The History Book Club discussion

Hello Everyone,

For the week of May 13, 2013 - May 19, 2013, we are reading Chapter 12,and Part Two,Chapter 13 of House of Stone.

The seventh week's reading assignment is:

WEEK SEVEN: May 13, 2013 - May 19 2013 (pp 155 - 180)
Chapter 12 - Citadels (pp 155-168)
Part 2, Chapter 13 - Homesick (pp 171-180)


We will open up a thread for each week's reading. Please make sure to post in the particular thread dedicated to those specific chapters and page numbers to avoid spoilers. We will also open up supplemental threads as we did for other spotlighted books.

This book is being kicked off on April 1,2013.. We look forward to your participation. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders and other noted on line booksellers do have copies of the book and shipment can be expedited. The book can also be obtained easily at your local library, or on your Kindle. This weekly thread will be opened up today, April 1, 2013.

There is no rush and we are thrilled to have you join us. It is never too late to get started and/or to post.

Jill will be moderating this discussion.

Welcome,

~Bentley


TO ALWAYS SEE ALL WEEKS' THREADS SELECT VIEW ALL

by Anthony Shadid

REMEMBER NO SPOILERS ON THE WEEKLY NON SPOILER THREADS - ON EACH WEEKLY NON SPOILER THREAD - WE ONLY DISCUSS THE PAGES ASSIGNED OR THE PAGES WHICH WERE COVERED IN PREVIOUS WEEKS. IF YOU GO AHEAD OR WANT TO ENGAGE IN MORE EXPANSIVE DISCUSSION - POST THOSE COMMENTS IN ONE OF THE SPOILER THREADS. THESE CHAPTERS ARE EXTREMELY DENSE SO WHEN IN DOUBT CHECK WITH THE CHAPTER OVERVIEW AND SUMMARY TO RECALL WHETHER YOUR COMMENTS ARE ASSIGNMENT SPECIFIC. EXAMPLES OF SPOILER THREADS ARE THE GLOSSARY, THE BIBLIOGRAPHY, THE INTRODUCTION AND THE BOOK AS A WHOLE THREADS.

Notes:

It is always a tremendous help when you quote specifically from the book itself and reference the chapter and page numbers when responding. The text itself helps folks know what you are referencing and makes things clear.

Citations

If an author or book is mentioned other than the book and author being discussed, citations must be included according to our guidelines. Also, when citing other sources, please provide credit where credit is due and/or the link. There is no need to re-cite the author and the book we are discussing however.

If you need help - here is a thread called the Mechanics of the Board which will show you how:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2............

Glossary

Remember there is a glossary thread where ancillary information is placed by the moderator. This is also a thread where additional information can be placed by the group members regarding the subject matter being discussed.

goodreads.com/topic/show/1263001-hous...

Bibliography

There is a Bibliography where books cited in the text are posted with proper citations and reviews. We also post the books that the author used in her research or in her notes. Please also feel free to add to the Bibliography thread any related books, etc with proper citations. No self promotion, please.

goodreads.com/topic/show/1262982-hous...

TOC and the Syllabus

The following is a link to the table of contents for the book and the weekly syllabus:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

Book as a Whole Thread
The following is a link to the Final Thoughts and Book as a Whole.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

by Anthony Shadid

Chapter Overviews and Summaries


Citadels (pp 155 - 168)

Winter is particularly difficult in Marjayoun since the availability of electricity is intermittent at best. It dictated how you spent your time and the people grumble that although America spent millions in Lebanon and there is still no electricity. Shadid uses a diesel fueled stove to keep warm.

After a couple of weeks in the US, Sahdid returns, hoping that the house will be ready for occupancy, even though he knows that he is being naive....and he is. All the workers are there and Shadid is hopeful, even though Abu Jean's answer to any problem encountered is "pour cement".

Tempers are beginning to fray. Shadid's friend, George, tells him that he needs to get rid of Abu Jean who is only interested in money and that it will take four years to finish the house. But Shadid has to admit that more has been done that first meets the eye and he has hopes of moving in by the end of winter.

Civil war is on the verge of breaking out with suspected Syrian support. Clashes are based on the fault lines of sect, affiliation, and ideology. Shadid has a presentment that he will finish the house, the war will break out, and he will never live in it. Shibil, although Christian, is on the side of Hezbollah and believes the opposition are Israeli traitors.

Shadid is still being suspected by the population as a secret agent; the secret agent conspiracy proliferates throughout the Middle East. One of his friends tells him to keep a low profile; that curiosity and rumor are the curse of Marjayoun.

