Lebanese doctor Mina Simpson arrives in the infamous Moria refugee camp on Lesbos after being invited to Greece by a friend who runs an NGO there. Mina has avoided being so close to her homeland for decades, estranged from all her family except for one beloved brother. Although she has only taken a short leave of absence from work and is struggling to cope with the separation from her husband of thirty years, Mina hopes to achieve something meaningful – amidst the throngs of Western volunteers posing for selfies with inflatable boats on the beach and with children in the camp. Soon, a boat arrives carrying Sumayya, a steadfast Syrian woman with terminal liver cancer but, determined to protect her children and husband at all costs, she keeps her diagnosis a secret from them. Sumayya’s secret becomes Mina’s, and the two women form a deep bond. As Mina prepares therapy for Sumayya with limited resources at her disposal, she confronts the fates of displaced migrants, but also her own limitations in helping them.
Not since the inimitable Aaliya from The Woman You Can Do Without has Rabih Alameddine created such an irresistible heroine - to lead us into one of the most painful conflicts of our time. Skillfully weaving the stories of other refugees into Mina's unique story, The Wrong End of the Telescope becomes a dazzling tapestry of tragic and entertaining portraits of indomitable spirits in the face of a humanitarian crisis.
"Spectacular... Alameddine's merciless prose evokes the old master storytellers of my own Middle Eastern home, their jagged and witty observations, always returning to human absurdity."
Dina Nayeri, The New York Times Book Review
"No one like this master storyteller writes prose that is such a natural extension of a lived life...Interesting and disturbing in equal measure."
Kirkus Reviews