Silent Lips, Speaking Hearts by Tarek Hassan Refaat – English Book Review

Silent Lips, Speaking Hearts is a short story collection by Egyptian author Tarek Hassan Refaat. The 24-story collection, written in Arabic, is about women in general and Egyptian women in particular.

The stories are in the form of snippets of women's lives, which makes them easily relatable, while at the same time highlighting problems within the home and society.

At the end of Silent Lips, Speaking Hearts, Refaat asks the reader to look at women and the world with a view that is different and "free of judgement, free of condescension; to look without feeling better or more important than others; to look at a woman as she is: a person, with their own mind, who is capable of anything and everything." 

He further adds: "Women lack nothing except the need to have others deal with them as a person, an independent person, just like men. All that is stopping us from doing so are ideas and beliefs that are neither related to truth nor religion."

In each story, the main character or protagonist is a woman, although two stories have men as the main characters but they also revolve around women. Stories vary in length from one to three pages at most.

Silent Lips, Speaking Hearts opens with the shortest but most powerful story in the collection. Loosely translated to "A Woman and Her Suitcase," this first story paints vivid pictures in the reader's mind and leaves strong emotions in the reader's heart.

"Gamila and her Coffee" is a relatable story, and anyone who is a fan of romance will enjoy it, while "Sherine and [the] War" is a magnificent piece tackling women's struggles in Egyptian society. Five stars to this one. Here's a short excerpt from the story:

"Sherine stood before the large mirror on the inside of her wardrobe door. Silently, she stared at her face and ran her through her hair, breathing in the end of a day that felt more like a war than a day; a war like those told in stories about World War I, where soldiers run to take over some place, run with all their speed and might, ignoring a hail of bullets and shells fired by armored tanks, only to reach that point where they can stand tall then rest.

But Sherine felt like this war was her everyday struggle. Every day, she had to wage her own war against a hail of criticism, judgements, harassment and more; but worse, she was always blamed and told she was the party who wronged others not the one who was wronged."

Not all the stories in Silent Lips, Speaking Hearts, highlight women's heroics. Some offer criticism about the way some women live, especially in Egypt. "Salma and Other Women" is about that; it tackles how women often compare themselves to other women, try to compete with men, and how many women are often willing to hurt others to rise or to appear better.

Meanwhile, "Amal and the People in Her Building" sheds light on how people in Egypt often look at divorced women, like how men and other married women look at them.

I can't translate this title but the story, transliterated to "Talata Sokkar Nabata," is one of the funniest stories in Silent Lips, Speaking Hearts. Five stars to this one.

I also love "Nada and the Sea" not just because the main character shares my name but because I totally relate to this one. It's as if I'm in the story and it paints a beautiful picture in my mind. It's also how I view the sea; a place I can tell worries and stories. Another five stars are in order.

In "Mona and Beautifying [the] Pain," Refaat tackles the prevalent idea of the strong independent woman, which has forced women to create versions of themselves that appear strong and invincible on the outside. Five stars to this one.

Other recommended stories in Silent Lips, Speaking Hearts include "Emad's Dream," "Hazem and Marwa," "Feryal Wins," and "Farah Writes," among others.

I have a few other comments that pertain to the Arabic short story collection like repeated words and phrases. But should this collection be translated into English, I think this can be easily overcome. Many of the stories don't really involve dialogue, so it would be nice to have some dialogue here and there.

Overall rating for Silent Lips, Speaking Hearts by Tarek Hassan Refaat: 4 stars.

I read Silent Lips, Speaking Hearts by Tarek Hassan Refaat in 2018 and it made my top books of that year.

Note 1: This collection is currently available in Arabic, but if you like the review, leave me a comment below and we'll see if we can convince the author to get it translated.

Note 2: The translations provided in this review are my personal translation of the Arabic book.

Add Silent Lips, Speaking Hearts on Goodreads.

About the Author:

Tarek Hassan Refaat is an Egyptian author. Though he works in information technology, he likes to write short stories and novels in both English and Arabic.

His first book was Ruptured in 2011, followed by Ribbons and Heels in 2013 and then Broken Shadows.

Silent Lips, Speaking Hearts is first publication in Arabic, with publishing platform Kotobna. Tarek has also published another Arabic collection called Moments and is currently working on publishing two more short story collections in 2020.

