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A review by savaging
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
4.0
This is my 3rd attempt this year reading a big novel about Palestine. I couldn't make it through the other two, but I found myself emotionally invested in this one.
Those other two felt like they're trying to be 'literary.' The writers were clever and nuanced. They didn't deal with violence, but with the delicate aftermath. (Is this inevitable? I ask myself. Is this an attempt to get white people to read these stories, knowing we're more likely to keep reading about a particular Palestinian cheese dish than the smell of dead bodies?) They took the perspective of rich and privileged people who mostly managed to avoid the worst of the violence, only hinting at trauma through personal tics and vague flashbacks.
In contrast, Mornings in Jenin dives straight into events, even though this is painful. Even though some things are impossible to write. It feels at times . . . maybe 'artless' is the word. But the treatment of Palestinian refugees is so saturated with brutality, it feels sometimes like it has to be told straight, raw, on-the-nose, and with great risk.
Those other two felt like they're trying to be 'literary.' The writers were clever and nuanced. They didn't deal with violence, but with the delicate aftermath. (Is this inevitable? I ask myself. Is this an attempt to get white people to read these stories, knowing we're more likely to keep reading about a particular Palestinian cheese dish than the smell of dead bodies?) They took the perspective of rich and privileged people who mostly managed to avoid the worst of the violence, only hinting at trauma through personal tics and vague flashbacks.
In contrast, Mornings in Jenin dives straight into events, even though this is painful. Even though some things are impossible to write. It feels at times . . . maybe 'artless' is the word. But the treatment of Palestinian refugees is so saturated with brutality, it feels sometimes like it has to be told straight, raw, on-the-nose, and with great risk.