Shadid gets in hot water about an article he had written two years ago offering the lament that Marjayoun was dying as part of an overall reverent and reflective description. Two years later, a rebuttal, by his friend Cecil Hourani, appears in a local paper and the town is in an uproar. Shadid no longer has illusions about Marjayoun as he is told by Dr. Khairalla's wife "When we die who's going to come here? There are houses but there aren't any people.

Part II: At Home

Homesick (pp 171 - 180)

Shadid meets a chef Assaad Maatouk, who has returned to Lebanon from America to find home again. He admits that he hates Lebanon and wished he had not come back; he is disappointed and bitter. He say" I needed to get back a little to a a family life...to be with them" Shadid understands his feelings. Maatouk's nephew promised to renovate the family home for $8,000.....it ends up costing $30,000 and made with inferior material. The townspeople don't understand him most reject him.

The road beyond Marjayoun is full of memories of martyrs; Hariri, the former PM, a Sunni killed in a car bombing: and Mughniyeh, a Hezbollah leader who is credited with the deaths of hundreds of Americans and Israelis. These two men encapsulate the contrast between the two cultures that have defined Lebanon's culture. One wanting a Lebanon that returns to its identity as a Mediterranean entrepot; the other wanting everlasting conflict with Israel making Lebanon a land of resistance. And neither side will compromise on their positions. People feel fairly safe in Marjayoun but worry about their children and friends who live in Beirut.

Some of Shadid's ancestors were turned away at Ellis Island due to trachoma, an eye infection which affected many of the immigrants. Due for deportation, they are advised by some Arabic immigrants to book passage to Mexico and cross the border into the United States at El Paso. The succeed and head for Oklahoma City to join their family.

I was somewhat surprised at the electricity situation. Marjayoun had been a fairly large city/town even after the civil war and had all the mod cons expected. But it appears that now, as the town slowly declines, the government has abandoned it. I think this further shows that Lebanon has forsaken its own as the government remains involved in political in-fighting and divisiveness. Your thoughts?

The political situation is becoming more tense and the television/cell phone messages are disturbing. "The Syrian regime is pushing the Lebanese resistance toward civil war.........It is impossible to coexist with a totalitarian party like Hezbollah and we don't want Lebanon to be an arena for conflicts Israel." (pg 162). I am having some trouble trying to determine who of Shadid's friends is on what side. Since the war with Israel which practically destroyed Marjayoun, it is difficult to believe that anyone would support Hezbollah which has sworn to destroy Israel. Do you think so?

I think we would all be surprised. From some of the reports that I have read about that part of the world, these organizations actually give all of these people money and food to rebuild and to exist while their government gives them nothing. If you were in a situation and god forbid you ever are - where your very existence and survival for you and for your children depended on a local group that was helping you when the federal, state and local community had abandoned you, your house was destroyed and your family was starving to death - I wonder the choices that anybody would make. Some of these folks are left with nothing and their very lives in pieces. On the other hand Lebanon is constantly being used and infiltrated by these folks like the Syrians who want the country to be unstable and for them to fight each other. They want to strike terror and ruin the lives of the Lebanese. And then there is Israel and by the accounts of Shadid himself - he, an American, was none too pleased at the way he was treated and wounded. There are so many variables and we do not realize how fortunate we are.

It seems that each of the characters that we meet through Shadid are just trying to survive; but each also has "come home." Rather than giving up and letting war and rumors of war totally defeat them, these people are trying to build/rebuild/make a home for themselves. They want so much more than just survival. This book could have been so depressing, but for the hope of home that in inherent in these people.

The population is being pulled in many directions, none of them good.
One of the things in common that struck me about the Lebanese and Americans is the hesitancy to speak the word "cancer". When Americans speak of it in a sentence, the word "cancer" is usually almost whispered. In Lebanon, it is not mentioned at all. Shadid's friend, Dr. Khairalla is dying of the disease as is Shibil's beloved older brother but Shadid only finds out these facts by accident. It is called the "wicked disease". With the apparent lack of quality medical care, it is probably a death sentence regardless of the type or progression of the disease. And it seems to carry a particular stigma in Lebanon.

The rumors abound that Shadid is a spy and it is starting to bother him. Everyone is talking about him. With the political situation that exists, I wonder if it is because he is just a newcomer or because he is American. I opt for the second......how about you?

It may be both - they may be asking why is this newcomer who is also an American hanging around this dead or dying town and trying to rebuild a house when most of his neighbors have hightailed it out of town.

