Synopsis from the book cover:
Born a girl to parents who expected a boy, Jihad grows up treated like the eldest son, wearing boys’ clothing and sharing the finanacial burden of head of the household with her father.
Now middle-aged, Jihad tells her daughter a story from her life each night. As Maleka prepares to leave home to attend university abroad, her mother revisits the past of their Palestinian family, tenderly describing their life in exile in Kuwait and her own experiences of love and loss as she grows up.
Huzama Habayeb weaves a richly observed and affectionate potrait of a family displaced from their homeland, and of the women at its heart: women with too much to do, too many mouths to feed, and too many thwarted dreams. Told with humour and poise, this is a story of the love and betrayal that pursues Jihad and her family from Kuwait to Jordan to Dubai.
Thoughts on the book:
The female protagonist in this novel is a second generation refugee who was raised in Kuwait. The book explores a series of memories that build to give an overall view of Jihad’s life. I enjoyed that the chapters were themes rather than in chronological order. We know that Jihad and her daughter are safe and we are slowly learning the trials and tribulations that led to them being in that eventual place of safety and security. Despite the serious story of a displaced refugee there is a lot of humour in the book.
I would recommend this book. It is a difficult subject matter but I found it easy to read. However many others in the ShelterBox Book Club struggled to read the book and some of the group were unable to finish reading it.
How could one name their child Jihad?
The name is what the father claimed for himself and wanted to call his first son. He had a daughter but the name was too important to him to leave it for naming a son he may never have ‘Abu Jihad’.
Jihad – The struggle to achieve spiritual perfection both outwardly and inwardly.
This book sounds marvellous, although I struggle with difficult books sometimes (where the writing is difficult, not the topics). I’m reading Mornings In Jenin at the moment – also a Palestinian story
Writing style can be a barrier to enjoying the subject of a book. I have not enounterd that often with the books I have read.
I very much enjoy reading about a challenging subject.