The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)
2025 novel by Rabih Alameddine
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The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) is a 2025 dark comedic novel by Rabih Alameddine which recounts six decades in the life of a Lebanese family. It won the 2025 National Book Award for fiction.[1]
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First edition | |
| Author | Rabih Alameddine |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Grove Press |
| Publication date | September 2, 2025 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 326 |
| ISBN | 978-0-8021-6647-0 |
It has a non-linear format, told through a series of nested stories through the eyes of a gay 63-year-old philosophy teacher who confronts his past, his relationship with his mother, and his homeland.[1][2] It covers the Lebanese Civil War, Lebanon's 2019 liquidity crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2020 port explosion in Beirut, which killed more than 200 and injured thousands more.[2]
Contents
I (2023)
II (2001 - 2021)
The Banking Crisis
The Covid Pandemic
III (1960 - 1975)
Pre-Civil War
IV (1975)
The Civil War
V (1975-2021)
The Port Explosion
VI (2021)
Virginia
VII (2025)
Origins
The book is inspired in part by Alameddine's own relationship with his aging mother, who was losing her memory.[3]