**SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR ARABIC FICTION A sensitive and at times darkly humorous story of a young man’s experience of illness, his contemplation of death, and his determination to maintain his independence through it all** After reading Kafka, K decides to write his own diary, but he is constantly frustrated by his lack of experiences: he is worn down by the drudgery of his corporate job for a faceless corporation and by his incessant family obligations. When he receives the news that he has leukemia, he finds himself torn between a sense of devastation and a revelation that he has finally found a way out of his writing predicament. Through Mohammed’s measured but forceful writing, this compelling debut has a universality that reaches across time, place, and culture.