The Leash and the Ball

The Leash and the Ball was my second novel by Rodaan Al Galidi. First was De autist en de postduif (unfortunately, no English translation yet). I liked it, so I decided to read another by this author.

In the novel, we meet Samir Karim, an immigrant from Iraq. After over nine years in the Dutch asylum center, he gets a permit to live outside the center. He finally has a chance to see what it means to live in this country. Cultural differences often contribute to misunderstandings and funny situations. This was a lightweight, funny, and a quick read.

Rodaan Al Galidi is an Iraqi writer. He lives in the Netherlands and writes in dutch. I assume the author used some of his personal experiences in this novel as the author himself lived in a Dutch asylum center for several years after immigrating from Iraq. His book De autist en de postduif (original title) won a literary prize.

»How rich that monastery is, I thought. Rich poverty is richer than poor prosperity.«

 

 

Goodreads

Details:

• author: Rodaan Al Galidi
• full title: The Leash and the Ball
  
• genre: literary fiction
• format/type: bookfiction
• country: Netherlands, Iraq
  
• topics: #immigrants
  
• publisher: World Editions
  
• publish date: 20.09.2022
  
• pages:
  

My Rating of the Book:

• content: 💙💙💙💙

Excerpt from the Book:

About the Author:

Al Galidi (actually Rodhan Al Khalidi) is a writer of Iraqi origin. He was born in 1971, but his exact date of birth is unknown, because such data is not registered and birthdays are not celebrated in his region of origin.

Al Galidi graduated in Iraq as an architectural engineer. After his studies he fled from Iraq to avoid conscription; six years later, in 1998, he ended up in the Netherlands, where he applied for asylum. The asylum was refused. Therefor he was not allowed to attend Dutch lessons. That is why Al Galidi learned himself the Dutch language and started to write. He is recognized as a writer in Flanders and receives a scholarship. In 2007, Al Galidi was able to enjoy the general pardon in the Netherlands. In 2011 he failed his integration course, which gave the IND the right to withdraw his residence permit.

He continues his writing under the name Rodaan Al Galidi.