Crooked Teeth
A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir
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Crooked Teeth
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Narrated by:
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Danny Ramadan
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Written by:
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Danny Ramadan
About this listen
FINALIST FOR THE GOVERNER GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR NON-FICTION
A queer Syrian refugee reckons with a life spent out of place.
“Writing this memoir is a betrayal.” So begins this electrifying personal account from Danny Ramadan, a celebrated novelist who has long enjoyed the shield his fiction provides. Now, to tell the story of his life, he must revisit dark corners of his past he’d rather forget and unearth memories of a city he can no longer return to.
Starting with his family’s humble beginnings in Damascus, he takes listeners on an epic border-crossing journey: to the city’s underground network of queer safe homes; to a clandestine party at a secluded villa in Cairo; through Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East, a reckless hoax that threatens the safety of Syria’s LGBTQ+ community, and a traumatic six-week imprisonment; to beaches and sunsets with friends in Beirut; to an arrival in Vancouver that’s not as smooth as it promised to be; and ultimately to a life of hard-won comfort and love.
What emerges is a powerful refutation of the oversimplified refugee narrative—a book that holds space for joy alongside sorrow, for nuance and complicated ambivalences. Written with fearless intimacy, Crooked Teeth is a singular achievement in which a master storyteller learns that his greatest story is his own.
©2024 Danny Ramadan (P)2024 Viking
What the critics say
“I take my hat off to Danny Ramadan and his brilliant muses. This is a mesmerizing story of growing up gay in a Muslim Syrian family, of the challenges and joys of finding and creating loving communities, and the miracle not just of physical survival but of an effervescent celebration of the human heart. Once I began reading, I couldn’t stop until the final page. Countless others will be thankful for this raw, idiosyncratic, utterly compelling account of Danny’s long journey home.”—Lawrence Hill, author of The Illegal
“In Crooked Teeth, the reader becomes not just a confidante but a trusted companion in Danny Ramadan’s story. Harrowing yet joyous, bawdy and kind and brilliant, this memoir sings, parties, and grieves in a way that will make you want to hug it and, yes, dance with it.”—Ann-Marie MacDonald, author of Fayne
“Ramadan reminds us why memoir is so important. This is an engrossing account of one queer man’s journey through a life filled with danger, yes, but also great joy. A beautiful read that adds nuance to the stories of so many refugees.”—Garrard Conley, author of Boy Erased
What listeners say about Crooked Teeth
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Zac
- 2024-06-14
Heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time
Danny tells an incredible story about his life and really connects with you as a reader. This book reads like a great conversation. It pulls you in and you can feel all the emotions along side him as he tells of his adventures and his struggles. It’s an impactful story of community and the difficulties of finding a place to call home. This memoir will make you feel that there is always hope no matter how hard life is. It deals with so many topics that a lot of people shy away from and or are scared to deal with. It will make you laugh and cry and make you reflect upon your own life in ways that you couldn’t see before.
Danny Ramadan is such a talented writer and his storytelling skills draw you to not only to get invested in his tale but also to learn to trust him when his journey takes you to hard truths in to emotional healing and trauma.
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