One Hundred and One Nights: A Novel

by Benjamin Buchholz

Overview

After 13 years in America, Abu Saheeh has returned to his native Iraq, a nation transformed by the American military presence. Alone in a new city, he has exactly what he wants: freedom from his past. Then he meets Layla, a whimsical fourteen-year-old girl who enchants him with her love of American pop culture. Enchanted by Layla's stories and her company, Abu Saheeh settles into the city's rhythm and begins rebuilding his life. But two sudden developments -- his alliance with a powerful merchant and his employment of a hot-headed young assistant -- reawaken painful memories, and not even Layla may be able to save Abu Saheeh from careening out of control and endangering all around them.

A breathtaking tale of friendship, love, and betrayal, One Hundred and One Nights is an unforgettable novel about the struggle for salvation and the power of family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316248129
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	12/11/2012
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.21(d)

About the Author

Benjamin Buchholz is the author of a book entitled Private Soldiers about his Wisconsin National Guard unit the year-long deployment to southern Iraq. He was stationed with his family in Oman from 2010 to 2011 and currently lives in Princeton, New Jersey, where he is pursuing a graduate degree in Middle East Security Studies. One Hundred and One Nights is his first novel.

Editorial Reviews

…a seductive, compelling first novel that depicts war as intimate and subtle. [Buchholz] captures the distant rumbling of a Humvee, the dappled shadow left by a passing soldier and the ordinary dramas of sibling rivalry and unrequited love…In considering Safwan from the viewpoint of the Iraqis, Buchholz's novel draws readers deeply into the suffering that has colored the country's recent history.
—The Washington Post

Masha Hamilton

As a member of the Wisconsin National Guard, Buchholz served in Safwan, Iraq, in 2005-06, an experience he recalls in the well-received Private Soldiers. Here he turns to fiction to clarify the complexities of Iraqi life today. His protagonist, Abu Saheeh, has returned to Iraq after 13 years in America, where he trained as a doctor and developed a fondness for the Chicago Cubs. He's opened up a little shop in Safwan, selling mobile phones and phone cards and watching the American convoys stream by. He's also visited regularly by a girl named Layla, an urchin who doesn't maintain the proprieties of Iraqi life and talks excitedly about American pop culture. As Abu Saheeh ("Father Truth") unfolds his painful backstory, including service as an army medic, manipulation by a nasty brother now in the government, and flight from the capital because he is a Sunni, readers come to realize that he has a larger mission. They also realize that for Abu Saheeh, as for all Iraqis, the personal is ultimately political. VERDICT This accomplished first novel quietly communicates truths hidden behind the headlines and is recommended reading for anyone interested in politics or engaging fiction.—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

Library Journal