Salt Houses

By: Hala Alyan

Narrated by: Leila Buck

Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

From a dazzling new literary voice, a debut novel about a Palestinian family caught between present and past, between displacement and home.

On the eve of her daughter Alia's wedding, Salma reads the girl's future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel, and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is uprooted in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967.

Salma is forced to leave her home in Nablus; Alia's brother gets pulled into a politically militarized world he can't escape; and Alia and her gentle-spirited husband move to Kuwait City, where they reluctantly build a life with their three children. When Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait in 1990, Alia and her family once again lose their home, their land, and their story as they know it, scattering to Beirut, Paris, Boston, and beyond. Soon Alia's children begin families of their own, once again navigating the burdens (and blessings) of assimilation in foreign cities.

Lyrical and heartbreaking, Salt Houses is a remarkable debut novel that challenges and humanizes an age-old conflict we might think we understand - one that asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can't go home again.

© 2017 Hala Alyan (P)2017 Recorded Books

Meandering

I was disappointed in the end. I had different expectations for this book and was looking for more substance. The story was somewhat interesting but meandering and became stale with vague references and loose ends. Just when a character was becoming interesting the focus changes to another in an abrupt transition of time and place. Epilogue was strange and unnecessary not really adding insight or closure just left me thinking why add this?
Narration was very good- otherwise I wouldn’t have finished listening.

Must read

Beautifully told story that will move you with its humanity and the poetry of its prose.

Narration was fantastic

I love the varying perspectives of the same events through generations and cultures. I think I preferred it in audio because the narration brought such life to the characters

Beautiful story

I enjoyed the story telling. The way the author weaved together the generations as the story progressed was really touching.

Potentially great

This had the potential to be a great story but fell flat in some aspects. Would have liked more character development and more of an examination about what it really means to be Palestinian. There were references to specific historical events but the references did not connect very strongly to the characters. They seemed more like background music than lasting impressions on the characters.

very insightful

A very interesting perspective on the lives and emotions that surrounds a family as they navigate religion, familial ties and community amidst war and tragedy.

A Palestinian Family in Exile

The overall story line was a bit anticlimactic, it was just a day by day description of this family's life. However, it was still a beautifully described and detailed insight to each and every character along 4 generations. A family's life after exile from Nablus.. It takes us through Kuwait, Jordan, Paris, Beirut, and Manhattan.. never truly belonging anywhere.
Every character's thoughts were described in great detail and very well developed, making their personalities shined through. The detailed illustrations of landscapes, food, and culture really made one have a sense of being there!

Stunning

I am raw right now. I feel ravaged by so so many emotions, not the least of which is the gratitude I have for writers who take their histories, their pain, and turn it into the most exquisite art.

Salt Houses is stunning and absolutely transformative in its humanity. Hala Alyan left me so moved, so shaken, there is nothing I'd love more than everyone to experience these emotions with me, with her. I truly have no words but am more than happy to forward you the sobbing incoherent voice notes I sent to friends who were also sobbing and incoherent while reading this glorious wonderful transcendent book. 

I would tell you about the characters, the plot, but I truly cannot at the moment. I just need to sit with my feelings for a good long while. I think I now know what Mr. Knightly meant when he said, "If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."

Disjointed story

Too many characters whose names were not all easy to keep track of as the setting skipped all over the globe.

A gem

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. My family’s story is very similar to the one told. I’ve grown up moving from one country to another... I was born in Beirut, Lebanon... In 1967. Both of my parents were Lebanese. They’d say “French Lebanese”. Their generation were born and grew up in the French Lebanese community in Cairo, Egypt. We immigrated to the US in my parents pursuit of the American dream. Growing up we traveled back to Lebanon, Egypt and France often to visit friends and family. These visits became more frequent when we were transferred to Morocco, and then 3 years later to Iran. We abandoned our belongings and returned to the US in December 1979... I had a tough time feeling accepted by peers. To this day I feel like I belong but don’t quite belong anywhere. I am proud to be American and am proud of my Lebanese heritage. My home is my family...