Asim Altokhais’s ‘Alienation’ offers a startlingly-honest look at differences in culture

Riyadh (PRWEB) August 29, 2012

Saudi Arabia – Asim Altokhais’s new memoir “Alienation: My Life in Saudi Arabia and America” (published by iUniverse) explores one man’s coming-of-age journey as he travels between his home country of Saudi Arabia and the United States and struggles to find his true identity.

“Alienation” is the journey of a boy to adulthood. Altokhais spent most of his life flying from the West to the East, jumping from one culture to the other, suffering under the real effort that comes from trying to understand each one by itself. Living in a culture that disagrees with what he learned during his years and affects his way of thinking and seeing things. Culture rules and regulations sometimes seem like a prison where he cannot express his thoughts and ideas.

An excerpt from “Alienation”:

“Living in a culture that’s known for its strict regulations and methods pushed me from an early age to write about my feelings and ideas in a hidden biography, far from my parents’ eyes. Ever since I woke up into this world, I’ve been told never to express my feelings or ideas, not to anyone. When I acknowledged that this was the case, I came to a realization that what I’m seeing isn’t true and life is filled with ‘coded areas,’ which I’ve always been kept away from.”

“My book talks about the real life in Arabia, not like what the West see it on TV or movies, it talks with total truth about the real citizen life and what kind of obstacles that he encounter every day from asking for his human rights and dignity, freedom of speech and equity,” Altokhais says. “It also explores the life of two different countries, west and the east, from the point of view of one person then to a whole society.”

About the Author
Asim Altokhais, an Arabian freelance scriptwriter, has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a diploma from VFS, majoring in writing for film and TV. He has published two other books, “Blood Brothers” and “Master of Darkness,” and has written numerous feature scripts, short scripts and novels.

iUniverse, an Author Solutions, Inc. self-publishing imprint, is the leading book marketing, editorial services, and supported self-publishing provider. iUniverse has a strategic alliance with Indigo Books & Music, Inc. in Canada, and titles accepted into the iUniverse Rising Star program are featured in a special collection on BarnesandNoble.com. iUniverse recognizes excellence in book publishing through the Star, Reader’s Choice, Rising Star and Editor’s Choice designations—self-publishing’s only such awards program. Headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, iUniverse also operates offices in Indianapolis. For more information or to publish a book, please visit iuniverse.com or call 1-800-AUTHORS. For the latest, follow @iuniversebooks on Twitter.

My Life in Saudi Arabia and America by Asim Altokhais

KIRKUS REVIEWS

A coming-of-age memoir about a young man caught between two very different cultures.

Since his wealthy parents frequently moved internationally, Abraham’s childhood was split  between the  United States and an  Arabic country that  he  initially loathed. Uprooted from his beloved Batman and the English-speaking world and transplanted  into  a  traditional  culture  where  he  could  not  utter  a  word  of complaint against an abusive math teacher, he ended up miserable and floundered in his studies. Writing a diary and recording meetings with his grandparents and family kept him sane. His worst moment came when a truck killed his little brother, Moses. Abraham conveys his bewilderment, shock and pain: “I saw that one of Moses’s feet had lost its shoe, so I told Ray to look for it. To this day, I don’t know why I said that.” Curiously, he chooses not to name the country he lived in and instead calls it “Arabia.” This is only one of the many frustratingly vague elisions in this choppy narrative.

Warmly and honestly written but sloppily edited and of limited scope.