Books

On New Books: Navigating 'Silence': Syrian Refugee Woman Contends with Trauma and Memory as an Immigrant

Trauma changes people. For the unnamed narrator of Layla AlAmmar’s second novel, trauma pushes her to choose silence. “Silence is a Sense” (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2021) follows a Syrian woman who escaped from Syria to the United Kingdom, settling into a quiet English town. She spends her days observing the traumas of her neighbors: from the man who barely ever turns on his lights, to another obsessed with exercising, to an abusive man who beats his wife and children. Her voyeurism feeds into her writing — her only form of expressing herself. She submits essays to a “newsmagazine with a big name” under the pseudonym “the Voiceless,” often discussing the refugee crisis. But as her editor Josie increasingly probes the narrator for intimate details and memories of her experiences in Syria, she begins to question herself: how much of her mind’s ability to make sense of what happened does she trust?

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On New Arabic Books: Shocking “Disclosures” Put Focus on Suffering of Syrian Women Inside and Outside of Assad’s Prisons

By Elie Chalala

“Bawh al- Dahaya” (“The Disclosures of Victims”) is not available in English to the best of my knowledge, though its subject matter ranks at the top of human rights violations in war zones. Thus any contribution from historians, research analysts, or journalists on the victims of war are telling about the crimes committed by the Syrian regime against its people. One should not exclude the various attempts to address these stories, whether through films, press interviews, or coverage by other mediums. These stories could enrich the documentation of these crimes regardless of the religious and cultural taboos surrounding them.

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New Novel Chronicles Life, Love of Poet Ahmad Rami and Singer Um Kulthum

By Sami Asmar

The story of Arab arts and culture cannot be told without a sizable chapter on Um Kulthum (1904 -1975), the legendary Egyptian singer venerated by generations of Arabs throughout the world. Many historical accounts have been written about Um Kulthum’s life and works, but never a fictional one, with the exception of a television series in which the script’s details were artistically filled in.

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ON NEW BOOKS:

Acclaimed Author Leila Slimani’s New Novel Launches Trilogy on Dilemmas Faced by Biracial Families

The author of the Prix Goncourt winner “The Perfect Nanny” (2016), as well as “Adele” (2014) and “Sex and Lies” (2017), Leila Slimani returns with the first installment of a promising trilogy highlighting the struggles of living in between two worlds that both reject you. “Le Pays des Autres” (In the Country of Others), set for an English release on August 10, 2021, is the story of an interracial couple grappling to make ends meet between the Second World War and Morocco’s independence in 1956. Settling in Meknes, Mathilde, a Frenchwoman, and Amine, a Moroccan soldier, face the ire of both French colonizers and Moroccans for their marriage.

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ON NEW BOOKS:

Writing the Gift of Immortality in Kamel Daoud’s ‘Zabor, or the Psalms’

Combining the elements of storytelling and magic, Kamel Daoud’s “Zabor, or the Psalms” (Other Press, 2021) follows Zabor — born Ishmael — who tasks himself with an immense responsibility in his small village on the edge of the Sahara: to prevent death and to heal people by writing about them.

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The Golden Notebooks

Angele Ellis

Zed Books has chosen interesting times in which to re-release the English translation of the two-part autobiography of Nawal El Saadawi, “A Daughter of Isis” and “Walking Through Fire.” One of the most important and distinctive voices of her generation, not only in the Arabic-speaking world, but across the globe, El Saadawi has served as a physician, writer, rebel, and revolutionary. Born in 1931, she explores in these two interwoven volumes her personal struggles for autonomy – for the survival of body, mind, and spirit – as both girl and woman in an Egyptian society warped by patriarchal religion, as well as repressive social traditions and laws. She states in “A Daughter of Isis” that at the age of six, she learned “these three words by heart and they were like one sentence: ‘God, calamity, marriage.’”As I write this review, similar women’s words echo in the halls of the U.S. Capitol and throughout America.

A Daughter of Isis: The Early Life of Nawal El Saadawi, In Her Own Words

Walking through Fire: The Later Years of Nawal El Saadawi, In Her Own Words

By Nawal El Saadawi, translated by Sherif Hatata

Zed Books, 2018

Zed Books has chosen interesting times in which to re-release the English translation of the two-part

Viruses and Epidemics of Futility

Kim Jensen

“Koolaids: The Art of War” is Rabih Alameddine’s brilliant and perhaps inflammatory debut novel. It depicts the lives of several gay characters who suffer the dual tragedies of the Lebanese Civil War and the AIDS virus.

ON NEW BOOKS:

Ben Jelloun Recounts a Moroccan Tragedy of Repression, Rape and Suicide Against Teenager

Tahar Ben Jelloun returns with his latest novel, “Honey and Bitterness” (Gallimard 2021), following the story of a middle-class Moroccan family torn apart by the suicide of their 16-year-old daughter after her rape. Based on actual events, “Honey and Bitterness” begins after Samia’s death as her parents, Murad and Malika, struggle to process the tragedy. Their marriage — which was arranged by their mothers — descends into loveless, mutual resentment as they cope with their pain, all the while uncovering the truth of Samia’s rape in her diary (a secret the teenager never revealed to her parents because of its taboo nature).

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BOOK REVIEWS IN THE CURRENT AL JADID, VOL. 24, NO. 79, 2020

The Arab-Israeli Conflict: How the American Left Grabbed the Third Rail of American Politics

Michael Teague

The Arab-Israeli conflict has long been a divisive issue in the left lane of American politics. Bitter disagreements came to the fore, especially during periods of armed conflict and subsequent occupation, such as the wars of 1967 and 1973, and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

BOOK NEWS IN FORTHCOMING AL JADID, VOL. 24, NO. 79, 2020

New Anthology Empowers, Celebrates the Role of Professional Women Journalists Covering the Mideast

“Don’t shy away from writing about your community, your people, or your home country or region, so long as you uphold the highest journalistic standards,” the late David Khatell told Lebanese-British journalist Zahra Hankir, which inspired her latest work.

“Our Women on the Ground” (Harvill Secker, 2019), edited by Zahra Hankir, compiles a groundbreaking essay collection by 19 Arab and Middle Eastern female journalists, reporters, and photographers. Divided into five sections, these essays combine memoir and reportage to give perspective into the obstacles women journalists face when covering news in dangerous and oppressive countries, where they often encounter sexism and harassment. In an interview with Pen America, Hankir said, “I made sure I included a broad range of contributors in terms of their religious and cultural backgrounds: nationalities, ages, ethnicities, and political learnings. My hope was to demonstrate the diversity of the region through their stories. I worked quite closely with almost all the contributors on shaping their essays, without ever instructing or coaching them on how they should speak their own truths.”

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