Bingo! States of Passion by Nihad Sirees

/ Theresa Smith Writes

Second last bingo for 2018 and I’ve managed to bring it to you this time without incident! The round I am checking off for this week is:

A foreign translated novel

My selected title for this is States of Passion by Nihad Sirees, translated from the Arabic into English by Max Weiss.


States of Passion is a story within a story and it’s narrated as though the author is intimately telling you about a situation he himself had once gotten into. The story that the old man tells his guest is equally as intriguing as the story of the narrator and his experiences within the house in his few days of staying there. There’s something not quite right about the whole scenario and the increasing menace from the butler, combined with the urgency of the old man to tell his story, spills over into a terrific atmosphere of dread and mystery. Even more alarming is the effect this has on our narrator. As he begins to fear for his life, his desire to hear the rest of the story increases to a fever pitch, leading him into a state where he appears to take leave of his senses, culminating in a terrifically entertaining narrative that I could barely put down.

Read my full review here

This year I’m playing book bingo with Mrs B’s Book Reviews. On the first and third Saturday of each month, we’ll post our latest entry. We’re not telling each other in advance what we’re currently reading or what square we’ll be filling next; any coincidences are exactly that – and just add to the fun!

Follow our card below if you’d like to join in, and please let us know if you do so we can check out what you’re reading.

Now I’m off to check out what square Mrs B has marked off for this round. See you over there!

5 thoughts on “Bingo! States of Passion by Nihad Sirees”

  1. #Book Bingo 2018: ‘A non-fiction book’ – Unmaking a Murder by Graham Archer

    ‘Graham Archer has spent the last 25 years in news and public affairs television. He has a special interest in investigative journalism and has won many awards for his coverage of institutionalised child abuse, miscarriages of justice and abuses of government power.’

    So, I’ve read a few books revealing the disturbing facts of our justice system but this book… oh my gosh, this book, Unmaking a Murder, is crazy scary, the information in each page is almost mind-boggling. The author gives the reader a complete and detailed account of the corruption in the criminal justice system. My heart went out to Henry Keogh, a man convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, was sentenced to 20 years in jail. So friggin’ sad.

    I take my hat off to journalist Graham Archer for pursuing Henry Keogh’s case for 13 years, never giving up…, ‘and producing more than 60 television stories challenging the fairness of Henry Keogh’s conviction.’

    After 20 years behind bars Henry Keogh was released.

    This book is a real eye-opener and should be read by every Australian.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      • It certainly was, Theresa. Yes, cruelty beyond belief! A shame I can’t edit my review. I was distracted by hubby and copied and pasted the review that should have been discarded, I wrote two different but similar reviews, oh well, it’s only a matter of a few words I was able to change it on Goodreads though.

        I’ll put in brackets the word changes, which were: sentenced to (life imprisonment). And, After 20 years behind bars Henry Keogh was (finally) released.

        Now that everything has settled down at home I have time to comment on your blog posts so beware Theresa, you’ll be flooded by about 13 comments, one to each post, all your blog posts look interesting so I must comment. Lol. (Which I’ll get to some time today)

        Liked by 1 person

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