Its obvious the Shadid and Cecil are at cross purposes regarding an article that Shadid had written in The Washington Post several years earlier.. It was meant as a lament for a dying town and no one in Marjayoun had read it.....until Cecil and a teacher friend bring it back to life and write a rebuttal in a local paper which everyone reads. It causes uproar in the town. Since Cecil is a friend and the "last Ottoman gentleman", why would he want to turn the people further against Shadid?

I do not think that it is about Shadid and I know that is strange but I think these folks can compartmentalize their lives, friends, prejudices, hostilities, etc. Maybe it is local and civic pride.

You may be right but I was rather taken aback by Cecil's "attack" on Shadid.

We get another look at bayt from Shadid's friend, Assaad who came back to Marjayoun after being a successful chef in Wisconsin. "I needed to get back a little to a family life....to be with them. I felt kind of homesick" (pg. 173) he tells Shadid and now he hates Lebanon. It is not as he remembered and I think that although Shadid had not lived there as a boy, he is beginning to get the same feelings, don't you? It reminds me of a quote by Thomas Wolfe, "You can never go home again".

Yes, it was odd. But you know family can have bitter fights and feuds but woe to the outsider who picks on the same family member. Family can get on as if nothing happened unless that topic is brought up.

Like I said it is something like - "only I can talk bad about my mama".

The rumor around town is that Sahdid's friend, Assad, has come to Marjayoun to find a wife.......but his opinion of Lebanese women is, to say the least, less than flattering. Since he thinks that his relatives are "hyenas", his opinions appear to be those of a very bitter man who may have suffered from rejection throughout his life. And I don't think he really has those opinions of Lebanese women; he is just afraid of further rejection. Do you agree?

I agree. I think that Assad is afraid to get to know anybody in town since he fears rejection again. He is also very upset at his relatives for betraying him. I think that He takes his anger out on Lebanese women by calling them "whores."
Just my thoughts.

We are on the same page, Steve. He obviously is a very angry man who directs that anger at the women of the town. Unfortunately for him, it has caused him to be disliked by everyone.

The division of the country politically is obvious as Shadid travel a road outside of Marjayoun. There are memorials erected to the assassinated Prime Minister Hariri next to those of Mughniyeh, a Hezbollah leader who orchestrated the attacks on the American embassy in Beirut; two men whose political beliefs were on both ends of the scale. It makes me wonder exactly what Shadid believes as to the direction in which Lebanon should go.

I felt that there was an undercurrent in this book - a duality. For example, Shadid has strong feelings about the Israelis which I think he had toned down for this book but which were bubbling up underneath. I wonder if he didn't understand only too well how Hariri and Mughniyeh could have memorials side by side. I think he is torn at the roots of his beliefs based upon his own personal experience as are the Lebanese he got to know. When your houses and your families are destroyed - it has to leave you with a strong antipathy. There are certainly strong divisions in this country and other countries try to push their agendas on poor Lebanon. If they had the ability to be left alone, I think they would be alright. They would figure it out.

You have to wonder why terrorists believe that they or their people will have a different fate than the path they choose. You live by the sword, you will die by the sword.

Someday I hope that this part of the world and Lebanon can move forward dramatically. Lebanon I think has the ability to do that but the lack of leadership is troubling. It is too bad that Shadid did not survive because he showed a real belief in the future of Lebanon by rebuilding that house.

As much as I want to believe that Lebanon will eventually free itself from the external (and internal) stress that is pulling it apart, I am not very optimistic. Terrorism is spreading in the Middle East and little Lebanon is caught in the middle. And of course they have the disadvantage of sharing a border with Israel. Shadid knows the terrorism situation as a journalist who has spent time there before returning to rebuild the house......but I couldn't get a feel for his ideology, for lack of a better word.

I agree Jill - but I think there was an ideology that he learned to keep hidden in his journalistic work but when he spoke about what happened to him - I think the undercurrent was there. I always think that it is very important what the author puts in a book - but also what the author leaves out.

You are right, Libby......America had changed him and it appears that he didn't even realize it. His behavior was not acceptable now in the Lebanese culture and he didn't know why.
BTW, since this discussion is solely for one book, it is not necessary to put the book/author citation.....but you did a great job with them anyway!!!

It can be confusing sometimes.........in all threads except those that are selected/spotlight reads, the citations are used and you've got that down pat. Of course, if during the discussion in a featured read you mention another book, then the citation of that book is used at the end of the narrative.