{"id":45801,"date":"2019-09-10T11:12:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T15:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=45801"},"modified":"2019-08-30T14:44:13","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T18:44:13","slug":"celestial-bodies-by-jokha-alharthi-translated-by-marilyn-booth-in-booklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/celestial-bodies-by-jokha-alharthi-translated-by-marilyn-booth-in-booklist\/","title":{"rendered":"Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth [in Booklist]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-45678\" src=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/08\/Celestial-Bodies-Jokha-Alharthi-BookDragon-520x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/08\/Celestial-Bodies-Jokha-Alharthi-BookDragon-520x800.jpg 520w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/08\/Celestial-Bodies-Jokha-Alharthi-BookDragon.jpg 608w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><strong>*STARRED REVIEW<\/strong><br \/>\nJokha Altharthi makes literary history as the first female Omani author to be translated into English <em>and<\/em> as author of the first novel written in Arabic to win the <a href=\"https:\/\/thebookerprizes.com\/books\/celestial-bodies-by\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Man Booker International Prize<\/a>. She shares that extraordinary success with translator and Oxford professor Marilyn Booth, who <a href=\"https:\/\/thebookerprizes.com\/international\/news\/celestial-bodies-interview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">reveals<\/a>, \u201cI like very much that Jokha does not write for readers who do not know Oman: she does not try to explain things.\u201d Indeed, Althari\u2019s unique structure demands vigilant participation as it is more jigsaw puzzle than linear narrative, and the skeletal family tree provided proves useful.<\/p>\n<p>Set against Oman\u2019s rapid shifts during the 20th century from slave-owning nation to oil-rich international presence are three generations of an upper-class Omani family: Salima, who survived a difficult childhood, and her husband, Azzan, who can\u2019t resist the pull of the moon (goddess); their three (surviving) children \u2013 dutiful Mayya, book-obsessed Asma, and waiting Khawla; and Mayya and her husband Abdallah\u2019s children\u00a0\u2013 independent London, irresponsible Salim, and Muhammad, who has special needs. Most memorable perhaps is enslaved Zarifa, excluded from the family tree yet integrally bonded. Omnisciently narrated chapters are interrupted, with an obvious font-shift, by businessman Abdallah\u2019s first-person, mostly in-flight monologues.<\/p>\n<p>Pieced together, a robust village emerges, of alliances and betrayals, survival and murder, surrender and escape. Patient readers will be seductively, magnificently rewarded.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Review<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.booklistonline.com\/Celestial-Bodies-Jokha-Alharthi\/pid=9724383\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">&#8220;Fiction,&#8221; <em>Booklist<\/em>, September 1, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n<p><strong>Published<\/strong>: 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*STARRED REVIEW Jokha Altharthi makes literary history as the first female Omani author to be translated into English and as author of the first novel written in Arabic to win the Man Booker International Prize. She shares that extraordinary success with translator and Oxford professor&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,503,6,6535,66],"tags":[6608,6668,8609,10,135,68,24,51,8610,13,1552,129,39,44,146],"class_list":["post-45801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-arab","category-fiction","category-repost","category-translation","tag-bookdragon","tag-booklist","tag-celestial-bodies","tag-family","tag-grandparents","tag-haves-vs-have-nots","tag-historical","tag-identity","tag-jokha-alharthi","tag-love","tag-marilyn-booth","tag-mother-daughter-relationship","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-siblings","tag-slavery"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth [in Booklist] - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/celestial-bodies-by-jokha-alharthi-translated-by-marilyn-booth-in-booklist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth [in Booklist] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"*STARRED REVIEW Jokha Altharthi makes literary history as the first female Omani author to be translated into English and as author of the first novel written in Arabic to win the Man Booker International Prize. She shares that extraordinary success with translator and Oxford professor...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/celestial-bodies-by-jokha-alharthi-translated-by-marilyn-booth-in-booklist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-10T15:12:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-30T18:44:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2019\/08\/Celestial-Bodies-Jokha-Alharthi-BookDragon.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"608\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"935\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmithsonianAPA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth [in Booklist] - BookDragon","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/celestial-bodies-by-jokha-alharthi-translated-by-marilyn-booth-in-booklist\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth [in Booklist] - BookDragon","og_description":"*STARRED REVIEW Jokha Altharthi makes literary history as the first female Omani author to be translated into English and as author of the first novel written in Arabic to win the Man Booker International Prize. 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