Hage first garnered attention as an exhibiting photographer, until his internationally acclaimed 2006 debut novel, De Niro’s Game - about two childhood friends who fantasize about leaving Beirut - won the prestigious Dublin IMPAC Literary Award, one of the richest prizes in the world with its purse of 100,000 euro.ĭespite the trajectory of his cosmopolitan writing career, Hage never abandoned his old taxi-driving friends. At 18, he immigrated to New York, where he studied photography before moving to Montreal to attend Concordia University, supporting himself as a taxi driver. Hage was born in Beirut in 1964 to an Arabic-speaking Christian family who were exiled to Cyprus in the midst of the Lebanese civil war. In the acknowledgments for Beirut Hellfire Society, he writes, “This is a book of mourning for the many who witnessed senseless wars, and for those who perished in those wars.” He spent his early years surrounded by war, a subject he says he still obsesses over. The Montreal-based author, who takes great pains to keep his “private life private,” still offers a glimpse into the things that shaped and now inspire him. When death becomes close to you, it takes on a different meaning.” “I think I am at an age where I am experiencing loss of family members, friends, and it seems more present. “This whole idea of various rituals, and how people deal with death, just triggered something and I started writing about it,” Hage says.

At 54, he now has his own personal ritual for the burying of the dead: He dons his black suit for funerals, which he finds himself attending more frequently than when he was younger. His hearse, or “deathmobile,” is a beacon of impending tragedy that no one wants to be reminded of, especially during war.īeirut Hellfire Society draws from Hage’s fascination with cultural and religious traditions, in particular funerals. Pavlov, who later inherits the undertaking job from his father, observes life and death as an outsider, aware he is viewed with superstition as a presence to be feared by both the city’s Muslim and Christian communities. That visceral scene kicks off a body count that rivals Keanu Reeves’ legendary John Wick movie series as Pavlov is initiated into the secretive Hellfire Society, an altruistic sect that cremates the bodies of those who were abandoned by loved ones because of taboos such as homosexuality and atheism. In 1970s civil war-torn Beirut, cleaning up the dead is a thankless but thriving business.

Pavlov, the 16-year-old son of a Lebanese undertaker, joins his father in the gruesome task of loading the decimated remains of a cadaver into their hearse.

Rawi Hage’s fourth novel, Beirut Hellfire Society, begins with the end of a life.

Beirut hellfire society review