Saudi Story Collection Explores Transformation of Houses, Places, Humans

Saudi Story Collection Explores Transformation of Houses, Places, Humans

Saudi novelist and story writer Ahmed al-Hokail released a new story collection entitled "Home," published by Riwayat Imprint affiliated with Sharjah-based Kalimat Group. The collection includes many stories that took place in the 1970s and 1980s, featuring many details from that period such as the shape of streets and the interests of people who lived back then.

The author created the picture of a whole era using car brands, urban expansion, and the emergence of new neighborhoods. He also shed light on the consequences of moving to a new house, like losing familial ties, neighbors, and childhood memories in the past decades, during which people never closed their doors or set boundaries with other families.

In a text titled "Ibn Battuta Leaves," the novelist tells the story of a little boy who remembers his neighbors leaving to a new house in 1986; the story's main character blend events from two different periods: the first when he was an 11-year-old boy, and the other after he became a husband and a father.

He recalls moments filled with nostalgia for a time where he was more innocent. With his visual memory, the man reconstructs the past of his neighbors on the last day in their