Yasmina Khadra: The Attack

[saliotthomas]

In brief ,it's the story of a successfull palestinian surgeon practicing in Tel Aviv,who,after working a full days on the victime of a bombing,is called back at night at the hospital to discover the horribly mutilated body of his wife.The injuries(only the head intact) point her out as the perpetrator of the attack.
In this book nothing is obvious,Khadra succed in avoiding all the usual cliché,the sententious moral.No violin here,no cheap tears,we are not her to judge,we are just observers.
Khabra main caracteres are a modern couple,successfull lives,travels and a beautifull house,then suddenly,everything collapse.After his original denial,Hamin has to investigate,to understand why a woman he lived with 15 year in apparent perfect happyness,choosed such a path without him ever suspecting it.
The worst for the Israely police is the fact that a perfectly incorporated Palestinian woman turn against her adoptive country.It goes against all hope of intergration,of an appeased future betwin the two nation and people.
What is great in the book is netheir side are caricatural,the Israely police and the fondamentalist are cleverly discribed.There is no pathos here,no heavy outline,what a subjet like this call for ordinarely is carefully avoid.All who whish a insight on this very delicate situation should read Khabra.

I loved this book and anyone interested in the conflict should read it,i did not find a false note,not one.A good 4/5

[Max Cairnduff]

It's excellent, I agree. The Swallows of Khabul, by the same writer, is also tremendous.