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Hotline
Hotline | Dimitri Nasrallah
7 posts | 8 read | 1 reading | 9 to read
A vivid love letter to the 1980s and one woman's struggle to overcome the challenges of immigration. It's 1986, and Muna Heddad is in a bind. She and her son have moved to Montreal, leaving behind a civil war filled with bad memories in Lebanon. She had plans to find work as a French teacher, but no one in Quebec trusts her to teach the language. She needs to start making money, and fast. The only work Muna can find is at a weight-loss center as a hotline operator. All day, she takes calls from people responding to ads seen in magazines or on TV. On the phone, she's Mona, and she's quite good at listening. These strangers all have so much to say once someone shows interest in their lives-marriages gone bad, parents dying, isolation, personal inadequacies. Even as her daily life in Canada is filled with invisible barriers at every turn, at the office Muna is privy to her clients' deepest secrets. Following international acclaim for Niko (2011) and The Bleeds (2018), Dimitri Nasrallah has written a vivid elegy to the 1980s, the years he first moved to Canada, bringing the era's systemic challenges into the current moment through this deeply endearing portrait of struggle, perseverance, and bonding.
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review
DebbieGrillo
Hotline | Dimitri Nasrallah
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Pickpick

Muna immigrates from Lebanon to Montreal in 1986, two years after her husband was kidnapped during the Civil War in Lebanon. It was believed that he was dead and his family wanted to be rid of her and their son. This is an important, character driven story for Canadians about the immigrants' experience.

61 likes1 stack add
blurb
xicanti
Hotline | Dimitri Nasrallah
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Most days, I manage not to purchase any dragon-shaped body pillows I‘ve gotta carry home on my bike.

Today was not most days.

On the book front, I‘ve decided to pause my current YA fantasy because I‘ve read it too herky-jerky piecemeal. I‘ll see if I can‘t sink into HOTLINE tonight instead, then go back to the other book when I can really focus on it.

Ruthiella Adorable! 🐉 12mo
xicanti @Ruthiella it was too cute (and too cheap) to leave behind, despite how awkward it was to carry. 11mo
46 likes2 comments
review
BookishTrish
Hotline | Dimitri Nasrallah
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Pickpick

I wanted nothing but good things for Muna and her son. This reminded me a lot of my time teaching ELL to newcomers and the variety of stories people come to Canada with. So far it‘s between this and Ducks for Canada Reads.

56 likes1 stack add
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Nebklvr
Hotline | Dimitri Nasrallah
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Mehso-so

Muna can‘t move on with her new life in Canada when she doesn‘t know what happened to her husband after he disappeared in Lebanon. Set in the 1980s, this is a compelling story of a young immigrant mother and her son attempting to survive and then thrive in a new country. Unfortunately, the writing felt distant and cold. While I am sure that is how Muna felt during her first Canadian winter, it was a turnoff for me. #CanadaReads

review
TheKidUpstairs
Hotline | Dimitri Nasrallah
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Pickpick

A beautiful book about a single mom, newly immigrated to 1980s Montreal, doing what she can to survive and start to find a dream for the future. There are hard times, but also kind people and good hearts as she tries to redefine what life is and can be in the face of a whole new world.

#CanadaReads

73 likes4 stack adds
review
Lindy
Hotline | Dimitri Nasrallah
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Pickpick

I had this on my shelves ever since it made the Giller longlist last year, then I was spurred to pick it up because it's in the running for Canada Reads. Wow! I fell hard for the wonderful central character, widowed Muna, who escaped the Lebanese civil war in the 1980s by emigrating to Montreal with her young son. #CanadianAuthor

Megabooks Great cover! 14mo
Lindy @Megabooks It‘s very 80s, isn‘t it? 14mo
sarahbarnes Sounds very good and love that cover! 14mo
Lindy @sarahbarnes I was enchanted by the whole package. 😊 14mo
32 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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Lindy
Hotline | Dimitri Nasrallah
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Brief reviews of my January faves are on my blog, along with stats and links to my booktube videos. If you‘re interested:

https://lindypratch.blogspot.com/2023/02/january-2023-reading-stats-and-booktube...

26 likes1 stack add