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'The House of Youssef is a collection of short stories set in Western Sydney. The stories explore the lives of Lebanese migrants who have settled in the area, circling around themes of isolation, family and community, and nostalgia for the home country. In particular, House of Youssef is about relationships, and the customs which complicate them: between parents and children, the dark secrets of marriage, the breakable bonds between friends. The stories are told with extreme minimalism — some are only two pages long — which heightens their emotional intensity.
'The collection is framed by two soliloquies. The first expresses the longing of an old man for the homeland he will never return to. The second is the monologue of a woman, who could be his wife, addressed to her daughter, about life and its disappointments. The two central sequences are composed of vignettes which focus on moments of domestic crisis, and which combine, in the title sequence, to chart the demise of a single family. Kassab portrays the lives of ordinary people — simple, unglamorous, down-to-earth. Her understated style isolates small details and the anxieties that lurk within them. The tiny shifts in a normal day are an entire world to the people at the centre of her stories.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Sheila Ngoc Pham Reviews The House of Youssef by Yumna Kassab
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , no. 26 2020-2021;
— Review of The House of Youssef 2019 selected work short story'Yumna Kassab’s debut, The House of Youssef, arrived on my doorstep without forewarning. So this is how I first encountered the author: through her words. Léa Antigny, Giramondo’s then-publicist, sent me the book because she thought I would appreciate it; even though Antigny only knew me through my writing. Later, she suggested to Kassab that I might be a good candidate to speak at the book’s launch. In retrospect, Antigny’s literary matchmaking feels inspired, how her writerly mind was able to see a connection between the two of us before we saw it for ourselves.' (Introduction)
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Adele Dumont Reviews The House of Youssef by Yumna Kassab
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Plumwood Mountain [Online] , September 2020;
— Review of The House of Youssef 2019 selected work short story -
[Review] The House of Youssef
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 416 2019; (p. 53)
— Review of The House of Youssef 2019 selected work short story -
Yumna Kassab : The House of Youssef
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 19-25 October 2019;
— Review of The House of Youssef 2019 selected work short story'A man tends to his shop alone as he clings to the desperate hope that his sons will one day show interest and take over his business. A divorcee shrugs off advice from her family, who tell her to find another man or stay out of the sun to protect her once-pale skin. A woman worries that the life that she and her family have built in a new country will be for naught.' (Introduction)
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Shelf Reflection : Yumna Kassab
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , September 2019;
-
Yumna Kassab : The House of Youssef
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 19-25 October 2019;
— Review of The House of Youssef 2019 selected work short story'A man tends to his shop alone as he clings to the desperate hope that his sons will one day show interest and take over his business. A divorcee shrugs off advice from her family, who tell her to find another man or stay out of the sun to protect her once-pale skin. A woman worries that the life that she and her family have built in a new country will be for naught.' (Introduction)
-
[Review] The House of Youssef
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 416 2019; (p. 53)
— Review of The House of Youssef 2019 selected work short story -
Adele Dumont Reviews The House of Youssef by Yumna Kassab
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Plumwood Mountain [Online] , September 2020;
— Review of The House of Youssef 2019 selected work short story -
Sheila Ngoc Pham Reviews The House of Youssef by Yumna Kassab
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Mascara Literary Review , no. 26 2020-2021;
— Review of The House of Youssef 2019 selected work short story'Yumna Kassab’s debut, The House of Youssef, arrived on my doorstep without forewarning. So this is how I first encountered the author: through her words. Léa Antigny, Giramondo’s then-publicist, sent me the book because she thought I would appreciate it; even though Antigny only knew me through my writing. Later, she suggested to Kassab that I might be a good candidate to speak at the book’s launch. In retrospect, Antigny’s literary matchmaking feels inspired, how her writerly mind was able to see a connection between the two of us before we saw it for ourselves.' (Introduction)
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Books Roundup : The House of Youssef; Pills, Powder and Smoke; Meet Me at Lennon’s
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , September 2019; -
Shelf Reflection : Yumna Kassab
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , September 2019;
Awards
- 2020 shortlisted Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction
- 2020 shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards — Australian Short Story Collection - Steele Rudd Award
- 2020 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Glenda Adams Award for New Writing
- 2020 longlisted The Stella Prize
- 2020 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Fiction
- Western Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,