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In this mildly successful fictional memoir, Beirut-born Sarah Nour El-Din (named after "the divine" actress Sarah Bernhardt) has the worst case of writer's block in human history. I, THE DIVINE never gets past the first chapter: indeed, it is made up entirely of first chapters. The book explores Sarah's life --- her traditional Lebanese family, her failed relationships, her futile search for identity.
Sarah is a born hybrid. Her mother is an American who comes to Beirut seeking adventure and marries Sarah's father, a Lebanese doctor. Sarah's parents fall out of love with each other and divorce, an event that shatters Sarah's girlhood. She hates her new stepmother, a simple Lebanese woman, who nevertheless becomes a successful media mogul. Sarah moves to New York when she marries Omar, so he can complete his studies at Columbia University. Sarah and Omar have a son, but they grow apart. He wants to return to Beirut. She falls in love with America.
Following in her parents' footsteps, Sarah divorces Omar. She then begins a number of failed relationships --- in San Francisco, she falls in love with a closet homosexual named David --- while becoming a well known painter. Although her family disapproves of her promiscuous ways, Sarah's father begs her to move back home to Beirut. She travels back and forth between the US and Beirut but she can't bring herself to stay: Beirut is war-torn and filled with bad memories --- Sarah's sister is killed during the Civil War; her girlhood sweetheart is tortured for his political beliefs; another sister, a nurse, goes insane and murders seven hospital patients.
I, THE DIVINE is a novel about identity. Sarah is caught between worlds and traditions. She can neither adjust to America nor Lebanon, nor can she forge a successful relationship. She doesn't know where to call home: in New York, she misses Lebanon. In Lebanon, she yearns for New York. She's the black sheep of her family.
The subject matter of I, THE DIVINE is reminiscent of V. S. Naipaul, although Alameddine lacks Mr. Naipaul's stunning verbal gifts as he tries his hand at a variety of genres: his book is part novel, part memoir, part travel journal. At times, its formlessness is frustrating, especially when a few of the chapters are written in French (alas, this reviewer does not speak French). I, THE DIVINE is too episodic to sustain a consistent narrative voice, and the reader tires of all the narrative stops and starts. One first chapter repeats what we've already learned in another first chapter --- we'd like to see the story move beyond its beginnings.
Mr. Alameddine's concept of "a novel in first chapters" is certainly unique, but it doesn't provide anything original. A traditional narrative, with a more linear story, would have been equally effective. Such as it is, I, THE DIVINE is a novel that never quite takes off. Too bad, because Mr. Alameddine is obviously a skilled writer. He doesn't need to resort to literary innovations.
--- Reviewed by Chuck Leddy
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