De Niro's Game
De Niro's Game is the debut novel by Lebanese-Canadian writer Rawi Hage, originally published in 2006.
The novel's primary characters are Bassam and George, lifelong friends living in wartorn Beirut. The novel traces the different paths that the two follow as they face the difficult choice of whether to stay in Beirut and get involved in organized crime, or to leave Lebanon and build a new life in another country.Awards
The novel won the 2008 International Dublin Literary Award and was shortlisted for the 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2006 Governor General's Award for English fiction. Hage was also awarded two Quebec awards, the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and the McAuslan First Book Prize at the Quebec Writers' Federation literary awards.
The novel's French language translation, Parfum de poussière, was translated by Sophie Voillot and won the 2009 edition of Le Combat des livres.
