The bamboo stalk
By: Saud Alsanousi ; translated by Jonathan Wright
Contributors: Wright, Jonathan, 1953- translator
Publisher: Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Doha, Qatar
Language: eng
Number of pages: 377
ISBN-13: 9789927101779; 9789927118036; 9789927101793; 9789927101786
Copyright date: 2015
Subjects: Fiction; Illegitimate children; Enfants naturels; Romans, nouvelles; Arabic fiction; Translations into English
Work titles: Sāq al-bāmbū
Description: Josephine escapes poverty by coming to Kuwait from the Philippines to work as a maid, where she meets Rashid, an idealistic only son with literary aspirations. Josephine, with all the wide-eyed naivety of youth, believes she has found true love. But when she becomes pregnant, and with the rumble of war growing ever louder, Rashid bows to family and social pressure, and sends her back home with her baby son, Jose. Brought up struggling with his dual identity, Jose clings to the hope of returning to his father's country when he is eighteen. He is ill-prepared to plunge headfirst into a world where the fear of tyrants and dictators is nothing compared to the fear of 'what will people say'. And with a Filipino face, a Kuwaiti passport, an Arab surname and a Christian first name, will his father's country welcome him? The Bamboo Stalk takes an unflinching look at the lives of foreign workers in Arab countries and confronts the universal problems of identity, race and religion.
Notes: "First published in Arabic in 2012 by Arab Scientific Publishers, Inc."--Title page verso.

Translated from the Arabic.

Winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction.