De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage

Winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the novel tells the story of Bassam and George, childhood best friends who have grown to adulthood in war-torn Lebanon. While Bassam embarks on a series of petty crimes to fund his escape to the West, George builds his status in the militia-ruled underworld of Beirut. Hage presents an explosive portrait of life in the ruins of a splintered city, one that fuses vivid cinematic imagery with the measured strength of the eternal Arabic poetry.