It’s in the title: short stories, novel excerpts, or poems by 39 young writers from the Arabic-speaking world (plus a few expats living in the West). It’s a nice primer on some of the more interesting writing coming from the Arab world, at least in theory. The problem is that most of the 39 collections aren't good. At least, they aren't good as presented. Excerpting novels is tricky, since you’re surgically removing something from a specific context and hoping it can live on its own. Here, most of the excerpts just fall flat. I’m also wondering if some of the selections don’t work because of the translation. Were some of these stories terrible to begin with? Maybe. I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt. I think some of the nuance lost as it was translated into English (in a few cases, translated into French, and then into English). As it stands, at least two thirds of the selections lurch along, feeling more like sloppy attempts to merge overly journalistic prose with occasional flashes of magical realism. There are a few standouts, and they thankfully made the collection worth it in the end. Just barely. ( )

This is a fabulous collection of short works. Not a great introduction to Arabic fiction, perhaps, but an intriguing assortment of short works by many largely unknown/untranslated writers, perfect for those who're interested in Arabic literature but aren't sure where to start. Here in the US, it's easy to access new fiction by young writers; if you're interested in the Middle East and don't speak Arabic, it's almost impossible. Enjoy this selection.

This was a slow read for me. I was excited to be introduced to new authors, but I didn't find it easy going and most of the stories and poems didn't engage me. I'm not sure if it is because the work was in translation (often I don't love works in translation), or because the stories told felt unfamiliar to me and I didn't have enough time to became engaged in any given story. Just okay for me. ( )

As others have noted in their reviews, the idea was lovely, but the execution didn't work as well as hoped. This anthology was short enough with a relatively large number of contributors, so there wasn't much space for any given writer. I also found that the excerpts from novels weren't as well chosen as I would have liked, in that they didn't feel enough like whole chunks. Still, I really like the idea, and the window into viewpoints I don't often see, especially in English.

Beirut 39 is a collection of short writings (short stories, chapters from novels, poetry) from young writers (under 40) from the Arab speaking world. Overall they're pretty interesting. Some are great - I really liked the story "The Pools and the Piano", about increasing intolerance for foreigners in Libya. "Haneef from Glasgow", a story about a conversation about a Kashmiri servant living in Scotland and his former employer, is also excellent. My favorite piece in the whole book is the poem "The Geography of I", which is hard to describe but absolutely wonderful. The subject of the stories aren't always political - there are selections from murder mysteries, love stories, all sorts of things. Some are political, about bombings and whatnot. But in general, worth reading. ( )