Books: Guapa & Love after the End

By Zach Shattuck

Guapa
By Saleem Haddad

Can Rasa make love work in the wake of a failed revolution?

Taking place in an unspecified country in the middle east a few years after Arab Spring, Saleem Haddad’s Guapa is a story told from the perspective of Rasa, a gay man who does translation work for foreign reporters when they are trying to get the latest scoop on his country’s instabilities.

The novel explores Rasa’s present, his childhood, and his sample of American life while abroad in college. At each of these stages in his life, he is exposed to new ideas and approaches to living, the salience of identity, and to what love is. 

“We ripped off our clothes and masks and delusions until there was nothing left, just the two of us, raw, skin on skin. We were completely bare and utterly whole.”

Swirling in the center of his emotional exploration is the man he loves, Taymour. The novel opens on his grandmother, who he shares a home with, peeping through a keyhole to see the two in a moment of relaxed embrace. That Taymour is reconsidering any future with Rasa, even a covert one, becomes Rasa’s consuming fear through this story. But beyond the immediate grip on his heart: the president is declaring there were terrorist attacks in a nearby town; an American reporter will pay him triple to skirt through the checkpoints manned by easily offended soldiers to interview one of the rebels within that town; Rasa’s best friend is missing, and not responding to his text messages; a wedding approaches. 

“There’s fear at the heart of every desire and desire at the heart of every fear. So I wonder, by desiring Taymour, what exactly are you afraid of?”

The social and political setting of Rasa’s home country is more akin to what LGBT people in the US faced from the 40s-60s: there is a community in the city, but they must move underground to carve a life for themselves. And yet, in seeing Rasa’s best friend perform drag on a regular basis, the owner of the beloved bar Guapa being a proud and fairly out lesbian, it is clear that what inhibits Rasa more than the ruling government or a homophobic society is his own internal sense of shame and fear. Terrified to even think the wrong thoughts, Rasa, one of the early faces of the failed revolution which took place but a few years before, closes himself off from action and freedom and joy in more ways than can be counted. What life is that to lead?

This is a well written book, with themes and questions that will poke at you long after you put it down. It does not have a lovey-dovey type of happily-ever-after, but the ending is satisfying. Make no mistake, you will hurt and laugh your way to get to that ending, but it wraps up on a positive note. I’m so glad I read this book, and I think you will be too.

There is only one copy of Guapa available through San Diego Public Libraries, so consider ordering this one from your local bookstore.

Love after the End
An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indiqueer Speculative Fiction

War-worn travelers riding through dreams and time to call their ancestors home. A robot rat determined to be free. A chance to escape slavery at the cost of the Earth herself. A love letter on surviving the apocalypse.

Welcome to the Indigenous future. 

“This trip, from one universe to another, is the greatest adventure in human history. I want us to do it together, as a family. Don’t you?”

Nine authors present their visions of Two-Spirit people surviving against the odds in futures both distant and seemingly not too far away. Through each of these stories, Two-Spirit characters are centered, loved, and celebrated.

Two-Spirit is a term which does not have a direct English counterpart, as the label is as diverse as the many nations it’s found in. Yet there are consistencies across these worlds and characters: those who are Two-Spirit are cultural keepers, are determined, and are cherished. They defy colonial binary expectations of both gender and love, each choosing the path best for them. 

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Each gave an intense view of a world which, though seemingly dystopian in many ways, still held hope and gave nine happy endings of love and survival. Speculative fiction rarely provides such journeys, and reading stories with direct ties to First Nations gave each story enriching background to each character and their worldview. 

Love after the End is available through San Diego Public Libraries.