The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and his mother) (2025) is a novel by Rabih Alameddine. It follows protagonist Raja and his mother Zalfa through 60 fraught years of Lebanese history, creating a portrait not only of one family but also of Lebanon during the 20th and 21st centuries. Using a non-linear structure, the novel moves back and forth in time as it explores its characters’ lives from decade to decade. As Raja’s story unfolds, the novel interrogates The Complexity of Familial Relationships, Navigating Queer Identity Against Familial and Societal Judgment, and The Impact of History on Individuals and Communities.

Alameddine was born in Jordan to Lebanese parents and grew up between Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait. He left Lebanon after high school, living in the UK before settling in the United States. His other works include An Unnecessary Woman (2014) and The Angel of History (2016). The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and his mother) won a National Book Award. 

This guide uses the 2025 hardcover edition by Grove Press.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of anti-gay bias, violence, death, sexual violence, substance use, sexual content, cursing, and abuse. 

Plot Summary

Divided into seven long chapters, the novel begins in 2023. Raja and his mother live together in Raja’s Beirut apartment. The two bicker amiably as Raja colors his mother Zalfa’s hair, and Raja ogles his attractive young neighbor while realizing that he is actually too old to put real effort into flirting. Later, as Zalfa and Raja sit together on the balcony enjoying the night air, Raja contemplates the past.

Chapter 2 flashes back to events that take place between 2002 and 2021. 2021 finds Raja teaching philosophy in Beirut, a position he has held for many years. Zalfa lives with Raja, having moved in with him after a failed attempt at living with Raja’s brother, Farouk, in Dubai. Farouk and his family were unkind to Zalfa. Eventually, incensed, Raja flew her back home to Beirut so she could move in with him. The two cohabit relatively peacefully because Raja understands that Zalfa is in charge, even in his home. Of the two, Zalfa is the stronger personality, and Raja realizes that although he can tease his mother and engage in light bickering, Zalfa must have her way.

The novel then flashes back to the 2019 banking crisis. Due to government corruption and collusion between parliament and the country’s banks, everyone in Lebanon loses their savings, including Raja and his mother. Raja accepts his fate quietly, but Zalfa takes matters into her own hands. She engineers a meeting at her bank and negotiates with its workers, eventually securing permission to withdraw a sizeable sum of money. She then joins the anti-government protest movement, becoming active in it alongside many of Raja’s students. The protests only come to a close when the COVID-19 pandemic begins, and Zalfa and Raja are forced to quarantine at home. Raja and Zalfa begin to take walks through the city together. Raja uses the time to contemplate his past and Lebanon’s complex history, but Zalfa makes a friend: a local gangster named Madame Taweel. 

Chapter 3 contextualizes the years leading up to Lebanon’s 1975 Civil War. Raja’s childhood is rendered difficult by his fraught familial relationships. His father is a harsh and unkind man who prefers his first son, Farouk, because Farouk is more normatively masculine than Raja. Raja’s father treats Raja roughly and refuses to let him explore his interest in music or play with dolls. Farouk is similarly unkind to Raja, and the two develop a mutual antipathy that will become lifelong. Raja’s mother is loving, but she too seems to prefer Farouk. Raja also suffers mistreatment at the hands of his extended family: His aunt Yasmine and his cousin Nahed also tease him mercilessly. Historical events also intrude into Raja’s childhood, and he recalls how terrified he was during Israel’s 1967 invasion of Lebanon. 



Chapter 4 narrates Raja’s experiences during Lebanon’s civil war. He becomes the dancing partner of Micheline, one of the most beautiful girls in his class, for a school event. She chooses him because she somehow intuits that Raja, who is beginning to understand that he is not attracted to girls, will be the sole classmate who could learn a ballroom dance. The two successfully perform the dance. Raja begins to spend time with Micheline’s boyfriend Joe and Joe’s friend Yves. During an ill-fated car ride one night, both Joe and Yves are murdered by a cell of local fighters, one of whom, another classmate of Raja’s named Boodie, brings Raja to a garage apartment to hide him. Boodie claims that because Raja witnessed the killings, his life is now in danger. 

Raja is terrified and alone in between Boodie’s visits, and eventually, Boodie brings him a kitten. Boodie admits that his ulterior motive in keeping Raja captive is that he would like Raja to teach him how to dance so that he can convince Micheline to have sex with him. During the course of the dance lessons, Boodie brings Raja several sets of women’s clothes so that he can visualize Raja as a female partner. Boodie coerces Raja into a sexual relationship that initially makes Raja feel deeply uncomfortable and continues to leave him with mixed feelings as it progresses. When Raja finally does escape his captor, he vows never to think of Boodie again. After Raja’s escape, he returns home to his family. 

Chapter 5 narrates the story of Beirut’s 2020 port explosion. Improperly stored ammonium nitrate explodes, killing hundreds and injuring thousands. Since the explosion was avoidable and the result of government corruption and ineptitude, Raja is filled with shame. He contemplates what it means to be from a country whose government so often causes harm to its own citizens. Raja’s aunt Yasmine and her daughter Nahed lose their home in the blast and, against Raja’s wishes, move in with Raja and Zalfa. Although Raja has always loathed Yasmine and Nahed, he is surprised to find that they are all able to establish new rhythms and new relationships. He and Nahed bond, and Yasmine, now experiencing dementia, is no longer a threat to him. 

Chapter 6 sees Raja accept an invitation to an exclusive writers’ retreat in the United States, only to find out that the organization that hosts it is led by Boodie, now much older and living in the United States. Having had time to process their months together, Raja has realized that the relationship was abusive. Boodie is not willing to admit to the abuse, instead telling Raja that he has never stopped loving Raja. Raja is incensed and enlists Madame Taweel’s help in returning home immediately to Beirut.

Chapter 7 details Zalfa’s death. She passes away peacefully in her sleep in the apartment she shares with Raja. Madame Taweel organizes a massive tribute to her, and Raja is moved by the number of mourners but overwhelmed by the presence of so many people in his apartment. Several weeks after her death, Nahed moves back in with Raja. He protests, but Nahed is sure that he needs her there to help him cope, and Raja is willing to accept her help.