Connect with Tarek Hassan Refaat via Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Amazon.

Author Interview with Excerpts - The Good Dictator by Gonçalo Dias

Today, I'm excited to be featuring a new author. Meet Gonçalo J. Nunes Dias, author of The Good Dictator (The Birth of an Empire), the first book in a trilogy, originally published in Portuguese.

Gonçalo has answered a few questions and provided excerpts from his novel especially for Nadaness In Motion.

Book: The Good Dictator (The Birth of an Empire)

Author: Gonçalo J. Nunes Dias

Publication date: 25 November 2016

Genres: Action, Adventure, sci-fi, dystopian/utopian

Synopsis:

An unidentified object parked on the moon - and no one seems to know where it came from. Gustavo, a middle-aged computer programmer with a comfortable and grey life, decides to make a list of what he would need to survive a hypothetical attack. He becomes obsessed with the list, spends a fortune, robs a drugstore: his own family thinks he is going insane. After the attack, it’s the insane who are well-prepared for a new era in society. First book of a trilogy. 

Note: The Good Dictator was originally written and published in Portuguese. The book is currently available in both English and Portuguese.

Exclusive Author Interview with Excerpts

Nadaness In Motion: Tell us about Gustavo, the main character in The Good Dictator

Gonçalo Dias: Gustavo, the main character, is a regular person with a comfortable job, nice house, and kids. However, he is no longer in love with his wife, Marta.

“… he had not loved her for some time. He did not think about getting divorced, Marta was a good mother for his sons, they had both gotten a good home, they even had a comfortable life; he was sure that. [Were it not] for the children, he would have already filed for divorce.”

“He had committed many mistakes in his life, he had failed in many aspects, but he wanted to be a good father, and the best thing for his kids was to be close to their mother, even if this meant he had to spend the life with someone so futile like Marta.”

Gustavo is also a competitive person, even with his friends:

“Everybody turned to Gustavo waiting for a serious answer, without jokes. Everybody knew he was calculating, practical and very logical. Gustavo, in turn, was sometimes rather competitive and knew that if he exposed his theory, they would want to do the same and this could lower his percentages of survival. At this very moment, he hated himself for thinking in such a selfish and competitive way with his old friends and that he probably would not see them again.”

When the object got parked on the moon, he got obsessed with the list:

“The creation of the list had brought some adrenaline to his life, some hope in something new, in some sort of change. And now, there he was in one of his favorite places, was thinking that he had failed, that the poor emotion he had for life had led him to the exaggeration of spending too much money, putting at risk his work place, and even worse, risking his freedom after an unnecessary robbery.

While he was immersed in these thoughts, he saw his father open the old gate of the property and approach him. Gustavo sighed and thought that he would now have to hear his old father give him a moral lesson about life; accept your mistakes and don't fly into paranoia or exaggerations. That was exactly what he did not want right now, he had come to that place to be alone and now he would hear his father in a speech about common sense.”

Nadaness In Motion: What are Gustavo's strongest and weakest traits?

G.D.: Gustavo’s strongest aspect is probably his ability to quickly adapt to any new situation. He is also planner-type of person.

 “Gustavo laughed again, he looked down with an amused look and saw the great hate that emanated from The Fatty.

- Do you know why it came down to this? You on your knees and me standing and observing your village in flames? Because you’re the weakest link. You know, you fatty, in the animal world, the ones who adapt the better to the environmental conditions are the ones who survive, and just between you and me, we both have the best example of it. You still think you are the GNR commander and that someone will come from the past to make me pay for my deeds, while I have quickly adapted to the new reality: as soon as the craft landed on The Moon, I made a list of indispensable things, I spent a lot of money in this list, I robbed a drugstore and was considered to be crazy by my family, but when the attack occurred, this crazy one was the one who had adapted the best to the new environment. And, let me tell you: I longed for this attack; I was fed up with living my comfortable and gray life behind a computer.”

Gustavo’s weakness is probably his inability to improvise.

“Gustavo remained quiet, feeling uncomfortable that Ramiro was better prepared than he was. He would've liked to have had a few minutes to think about some excuses, but he remained still, with no excuses, awaiting another wave of accusations and with some fear of what would come.”

