The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)
by Rabih Alameddine
Buy on AmazonRabih Alameddine made a splash with his novel The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) , which won the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction, as well as the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. In it, a high school philosophy teacher and his mother share a tiny Beirut apartment. Desperate for privacy and self-fulfilment, he is offered a fellowship in the United States—and must grapple with his resentment and love for his prying mother.
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"Rabih Alameddine made a splash with his novel The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) , which won the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction, as well as the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. In it, a high school philosophy teacher and his mother share a tiny Beirut apartment. Desperate for privacy and self-fulfilment, he is offered a fellowship in the United States—and must grapple with his resentment and love for his prying mother."
Award-Winning Novels of 2025 · fivebooks.com
"This book – winner of the 2025 National Book Award for fiction – feels like sitting down with an old friend who is a brilliant storyteller. It’s an amusing and beautifully written portrait of a mother and her middle-aged son that lingers long after you finish it. Rabih Alameddine’s prose is so warm and vivid that you can almost hear him talking to you as you read. I loved his tender, nuanced portrayal of Raja’s prying mother, Zalfa, and how he captures the complicated bond between mothers and their children."
NPR Books We Love — 2025 · apps.npr.org