The Confessions

The end of a war does not mean it is over for those who lived through it and witnessed its disastrous results. Painful memories and nightmares persist. Lebanese novelist Rabi’ Jaber grew up during the civil war and, in his latest book, he tells one of its many nightmarish stories. A young man learns that he is not the real son of those he used to consider his parents. Rather, he was kidnapped as a little boy by his alleged father and brought up as a substitute for the son of the family, kidnapped and murdered before. In his well-known dense and poetic language, the author urges his readers not to forget the sorrows of war.