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I'm in Seattle, Where Are You?
I'm in Seattle, Where Are You?: A Memoir | Mortada Gzar
2 posts | 2 read | 2 to read
An award-winning Iraqi writer creates a new world for himself in Seattle in search of lost love. As the US occupation of Iraq rages, novelist Mortada Gzar, a student at the University of Baghdad, has a chance encounter with Morise, an African American soldier. It's love at first sight, a threat to them both, and a moment of self-discovery. Challenged by society's rejection and Morise's return to the US, Mortada takes to the page to understand himself. In his deeply affecting memoir, Mortada interweaves tales of his childhood work as a scrap-metal collector in a war zone and the indignities faced by openly gay artists in Iraq with his impossible love story and journey to the US. Marginalized by his own society, he is surprised to discover the racism he finds in a new one. At its heart, I'm in Seattle, Where Are You? is a moving tale of love and resilience.
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review
squirrelbrain
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Bailedbailed

Yes, I bailed on a book, for probably only about the fifth time in my life!

This is a memoir looking back at the author‘s life as a gay man in #iraq but I just couldn‘t get into it. I gave it a couple of chapters but the writing was just so confusing and I‘m not sure if it was ‘lost in translation‘ from the original Arabic or if it was always this trippy and weird.

It was a free book so I felt like I could actually bail!

#readingasia2021

robinb I don‘t bail often either. But I finally gave myself permission to do so. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤣 4y
Caroline2 Whey! Bail on those boring books! Bail hard then shout....NEXT....!!! 😆 👍 4y
TrishB Is it Mad Monday 🤷‍♀️😁 4y
See All 10 Comments
squirrelbrain I‘m trying @Caroline2 - maybe you could give me lessons?! 🤪 4y
squirrelbrain I need to keep trying to bail more @robinb instead of skim-reading books to the end. 4y
squirrelbrain I think it must be @TrishB 🤷‍♀️🤪 4y
Hooked_on_books It took me a long time to allow myself to bail on books, and I still sometimes find it difficult, especially if I paid for them. But if I just don‘t want to pick something back up, why torture myself? I bailed the other day on a book I had paid for but had to let the decision sit overnight before I could let myself do it! 4y
robinb @Caroline2 🤣🤣🤣 4y
squirrelbrain That‘s really good to know Holly @Hooked_on_books - that you have kind of ‘trained‘ yourself to bail on books. I am getting a bit better but I‘m such a perfectionist I struggle to admit when a book isn‘t right and I blame myself rather than the book. Oof, I‘m getting a bit serious there.... but I appreciate your input and hopefully one day I can start to merrily bail, bail, bail like @Caroline2 ! 4y
Librarybelle There is a lot of weird guilt in bailing, but I finally gave myself permission to do so. I have a small but growing list on Goodreads of books I bailed. #somanybookssolittletime 4y
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