The Lebs

Miles Franklin Literary Award Finalist

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The Lebs

By: Michael Mohammed Ahmad

Narrated by: Hazem Shammas

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About this listen

FINALIST FOR THE MILES FRANKLIN LITERARY AWARDS 2019
WINNER OF THE NSW PREMIERS LITERARY AWARDS MULTICULTURAL NSW AWARD 2019

'Bani Adam thinks he's better than us!' they say over and over until finally I shout back, 'Shut up, I have something to say!'

They all go quiet and wait for me to explain myself, redeem myself, pull my shirt out, rejoin the pack. I hold their anticipation for three seconds, and then, while they're all ablaze, I say out loud, 'I do think I'm better.'

As far as Bani Adam is concerned Punchbowl Boys is the arse end of the earth. Though he's a Leb and they control the school, Bani feels at odds with the other students, who just don't seem to care. He is a romantic in a sea of hypermasculinity.

Bani must come to terms with his place in this hostile, hopeless world, while dreaming of so much more.

Praise for The Lebs:

'an open-eyed and highly charismatic novel broiling with fight, tenderness and ambition.' - Big Issue

'The Lebs is a strong and resonant novel that deserves to be widely read.' - Weekend Australian

'The author never lets his superb command of idiom or his eye for the absurd overwhelm a deeply felt exploration of the hurt and damage that can come from encounters with the Australian Other. No one who reads The Lebs deserves to come out unscathed.' - The Saturday Paper

'Ahmad's piercing storytelling cuts away at the lace and trimmings of race relations in Australia today.' - The Lifted Brow

Fiction

Genre Fiction

Literary Fiction

Critic Reviews

in its vibrancy, its warty candour and willingness to engage with the messy business of people falling out of their known worlds without knowing where to go next, The Lebs is a strong and resonant novel that deserves to be widely read.

There is a fine ironic intelligence glowing beneath the most jarring images, the most awful events.

an open-eyed and highly charismatic novel broiling with fight, tenderness and ambition.

The Lebs provides a confronting and admirably frank examination of one young man's coming of age in contemporary Australia. (Jay Daniel Thompson)

There's an art to capturing the absolute riot that a group of Year 10 boys can cause, and Ahmad has mastered it.

Most relevant

the complexity of the writing in explaining social dynamics in Australia is confronting. It hits powerfully highlighting what Lebanese Australians navigate. the vulnerability of the lead character is palpable and its a challenge to navigate the stereotypes the author projects, confronts.