[Eine Hand voller Sterne]
This novel, written in the form of a diary, captures the coming-of-age of a young boy in the old quarters of Damascus. Spanning three years, the narrative chronicles his transformation from a baker’s son into a young man with the soul of a journalist, driven by a desire to capture the essence of his city brimming with life, secrets, and political unrest.
The book’s structure mirrors the fragmented nature of a journal, allowing the prose to shift between the whimsical and the deeply serious. As the protagonist navigates first loves and family tensions, he simultaneously witnesses a series of military coups and the gradual intensification of state censorship. The “hand full of stars” represents fleeting moments of hope and small acts of defiance that the community clings to in the dark.
[Schami, R. (1995). Eine Hand voller Sterne. Dt. Taschenbuch-Verlag.]
Sources:
https://books.google.it/books/about/Eine_Hand_voller_Sterne.html?id=NwlmAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y
https://www.belletristik-couch.de/titel/697-eine-hand-voller-sterne
goethe.de/ins/it/it/m/kul/kuf/uak/per.cfm?personId=667
