In a Nutshell: If you are a literary fiction fan, you can’t miss out on this one!

Story:

Mina, a surgeon in her fifties, a naturalised American of Lebanese-Syrian origin, a trans woman, a lesbian: this is the intriguing person in whose first person perspective you will hear this book.

Mina has arrived at the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos Island at the invitation of her friend, Emma, who runs an NGO there. After being alienated from most of her family except her brother because of her gender identity, Mina finds it overwhelming to be so near her original country after three decades. However, she seeks some kind of fulfilment while using her skills as a surgeon and a speaker of Arabic to help out those brave souls who have crossed the Aegean Sea at a high personal and financial cost in the hope of a better, safer future. “The Wrong End of the telescope” follows Mina’s experiences and ponderings in Lesbos Island.

The book is written in very short chapters, and as they are in first person, they feel more like reading someone’s journal entries. And just like journal entries, they cover a wide range of topics, both in the past and in the present. Mina muses over her struggles with her mother to accept Mina as a girl born in a boy’s body, her relationships and her thirty year old marriage with Francine, her relations with the rest of her family, her childhood, her interactions with the other volunteers and the refugees, especially with Sumaiya (a determined mother who is battling terminal cancer without wanting her family to know the extent of her illness), her opinion of some of the “humanitarian tourists” who were more interested in selfies than in actual help,... Every part of the writing goes straight to the heart.

Some of the chapters are addressed to an unknown person. To my utter shame, it took me ages to figure out whom these chapters were addressed to. But once I did, the beauty of those chapters was enhanced even further by their poignancy and determination. Realising the secret person’s identity was a brilliant experience!

The chapter titles are innovative in form. They represent the content accurately without giving any clue of what's included in the content. That's exactly how chapter titles should be. I hate it when the title reveals what's going to come in that particular chapter. I also enjoyed how the author blended fact and fiction seamlessly into the narrative. The addition of the factual events created a deeper impact about the extent of the refugee crisis. I need to praise the level of the language as well. What an outstanding vocabulary! The precise word for the precise sentiment throughout! I relished this reading for the lexicon as much as for the content.

This is the story of a journey of self-realization and social awareness. It is queer. (Whichever meaning of 'queer' you choose to apply here will be correct.) It is a complex read because of the numerous rambling conversation-style chapters. It is slow because it is a literary fiction in the truest sense of the word. It is humorous. It is realistic. It is emotional. It is hard-hitting. It doesn’t shy back from tough discussions. It is…worth a read. But note that it is also quite intense and overwhelming. Read it on a strong day.

4.25 stars from me.


Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.



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The story narrates the travels of Lebanese doctor Mina Simpson to the notorious Moria refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece, after receiving an urgent call for assistance from her friend who manages an NGO there. As a Trans woman, Mina has avoided going so near to her birthplace for decades because she is estranged from her family, with the exception of her loving brother Mazen. However, Mina intends to do something significant during her week off work and without her wife of thirty years, amidst the hordes of Western volunteers who take photos with beached dinghies and the camp's kids.

Sumaiya, a very defiant Syrian matriarch who has terminal liver cancer, is soon transported across by boat. Sumaiya refuses to tell her family about her diagnosis since she is adamant about protecting her kids and spouse at any costs. Sumaiya's secret brings her together with Mina, who plans a course of therapy with the few resources at her disposal, she must face the circumstances that led to the migrants' displacement as well as her own limitations in being able to assist them.

Told through a compilation of short vignettes, I found this novel a touching and emotionally uplifting story of a trans woman's success in difficult situations. What comes through is the warmth and humanity of the heroine and her modern odyssey in theLevant. ( )

4.5/5
Dr. Mina Simpson is a Lebanese American physician who travels to Syria to provide medical aid in the migrant camps on the Greek island of Lesbos where displaced migrants from Syria are temporarily housed till they commence on the next leg of their journey. She is joined by Emma , her friend who is a nurse, Rasheed a social worker and later her brother Mazen who still lives in Lebanon.
With them is also "the writer" who is addressed throughout the novel and is depicted as a generous person who wants to help but is too overwhelmed with what he is witnessing and tends to distance himself at times .He is is seen trying to convince Mina to write about her experiences.
“Writing simplifies life, you said, forces coherence on discordant narratives, unless it doesn’t, and most of the time it doesn’t, because really, how can one make sense of the senseless? One puts a story in a linear order, posits cause and effect, and then thinks one has arrived. Writing one’s story narcotizes it. Literature today is an opiate."
The Wrong End of the Telescope describes Mina's experiences in the refugee camp - the people she meets and befriends , the patients she treats and the feelings of anguish and helplessness that is brought on by witnessing firsthand the plight of the fleeing Syrian refugees. She also describes the efforts and motivations of social workers and volunteers who flock the area to aid the refugees with a bit of satire and humor. Interwoven with the stories of the camp (s) is Mina's own story. Mina ,born Ayman, is a trans woman , disowned by her own family, happily married to Francine and settled in the United States. She has not visited Lebanon in forty years . Mazen is the only family member who has kept in touch with her .
The novel is broken into small chapters and flits between Mina's own story and those of the refugees. Never does the author come across as too political or preachy while drawing upon real life incidents that have gained worldwide attention and very tactfully shows the human angle associated with events happening in that part of the world from the perspectives of the refugees - old and young , volunteers and social workers. He also explores the inner conflict of refugees who leave their home country and assimilate with their adopted country hoping that such assimilation would truly provide a new lease of life only to find that often that might not be the case. The author's reference to Greek mythology in parts of this book makes for a rich reading experience.
Given the subject matter I expected this book to be hard to take in . But with beautiful prose and a respectful, delicate approach to the sensitive issues broached in this exquisite novel the brilliance of Rabih Alameddine’s masterful storytelling shines through. The Hakawati was the first Rabih Alameddine novel that I read and absolutely fell in love with. The Wrong End of the Telescope is my fifth book by Rabih Alameddine and I truly look forward to reading more of his work! ( )

I'm glad I read this. But I have to figure out what to do about it.
I don't understand how her brother found her address in Chicago so he could send the picture. I'm glad he did, of course.

A story of two Syrian/Lebanese immigrants to the US, one trans one gay, told in both first and second person, set mostly on Lesbos during the first January of the refugee crisis there. Sometimes sour, sometimes bitter but with a deep humanity and a wry set of titles for the short sections in which it is told.
Untypically, the issues the two face and have faced seem more to do with where they have come from than dealing with and adjusting to where they have settled. ( )