De Niro’s Game
by Hage, Rawi
An extraordinarily powerful story which transcends the media coverage of the Middle East, “De Niro’s Game” is a breathtaking, timely and moving novel about two young men coming of age in war-torn Beirut. While Bassam becomes obsessed with leaving Beirut, George amasses power in the militia-ruled underworld, and lives a life of violence and crime for profit. Their friendship is tested and inevitably their paths collide, explosively and tragically. “Intensely cinematic, his prose style jumps between fast-paced action, where the language hits the page like the rat-tat-tat of gunfire, and liquid metaphors that languidly twist, turn and coil one after another.” – Daily Star, Lebanon.