There have been some amazing Arab and Arab American books out lately, so just in time for Arab American Heritage month, here are some books and authors to explore:
Omar El Akkad’s One Day, We Will All Have Been Against This is already one of the buzziest books of the year. Portland area Arab Canadian author El Akkad’s book started as a tweet in response to the genocide in Palestine, but while he quips that the book is not just a tweet stretched out, this book is deeply engaged with the moral responsibility of bearing witness and reckoning with living in a country supplying the bombs and weapons to a televised massacre. This book asks questions about why and how we look away, and how empire depends on our doing so.
Too Soon by Betty Shamieh is about three women in a Palestinian American family. Zoya, the matriarch, watched her country burn before starting life over in Detroit; her daughter Naya entered an arranged marriage at 15 and while she ultimately had a comfortable life in Silicon Valley, she longed for more; and center stage is Arabella, a snarky and self-aware theater director who has the opportunity to direct a gender flipped Hamlet in Ramallah and is torn between two men in her life. Even as these women hurt and even infuriate one another, there is a connective thread that runs through their lives that they don’t even know about. They are connected by exile, but also by dreams of independence, artistic expression, and desire. This is one of those rich, layered literary novels with complex characters that would be perfect for book groups.
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis is an irreverent, queer, sexy, and arch debut about an Arab British woman, Dr. Nadia Amin, whose paper on deradicalizing ISIS brides sets her on a mission to Iraq to put her thesis into practice. Nadia is nursing a broken heart when her longtime friend and lover, Rosy, leaves her for a man. Nadia’s mother hasn’t talked to her in years since her disavowal of the Muslim faith, so her heartbreak and estrangement forms the backdrop of her arrival in Baghdad alongside other more wealthy and well-connected diplomats. Nadia connects with a brash, trash talking former ISIS bride, Sara, also a Brit, and is determined to help her leave her extremist views behind and return home. But is Nadia getting too close to her subject, and does Sara even want her help? Told with acerbic aplomb, and rife with sexy bisexual interludes, this is a fizzy novel that delves into Middle East politics, religion, family, trauma, and empowerment along the way.
Former Seattle Reads author Laila Lalami’s latest novel, The Dream Hotel, presents a dystopian near future where surveillance reigns and dreams are also subject to inspection. When returning home from a conference, Sara is taken aside at LAX by the Risk Assessment Administration. In scanning data from her dreams, it is determined that Sara will commit a crime and is detained—against her will, and before any crime is committed. Currently a Peak Pick, Publishers Weekly starred review said: “This surreal story feels all too plausible.”
Since April is also Poetry month, it’s a great time to discover the work of Palestinian American poet Naomi Shihab Nye. She has been writing of the plight and the humanity of Palestinians in all her work, but Tiny Journalist squarely rests with “the world’s largest open-air prison.” These poems are simple but expressive of pain, oppression, joy, and hope.
From “Better Vision”:
People think of us differently.
We may be in prison, but we still love beauty.
We may be oppressed, but we are smart.
We may think we don’t need glasses, but the big E
for equality has been lying on its back
for a long time now
kicking its legs in the air like an animal
that needs help to get up.
~posted by Misha S.
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