When one of the family’s four daughters falls ill and dies, the father responds with raging violence against his only son, who has committed the twin transgressions of masturbation and writing poetry. The father (a former monk) lets the neighbours believe the rumor that spreads about his son being punished for trying to rape one of his surviving sisters. Eventually, the son, Youri, suffers a mental breakdown from repeated beatings and being deprived of his natural form of poetic expression and ends up in an insane asylum, where he undergoes shock treatment and various types of cruel confinement. The narrator, Mina, and her two sisters are sent to a village in the mountainous north of the country to live with an aunt and uncle (a carpenter who makes coffins), where life unfolds somewhat more peaceably. When the war closes the asylum, the mother brings Youri home. While the father’s irrational fury against his son dominates the action and drives the unfortunate family’s harrowing tale, we are also treated to glimpses into the lives of their neighbours: the Vinikofs, who set out each weekend to hunt for treasure, the Contessa, who teaches the tango, and Rose, the short-tempered landlord, who owns a statue of the Virgin Mary that begins to weep. The story proceeds in brief, melodramatic snapshots and is narrated in a highly eccentric manner that emphasizes lyrical and startling turns of phrase over dramatic event and character interaction, effectively holding the reader at a distance from the characters and making it difficult to sympathize with their plight. While it is easy to admire the language and the praiseworthy translation into English by Marilyn Hacker, A House at the Edge of Tears leaves the reader with a somewhat muddled final impression. Though not long, few readers will finish this novel wishing it were longer.… (mere)