Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. Rabi Alamedin's mom is 82 years old.

Physically, she's doing great for her age, but her memory is going. It's something a lot of people

with aging parents can relate to, I figure. And so he wrote a novel about a high school teacher

who has to care for his

elderly mother. It's titled, The True Story of Roger the Gullible and his mother. And yes,

Alamedin's own experiences with his mom influenced the book, but he tells NPR Scott Simon

that as a novelist, every experience he has, from the big, emotional ones to the more mundane

everyday activities, make it into his work

in some form or another that's ahead on wait wait don't tell me famous actors remember their days

of obscurity like when pedro pascal remembered the stress of being a waiter the logistical labor of

meeting everyone's needs in the right manner.

You know, Act 1, the water. Act 2 the drink.

Listen to Wait Wait in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcast.

Raja, who teaches philosophy to high schoolers, has lived through Beirut's civil wars and strife

for kidnapping, the banking collapse, COVID, and the Great Port Explosion.

But his most vexing test may be sharing his apartment with his 82-year-old, sharp-tongued, dope-smoking,

an utterly charming mother, Zalfa, of whom he writes that

deciphering her was a feat that would surely have flummoxed Hercules, my mother, as the

unthinkably impossible 13th task.

The true, true story of Raja the Gullible and his mother is the new novel from Rabbi Alamedin.

He joins us in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us.

Thank you so much for having me.

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