‘The world was against me.’ As up-and-coming writer John Kaliba anticipates the publication of his first book – which he thinks will propel him to literary fame – he also faces the challenges of making it in a foreign country. As John contemplates the day-to-day hustle that comes with integrating a new system, he must manage between preserving his love for Diane, fending off his relentless publisher, and resisting institutionalization. In this novel, Hanna Abi Akl gives an upfront, comical, and brutal account of the mind of an outcast fighting for survival in the voice of his fictional alter-ego, Kaliba.