Nadaness In Motion: Is The Good Dictator a dystopia or utopia?

G.D.: I think dystopian and utopian at the same time, and depends on the perspective of the reader. When the book was released in the Portuguese market, some said: it’s a post-apocalyptic novel, others a dystopian, while others claimed it was a utopian novel. Gustavo and his friends can be seen as utopian, because they try to build a better society. In one of the instances in the novel, Gustavo says:

“- I don’t do this for the power, Ramiro, I do this for our children, so that the future generation doesn't have to live in an unequal, corrupt and unprincipled society. I don’t want to be in power forever, I’m in favor of creating a law that one will only be able to be in public positions no more than eight years; after which, no privileges or special treatment are reward so that they have to go back to their work. Politics will be seen as a contribution to society and not as an opportunity to get rich and find well-paid state jobs for your friends. I do this so that your daughters and my children only hear about Swiss banks, tax havens and stock exchanges, like Wall Street, as things of a dark and greedy past from a lost society. I won’t allow you and your friends to change my view of the future.”

Connect with Gonçalo Dias via Goodreads, Twitter and his blog.

Add the book on Goodreads.

Purchase the book (in English or Portuguese) via Amazon. The English version is currently FREE for kindle and the Portuguese one is for $0.99 (as at the date of publication of this post). 

Fairy tales, books, translation - an interview with author Nadja Losbohm

It gives me great pleasure to feature author – and now friend – Nadja Losbohm, who has been enthusiastic about all my projects and has been a great support to Nadaness In Motion.

Please welcome her and check out the interview below. Your comments and shares are highly appreciated.

Nadja Losbohm is the author of The Huntress series and Alaspis, both of which will be discussed in depth shortly.

 

About Nadja

Tell us a bit about yourself. (Are you a full-time writer? Do you have a job alongside being a novelist? Pets, family?...)

Nadja Losbohm: I’m Nadja, 32 and I live in Berlin, Germany. I work as a dental nurse and write fantasy stories for everybody who loves to read. My parents were into drawing and writing poetry when they were young, too, so it is thanks to them that I enjoy writing and reading so much. I also like listening to music, photography, movies and being with friends. I love to travel, too, but I wished I had more time to do so. 

Q: Your favourite food?

NL: That’s hard to choose. I like potatoes, noodles and chocolate. What I do not like is green vegetables.  : ) 

Q: What countries would you like to visit someday?

NL: I always wanted to travel to New Zealand, Canada, Asia, Egypt, USA. Maybe, someday I will.

Q: Who are you favourite authors of all-time? (English & German writers)

NL: I absolutely love the books of authors Karen Marie Moning, Robin LaFevers and Brent Weeks. They created such wonderful and amazing worlds – it’s impressive and a real joy to read their books. My favourite German author is Michael Ende, who wrote “A Neverending Story”. With him, my love for fantasy books began.

Q: Are you an indie writer? What do you think the indie scene is like in Germany? (I mean is it as popular and broad-ranged as the US and UK, are there many publishers?)

NL: My first book, Alaspis – The Search For Eternity, was published by a publishing company, but The Huntress is an indie project. When I started as an indie writer I didn’t know how big the indie scene is in Germany. It’s huge and it’s growing every day! I think it is great people get the chance to publish their works independently. I already discovered a few gems, which would deserve to be on the bestseller lists. At least that’s my opinion.

Q: What are you favourite reading genres?

NL: I really love fantasy books. I could not live without fantastic stories. But I also like to read crime and thrillers.

The Huntress and Writing

Q: What first inspired Ada and The Huntress series?

NL: It was several small coincidences that inspired The Huntress. When I finished Alaspis, I wondered what to write next. I live very close to a small church and I thought it should be part of a story. Then there was somebody, who said I’d look a bit like “Snow White” due to my dark hair and pale skin. After that, I saw a man who was the inspiration for “Father Michael”, one of the main characters. So, he really does exist, if you want so. J Together, all these little things helped create The Huntress. I also wanted to write a fun story, which makes people laugh but also feel.

Q: You've made references to The Grimm Fairytales in your novel, have you read them all and/or Anderson's Fairy Tales? If yes, which was your favourite?

