I don’t really have a frame of reference for reviewing this. I’m not familiar with Lababidi’s works, nor aphorisms in general, but I found this collection inspirational. My thoughts are more eloquently summarised in the Afterword by Andrew Benson Brown:
Yahia Lababidi […] somehow manages not to be trite or shallow in his appraisals, and even to be the opposite. His wisdom has an ancient quality that speaks to the present about its future.
…and…
This book […] encourages one to contemplate brevity by quarantining Lababidi’s sayings, mirroring the condition of their creation. Lababidi himself puts it in a way that nicely reflects the volume’s organization: “Aphorisms are the sushi of literature.” A large bite, carefully prepared by a master chef, delicately savored. Wrapped in white space like rice, each piece’s placement on the page helps cleanse the palate like a slice of ginger, preparing one for the next bite. Though readers will inevitably douse their sushi in the soy sauce of their peculiar, accidentally-acquired prejudices, the author would encourage light dipping so as to not overwhelm the natural flavor of each insight.
Lababidi is clearly very spiritual, and this comes across in many of the aphorisms. While I wouldn’t necessarily describe myself that way, I found that even those aphorisms that had an overt spiritual nature still spoke to me in a way that I found relevant.
I took a long time to read this, as I wanted to savour each morsel. And I’m glad I did. And I will almost certainly revisit it.
My rating: ★★★★☆
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