Seven: A Novel (Middle Eastern Fiction S)

Gulnar, a mythical embodiment of womanhood, relates the tale of the seven men from Araby, ostensibly the crème de la crème of the nation, the pillars of rectitude and the symbols of power and influence. They all coveted her body and only sheer lust after her made them agree to make it to her Greek Island. But Gulnar was of no easy virtue and would give herself only to the one proving to be the most enthralling. A contest was staged and each of the seven men had to relate his own story: the events of the most exciting week in his life . . . Seven is a daring novel in both form and content. The ironic version of the Sheherazade archetype is a daring challenge to an entire poetics and more vocally to the ethical decay of an entire nation. The narrative vehicle of the memoir-within-memoir is used to fascinating effect, and the intertextuality is powerful. Equally poignant is the irony and the self-revelation, the veiled social critique and the laying bare of rotten values taken on trust for far too long.