I have read buthaina al nasiri in Arabic. When I got a copy of the English translation of her stories entitled ( final night), I was relieved to find the translation is so good that it maintains the spirit of the writer. I am glad, being an Iraqi myself that more people around the world will be able now to read Buthaina Al Nasiri and to enjoy her world and characters as we have done for the last 30 years or so.

Before reading these short stories of the Iraqi writer Buthaina Al Nasiri , I thought I knew everything about the Arab ways, being an Arab myself; but these stories were a new revelation to me. The stories take you swiftly into a journey inside the head and heart of arab men and women. The writer , though , a woman herself but she writes with understanding and love about people in general . The stories are lively with wonderful diversity of characters : there is this prisoner of war who has returned to a family that he does not seem to know anymore; the German couples who have emigrated to Israel but still yearn to what they really consider (home); the lonly old lady with her long cherished love letters; the beggar who fails to train a dog for the circus; the final night of two lovers who find living together impossible; the strange encounter of a taxi driver and a street -walker in a windy rainy night , and several more .
Buthaina Al Nasiri writes in a startling way and the stories compell you to change your attitudes and to remember the characters as if you have known them all your life.