Him, Me, Muhammad Ali from Randa Jarrar on Vimeo.
A collection of stories set in Texas, Egypt, Palestine, Michigan, and other spots, and featuring journalists and kids and queers and pregnant girls and birds who are arrested for spying.
“Jarrar does what every brave storyteller should do-she makes sense of what other writers leave outside the bounds. She connects us with that which others have left unsaid.”
– Colum McCann, author of TRANSATLANTIC
“Him, Me, Muhammad Ali is a searing collection of short stories about loving, lusting, losing, and surviving. Randa Jarrar is one of the finest writers of her generation. Her voice is assured, fiercely independent, laced with humor and irony–and always, always, honest.”
– Laila Lalami, author of THE MOOR’S ACCOUNT & SECRET SON
“Randa Jarrar’s prose is bold and luscious and makes the darkly comic seem light. The voices in Him, Me, Muhammed Ali are powerful individually, and overwhelming as a chorus. This wonderful work isn’t just a collection: it’s a world.”
– Mat Johnson, author of PYM & LOVING DAY
“Wow! These vibrant, funny, earthy, and above all yearning (for love, for family, for home) stories are a revelation. Jarrar combines the invention of Calvino, the sprung style of Paley, the poetic imagery of Babel. But that mash-up isn’t mere stylistic exuberance; it’s a restless, relentless and deeply affecting effort to forge identity out of fragments, to make a whole out of halves. These are the stories we need right now.”
– Peter Ho Davies, author of THE WELSH GIRL & THE UGLIEST HOUSE IN THE WORLD
“Fearless, funny, and sad, soaring and earthly, fable-like and visceral, full of families, lovers, friends, strangers and lonely children. These stories laugh with and think through and rise against, which is just to say they brilliantly demonstrate Jarrar’s huge talent, compassion and range. “Him, Me, Muhammad Ali astonishes from start to finish.”
– Sam Lipsyte, author of THE ASK & HOMELAND
“The world of Randa Jarrar’s stories is wondrous in all of the best ways. Her characters are luminous through all manner of disappointment and displacement, her stories heartbreaking in a way that promises the heart can be put back together. This is a stunning collection, full of sharp, smart stories, brilliant and hilarious observations of human behavior, and ordinary and extraordinary magic.”
– Danielle Evans, author of BEFORE YOU SUFFOCATE YOUR OWN FOOL SELF
PRE ORDER HERE / AVAILABLE OCTOBER 11 FROM SARABANDE BOOKS
