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A review by dragongirl271
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
“'Sometimes a play is like an operation from the old days....You plan it, there's a script, but you never totally know how it's going to go. It's there. It's gone. It's like a firework.’”
I need more of Hammad's writing in my life. I need a physical copy of this book to read again, annotate, and analyze like a literary assignment from an English class. I want to reread this and also reread Hamlet along with it so I can analyze the play with the cast. I want to throw this book at others and listen to their takeaways to see what they caught that I missed. This is going to be one of those books that my future grandchildren are going to find among my things beat up and full of sticky notes and underlined passages.
In this book, we follow Sonia Nasir's summer journey from her home in London to visit her sister in Haifa. While there, she meets Mariam who convinces her to play Gertrude in an Arabic production of Hamlet in the West Bank. Like any theater production, the following weeks are full of bonding, philosophizing, drama amongst cast, and finding pieces of yourself in the characters. Sonia's return to Palestine after years away also leads to personal discovery and reconnection to her family and identity.
I loved Hammad's use of mixing 1st person POV for Sonia and using a 3rd person script layout for the rehearsal scenes. I also enjoyed how smoothly Hammad writes complex discussions between multiple characters. From the start of rehearsals, the cast discuss what message they want to convey with their production and what it even means to perform Hamlet in the West Bank. The reader feels as if they are part of the discussion and it truly feels nuanced and organic. That's not an easy feat.
The ending! Entire panel discussions could be held just on the last few chapters.
“The Play's the thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.”
I need more of Hammad's writing in my life. I need a physical copy of this book to read again, annotate, and analyze like a literary assignment from an English class. I want to reread this and also reread Hamlet along with it so I can analyze the play with the cast. I want to throw this book at others and listen to their takeaways to see what they caught that I missed. This is going to be one of those books that my future grandchildren are going to find among my things beat up and full of sticky notes and underlined passages.
In this book, we follow Sonia Nasir's summer journey from her home in London to visit her sister in Haifa. While there, she meets Mariam who convinces her to play Gertrude in an Arabic production of Hamlet in the West Bank. Like any theater production, the following weeks are full of bonding, philosophizing, drama amongst cast, and finding pieces of yourself in the characters. Sonia's return to Palestine after years away also leads to personal discovery and reconnection to her family and identity.
I loved Hammad's use of mixing 1st person POV for Sonia and using a 3rd person script layout for the rehearsal scenes. I also enjoyed how smoothly Hammad writes complex discussions between multiple characters. From the start of rehearsals, the cast discuss what message they want to convey with their production and what it even means to perform Hamlet in the West Bank. The reader feels as if they are part of the discussion and it truly feels nuanced and organic. That's not an easy feat.
The ending! Entire panel discussions could be held just on the last few chapters.
“The Play's the thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage, Violence, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Colonisation
Minor: Death, Infidelity, and Torture