NL: I did read a lot of The Grimm Fairytales when I was a kid. In Germany, children grow up with them. I still have a copy. I always liked “Snow White”, of course and “Cinderella”, “The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids”, “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Rapunzel”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “The Star Money” and “Snow-White and Rose-Red”. These are my personal favourite ones.

Q: Tell us about your journey with publishing The Huntress.

NL: It all started back in August 2012, when I wrote the first lines of The Huntress – The Beginnings, the first book of the series. I published this book in 2013. At first, you’re quite enthusiastic and everything seems to be so easy, but then you face reality. Writing and self-publishing your work is easy compared to promoting it. At least, that’s how I see things. : ) Over the last two years I published four more books in this series and also managed to release an English version of the first part, which was a real emotional roller coaster ride, but I just had to do that. The Huntress is a matter dear to my heart and I cannot give up on her. So, I just keep on working, writing, dreaming and hoping.

Q: Apart from Ada and Father Michael, are there other characters that appear frequently in the next three books?

NL: Yes, there’re a few more characters, which will join the series. I think it would be boring to just have Ada and Michael tell the story. In the first installment “The Beginnings”, Ada says she’s got siblings. So, we will meet one of them. Members of Father Michael’s community will be introduced, which play an important role. And we meet Ada’s and Michael’s child.

Q: How do you deal with negative reviews? Have some of them been helpful?

NL: It’s difficult to deal with them. But when you share your work with others, you have to be prepared for getting bad reviews. Once I got a real negative one and I still haven’t forgotten about it. Though I thought the reviewer’s opinion unfair, I also learned one or two things. Of course, you feel the need to explain yourself, but you shouldn’t. Just accept it and go on. It’s a process you need to learn. But I also think people should pay attention to their choice of words. Freedom of speech is one thing, but to insult somebody is a big NO! People should ask themselves more often: “If I’d be the author and somebody would say this or that about my book, how would I feel?”

Q: You have another book that I think is laying low a bit, Alaspis. Can you give us some info about it?

NL: Yes, that is true. Before The Huntress there was Alaspis. It took about ten years to finish writing the manuscript and to publish it. Why? Well, sometimes I was lacking inspiration and then I feared the end of the writing process, as it meant to say goodbye to the beloved characters. So, I put off the ending again and again.

Alaspis is a fairytale like adventure about a magical flower, which has healing powers. A dark lord longs for it and does all he can to find it. There’s also a brave but young king, who doesn’t want to be one and whose family has been keeping the secret about the flower for centuries. Alaspis is my baby, living a bit in the shadow of The Huntress, but it has a very special place in my heart. It was my first book and laid the foundation for The Huntress.

In the Works

Q: What are your current projects? After four books of The Huntress, is there a fifth one? Are you starting a new series?

NL: Actually, there’s already a fifth book of “The Huntress”. It’s called The Cradle Of The Evil and is the big final chapter. Well, at least for now. I really would like to write a sixth book. I enjoy spending time with Ada and Michael and have the feeling, that there’s still something they want to tell the readers.

I also would like to translate the second book of The Huntress series into English and publish it as a free read online. But that’s all still up in the air.

I’ve also been working on a children’s book with short stories and poems in German. Almost all of them are about values that are important to me such as respect, tolerance, help and hope.

Update:

Nadja Losbohm's German children's book has been published under the title Hamster Stopfdichvoll & seine Freunde .Find it on Amazon.

Q: What genre would you be most interested in experimenting with?

NL: That’s a tough question. I really cannot say. As a child I wanted to become a marine biologist or an archeologist. I never thought I would write fantasy books. Now there’re seven of them. I also never thought I would write a children’s book. That idea just came to me “by accident”. So, who knows what comes to my mind in the future.

Q: Is there anything you'd like to add?

NL: To you, Nada: I’d like to say thank you for all your support, help and encouragement. To be able to work with you was a real pleasure. I’m very thankful to have met you.

To the readers: I thank you for taking the time to read this lovely interview Nada made. I’d like to invite you to visit me on Facebook and Twitter. Let’s find out together where this journey called “writing books” is going to take me but also you.

The English version of The Huntress: The Beginnings is available at $0.99 via Amazon. If you prefer the German version, check out Die Jagerin: Die Anfangen.


Also, find Nadja Losbohm on Goodreads. And check out Nadaness In Motion's book review of The Huntress: The Beginnings.