Kindle Price: $11.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Kamal Al-Solaylee
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes Kindle Edition

by Kamal Al-Solaylee (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 182 ratings
See all formats and editions

In the 1960s, Kamal Al-Solaylee’s father was one of the wealthiest property owners in Aden, in the south of Yemen, but when the country shrugged off its colonial roots, his properties were confiscated, and the family was forced to leave. The family moved first to Beirut, which suddenly became one of the most dangerous places in the world, then Cairo. After a few peaceful years, even the safe haven of Cairo struggled under a new wave of Islamic extremism that culminated with the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981. The family returned to Yemen, a country that was then culturally isolated from the rest of the world.

As a gay man living in an intolerant country, Al-Solaylee escaped first to England and eventually to Canada, where he became a prominent journalist and academic. While he was enjoying the cultural and personal freedoms of life in the West, his once-liberal family slowly fell into the hard-line interpretations of Islam that were sweeping large parts of the Arab-Muslim world in the 1980s and 1990s. The differences between his life and theirs were brought into sharp relief by the 2011 revolution in Egypt and the civil war in Yemen.

Intolerable is part memoir of an Arab family caught in the turmoil of Middle Eastern politics over six decades, part personal coming-out narrative and part cultural analysis. This is a story of the modern Middle East that we think we know so much about.

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    213 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    HarperCollins Publishers
  5. Publication date
    May 15, 2012
  6. File size
    5600 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
Next page
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kamal Al-Solaylee, an assistant professor and undergraduate program director at the School of Journalism at Ryerson University, was previously a distinguished writer at Canada's national newspaper The Globe and Mail. Al-Solaylee also worked at Report on Business magazine and has written features and reviews for the Toronto Star, National Post, The Walrus, Toronto Life, Chatelaine, EYE WEEKLY, Literary Review of Canada and ELLE Canada. Al-Solaylee holds a PhD from the University of Nottingham and has taught at the University of Waterloo and York University.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B007SNLM68
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins Publishers (May 15, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 15, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5600 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 213 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 182 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Kamal Al-Solaylee

Kamal Al-Solaylee

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
182 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A memoir of family and struggle.
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2014
Verified Purchase
I came by this book by chance; having just completed a history course on the Middle East and being a gay male I was interested to see if there were any memoirs on the experience of being muslim and gay in the M.E. This book spoke to me in a way I never would have expected. Karmal Al-Solayee tells a touching and somehow relatable story of growing up a secular Muslim in the Middle East during a time of great social and political change (that continues to this day).

What is most surprising and appealing about this memoir is that Karmal is often the side character in his own story. Al-Solayee gives his family a voice to the western world, allowing us to understand the choices and all too often lack thereof that millions of people in that region of world face everyday.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Culture Vulture
4.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating the Middle East
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2017
Verified Purchase
I now understand the crises in the Middle East better. The true story of a family and its journey from Yemen to Lebanon to Egypt and then back to Yemen and the decline of their fortunes as they go from a secular life to a fundamentalist Islamic existence. It is a sad story well told but not ended. The turmoil as we know seems to have no end.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Waqas A. Khwaja
3.0 out of 5 stars Acceptable
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2021
Verified Purchase
Not quite like new, as advertised, for it is a copy that shows signs of wear. But I need the book, so I will leave it at that.
Helpful
 Report
MourningandCelebration
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2012
Verified Purchase
This is a fascinating memoir that shows how the author, Kamal Al-Solaylee, a courageous individual, succeeded in changing his destiny. Had he not done so, he would have been condemned to a frustrating life of secrecy and deception. The memoir not only describes a personal journey but portrays the insidious and pervasive nature of creeping Islamism, the suppression of individualism in favour of religious control over all aspects of life. We should take note and beware.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
david bergman
4.0 out of 5 stars Intolerable is one of a msall number of gay books from the Islamic world
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2012
Verified Purchase
"Intolerable" reminds me of Mikey Walsh's "Gypsy Boy," They are both tales of gay boys who grow up in highly controlling homophobic cultures. They escape but at a high price, and they are forever torn by the love for their families and their needs to live their own lives. "Intolerable" is less involving because we get to know less about Al-Solaylee's inner life. We never meet any of the gay men he's involved with or hear anything about love.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Michael Karpa
5.0 out of 5 stars Richly told personal story
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2019
Verified Purchase
Excellent portrait of life in Yemen, Beirut and Cairo. I found the Yemen story particularly affecting; no wait, the Cairo section, no wait... This was in many ways a familiar story, and yet it felt fresh every step of the way. Loved it.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
jackie Eis. Boyd Fisher
4.0 out of 5 stars Adaptation and Diversity within one family
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2014
Verified Purchase
Fascinating story. It personalizes the suffering that so many in the Middle East suffer from the ongoing conflict there. It also offers some insight into how some in the Middle East become radicalized just so they can survive psychologically. It emphasizes the diversity within a family, the difficulty of being different, and the guilt that comes with breaking away from the family in order to avoid being forced into a role that will not permit you to be happy.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Barry Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, poignant, and personal
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2018
Verified Purchase
This autobiography traces life in the Middle East through the eyes of a Yemeni man who grew up during the turmoil of events from the 1960s to present. I think it gave me a more human insight to conflicts there and the people enduring them.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Susan Shepherd
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent, moving memoir that illustrates quite well the life of someone born and bred in the Mideast and the horrors that one m
Reviewed in Canada on October 11, 2016
Verified Purchase
this was a fascinating first hand memoir that sheds light on the lives of those born and bred in the Mideast, the rise of extremism and Muslim religion and the affect on the women especially and men living under these regimes .
Report
Helen ONions
5.0 out of 5 stars illuminating, compassionate and a very good read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2013
Verified Purchase
I am only half way through but completely gripped by Al-Solaylee's writing style and by his experiences of life growing up in the Middle East. His family travels from Yemen to Beirut and on to Cairo, responding to the political turmoils of the region. He paints a dark view of the rise of Islamist politics and the effects of these developments on his family dynamic (a brother who becomes increasingly militant and sisters who become increasingly downtrodden). A life of childhood freedom is gradually evolving into a life of fear and introspection.
My only criticism is that this book cannot be purchased as a hard copy and therefore cannot be purchased as a gift.
Report
MichelB
4.0 out of 5 stars Intolerable makes for good reading
Reviewed in Canada on February 1, 2017
Verified Purchase
This autobiographical account is of interest for people who want an insider's view of the Middle East from 1962 to 2010.
Report
SueB
3.0 out of 5 stars Important themes, topical story but poorly written
Reviewed in Canada on April 10, 2015
Verified Purchase
Important themes, topical story but poorly written. Is this author really a professional writer?
Report
pauline
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book and would highly recommend it as the ...
Reviewed in Canada on July 31, 2015
Verified Purchase
Extremely eye opening into how the way of life has progressed in the middle east over the last 5 decades. I loved this book and would highly recommend it as the author is not biased and, after all, it is his family, his story.
Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report