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A review by flyingfox02
The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem
3.0
A short, thought-provoking story with a brilliant ending.
The premise is this: What if Palestinians in Palestine '48, Gaza and the West Bank all suddenly disappeared?
Much of the novel explores Israelis' reactions to this mysterious disappearance. Some are elated ("We don't have to deal with the Palestine problem anymore!"), some feel betrayed.. betrayed! ("How could the Arabs do this to us when we have only trusted them?") Most are rightly confused. "Where have they gone and most importantly, what do we do?"
However, I think the strongest theme that runs throughout the book is longing. Longing for a place, a community. Memories of a place, and one's complicated relationship and history with it. These ideas are examined through the diary entries of Alaa, a Palestinian born and brought up in Palestine '48 ("Israel"), in which he addresses his deceased grandmother. He reflects on her past, her experience of the Nakba and how she's had to come to terms with strangers occupying her home (and her house) while her family left the country.
Alaa as a young man struggled to understand his grandmother's attachment to her hometown. "Your Jaffa and my Jaffa are not the same." Growing up in '48, he was accustomed to seeing the Israeli way of things. But as he grew older, he understood her more. For example, he writes in the diary that he once crossed out street names in Hebrew with their original Arabic names.
We get to read these entries because Ariel, Alaa's closest friend, found them when he was trying to find out what happened to Alaa after the mass disappearance. Ariel is a "liberal" Israeli Zionist, and it is through him that we meet other Israelis and see their reaction to the emptiness and silence left by the Palestinians.
What I really like about this book is how believable it is. Obviously there's an element of magical realism what with the disappearance, but I am referring to the Israeli characters' dehumanising rhetorics about Palestinians. It's both amusing and enraging. Amusing because we have literally seen the same kind of remarks being spewed out by Zionists time after time, especially after 7 Oct. The whole time I was thinking, yes they would say that! Not a word is exaggerated. And the victim complex these people have, my God.
I also love how this book ends. I thought it was perfect. Subtle and executed very well.We don't get answers about the disappearance but we do see the Israelis becoming more comfortable with the situation. Praying at the vacated houses, celebrating in the streets. Ariel's mother looking at houses. Ariel himself "temporarily" moving in Alaa's place, using his things, falling asleep while thinking about changing the locks. That was chilling.
But it was not all smooth sailing. I really struggled to connect with the writing at the beginning, especially during Alaa's parts. I found it repetitive and meandering, which doesn't mean it's bad (it is a diary after all), I just didn't enjoy it. It was only like the final third of the book that I got into the flow of it, which is a shame!
The translator Sinan Antoon writes a powerful afterword, which made me retrospectively appreciate what the author was doing with the story. Without that ending and afterword, I'd have closed the book feeling disappointed.
The premise is this: What if Palestinians in Palestine '48, Gaza and the West Bank all suddenly disappeared?
Much of the novel explores Israelis' reactions to this mysterious disappearance. Some are elated ("We don't have to deal with the Palestine problem anymore!"), some feel betrayed.. betrayed! ("How could the Arabs do this to us when we have only trusted them?") Most are rightly confused. "Where have they gone and most importantly, what do we do?"
However, I think the strongest theme that runs throughout the book is longing. Longing for a place, a community. Memories of a place, and one's complicated relationship and history with it. These ideas are examined through the diary entries of Alaa, a Palestinian born and brought up in Palestine '48 ("Israel"), in which he addresses his deceased grandmother. He reflects on her past, her experience of the Nakba and how she's had to come to terms with strangers occupying her home (and her house) while her family left the country.
Alaa as a young man struggled to understand his grandmother's attachment to her hometown. "Your Jaffa and my Jaffa are not the same." Growing up in '48, he was accustomed to seeing the Israeli way of things. But as he grew older, he understood her more. For example, he writes in the diary that he once crossed out street names in Hebrew with their original Arabic names.
We get to read these entries because Ariel, Alaa's closest friend, found them when he was trying to find out what happened to Alaa after the mass disappearance. Ariel is a "liberal" Israeli Zionist, and it is through him that we meet other Israelis and see their reaction to the emptiness and silence left by the Palestinians.
What I really like about this book is how believable it is. Obviously there's an element of magical realism what with the disappearance, but I am referring to the Israeli characters' dehumanising rhetorics about Palestinians. It's both amusing and enraging. Amusing because we have literally seen the same kind of remarks being spewed out by Zionists time after time, especially after 7 Oct. The whole time I was thinking, yes they would say that! Not a word is exaggerated. And the victim complex these people have, my God.
I also love how this book ends. I thought it was perfect. Subtle and executed very well.
But it was not all smooth sailing. I really struggled to connect with the writing at the beginning, especially during Alaa's parts. I found it repetitive and meandering, which doesn't mean it's bad (it is a diary after all), I just didn't enjoy it. It was only like the final third of the book that I got into the flow of it, which is a shame!
The translator Sinan Antoon writes a powerful afterword, which made me retrospectively appreciate what the author was doing with the story. Without that ending and afterword, I'd have closed the book feeling disappointed.