BookTalk with Harriet Sobol: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) (2025) by Rabih Alameddine

BookTalk introduces readers to a carefully chosen, provocative selection of novels for reading and informal discussion, considering the author’s writing techniques and the character’s personal journeys. Readings include translations of books from other countries and cultures in the search for fictions that illuminate the lives and understanding of those from all across the globe.

This class focuses on The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) (2025) by Rabih Alameddine. Winner of the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction, this non-linear tragicomic novel is narrated in first person from the perspective of Raja, a self-deprecating Lebanese, gay, philosophy teacher. Zalfa, his octogenarian mother, has no boundaries and views her son’s desire for privacy as a personal affront. A modern family saga, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) tells the unforgettable story of a Raja’s six decades of life, full of absurdities, mistakes, self-discovery, trauma, forgiveness, and love.