New Novel Explores Gay Arab Man’s Struggle for Identity

Saleem Haddad’s debut novel, “Guapa,” tells of the ongoing struggle with identity that Rasa — a young gay man living in the Middle East — deals with after his grandmother, Teta, discovers his relationship with the “love of his life,” Taymour. Teta raised Rasa after his father passed away and his mother disappeared when he was still a child. His grandmother served as his moral compass for the majority of his life, so Teta's coldness after walking in on him and his lover in bed shatters Rasa and also makes him feel shame for being gay and for being incapable of changing himself.

 

Glimpses of his past in the United States further emphasize Rasa’s battle with both his sexual and racial identity. There, after earning a college degree, he witnessed firsthand the sudden shift in attitude toward him — the way society, after the September 11 attacks, branded him as a potential threat. This fueled the young man’s desire to find a place to belong when he finally returned to his homeland.

 

Amidst the upheavals of the Arab Spring, Rasa attempts to live life normally in an unnamed Arab city, in a quasi-totalitarian society. The young man frequents Guapa, a gay bar where he feels most at home. While casual facades of market bargaining and scenic views of palm trees riddle the city, the book also includes images of angry mobs, protests that Rasa sometimes joins, and lines of tear-stricken children awaiting their food rations. Throughout his narrative, Rasa reveals the stifling complications that come from being expected to live up to the “norms” of society, from traditional family roles to his attitudes towards and participation in the political unrest on the streets.