Out Of It by Selma Dabbagh
Bloomsbury £12.99
Reviewed by Leyla
Sanai
The British Palestinian writer Selma Dabbagh has won plaudits and
prize nominations for her short stories, which explore the political situation
in Palestine. Her debut novel concentrates on similar concerns as experienced by
a pair of twins living in Gaza. Rashid, a volunteer at a centre, helping to show
breaches of human rights and humanitarian laws, and Iman, a teacher, are twenty
seven. Their older brother Sabri, who lost his legs, wife and son in a bomb
attack, is writing a book about the history of Palestine. Their parents have
political pedigree – their father was a member of the Outside Leadership until
it made concessions with Israel, when he left his family to live an apolitical
life in the Gulf. Having spent much of their childhood in Europe, Rashid and
Iman were educated in the west, so when an opportunity to leave Gaza- which is
in the midst of Israeli attacks- and travel to London to study crops up for
Rashid, he grasps it with enthusiasm. Iman, meanwhile, is frustrated that her
suggestions at the Women’s Committee are being brushed aside, so she is tempted
when a sinister fundamentalist woman tries to recruit her to a
mission.
Dabbagh’s writing is simple, basic even, and, at the
beginning, its unexceptional nature is disappointing to those who like their
prose to glitter. Clumsy touches occur -’to escape from the committee’s
pettiness and the bombing’s complete lack of pettiness…’; ‘the cafe took
silence on hastily…like a child putting on a makeshift disguise.’ But this is
shaken off to leave an accessible but intelligent novel with natural dialogue,
credible characters, and occasional flashes of something really special: ‘There
was something of the cross-dresser about the house, the sloppy thatch flopped
like a lady’s hat, and the climbing roses were like rouge on its builder’s jaw
of a brick structure.’ Or: ‘His physique seemed acclimatised to rejection, bad
treatment and hanging around on street corners.’
Dabbagh vividly
depicts Gaza under attack as a chaotic place with burst water pipes,
disconnected phones, people living in makeshift tents because their homes have
been bombed, and frequent devastating attacks on civilians. Despite her account
of the bombing of a hospital with loss of life, she avoids the temptation of
sensationalism or of vilifying the Israelis, and is as adept at the small
picture – bread queues, warring neighbours, malicious gossip about the
westernised Iman – as the big one.
The main political message conveyed
is that there is in-fighting among the different Palestinian factions opposed to
the official leadership, and that this divides the opposition. More harmfully,
the Islamic groups who recruit suicide bombers to blow up non-military targets
are furthering Palestinian torment by giving Israel reasons to attack. This
point is made so clearly that it’s hard to believe that the intelligent,
educated and secular Iman is tempted by this path, despite her horror at the
deaths of two people she knows. This, the predictable romance she embarks on,
and the implausibly rabid conversion of a previously ignorant medical student to
the cause are the only parts of the plot that jar. On the positive side, though,
Dabbagh is good at Iman’s personal development – her impatience with her
father’s attempts to groom her into eligible wife material, her infatuations,
and her business-like disposal of her virginity. The dope-smoking (the title
could refer to his state of mind) Rashid’s petulance about his mother’s devotion
to his paraplegic brother is also well portrayed, as is his love
life.
A chronological account of developments in Palestine would have
been useful – there is mention of the Israeli occupation and Intifada-organised
strikes in 1988, then note of the gradual development years later of resentment
towards the leaders, who the civilians think have negotiated away their rights
for money, but facts about the sequence of historical events over decades would
have made for a more informative book. Still, as an introduction to Palestinian
history wrapped in an light but sparky coming-of-age novel, Out of It is to be
applauded.
Bloomsbury £12.99
Reviewed by Leyla
Sanai
The British Palestinian writer Selma Dabbagh has won plaudits and
prize nominations for her short stories, which explore the political situation
in Palestine. Her debut novel concentrates on similar concerns as experienced by
a pair of twins living in Gaza. Rashid, a volunteer at a centre, helping to show
breaches of human rights and humanitarian laws, and Iman, a teacher, are twenty
seven. Their older brother Sabri, who lost his legs, wife and son in a bomb
attack, is writing a book about the history of Palestine. Their parents have
political pedigree – their father was a member of the Outside Leadership until
it made concessions with Israel, when he left his family to live an apolitical
life in the Gulf. Having spent much of their childhood in Europe, Rashid and
Iman were educated in the west, so when an opportunity to leave Gaza- which is
in the midst of Israeli attacks- and travel to London to study crops up for
Rashid, he grasps it with enthusiasm. Iman, meanwhile, is frustrated that her
suggestions at the Women’s Committee are being brushed aside, so she is tempted
when a sinister fundamentalist woman tries to recruit her to a
mission.
Dabbagh’s writing is simple, basic even, and, at the
beginning, its unexceptional nature is disappointing to those who like their
prose to glitter. Clumsy touches occur -’to escape from the committee’s
pettiness and the bombing’s complete lack of pettiness…’; ‘the cafe took
silence on hastily…like a child putting on a makeshift disguise.’ But this is
shaken off to leave an accessible but intelligent novel with natural dialogue,
credible characters, and occasional flashes of something really special: ‘There
was something of the cross-dresser about the house, the sloppy thatch flopped
like a lady’s hat, and the climbing roses were like rouge on its builder’s jaw
of a brick structure.’ Or: ‘His physique seemed acclimatised to rejection, bad
treatment and hanging around on street corners.’
Dabbagh vividly
depicts Gaza under attack as a chaotic place with burst water pipes,
disconnected phones, people living in makeshift tents because their homes have
been bombed, and frequent devastating attacks on civilians. Despite her account
of the bombing of a hospital with loss of life, she avoids the temptation of
sensationalism or of vilifying the Israelis, and is as adept at the small
picture – bread queues, warring neighbours, malicious gossip about the
westernised Iman – as the big one.
The main political message conveyed
is that there is in-fighting among the different Palestinian factions opposed to
the official leadership, and that this divides the opposition. More harmfully,
the Islamic groups who recruit suicide bombers to blow up non-military targets
are furthering Palestinian torment by giving Israel reasons to attack. This
point is made so clearly that it’s hard to believe that the intelligent,
educated and secular Iman is tempted by this path, despite her horror at the
deaths of two people she knows. This, the predictable romance she embarks on,
and the implausibly rabid conversion of a previously ignorant medical student to
the cause are the only parts of the plot that jar. On the positive side, though,
Dabbagh is good at Iman’s personal development – her impatience with her
father’s attempts to groom her into eligible wife material, her infatuations,
and her business-like disposal of her virginity. The dope-smoking (the title
could refer to his state of mind) Rashid’s petulance about his mother’s devotion
to his paraplegic brother is also well portrayed, as is his love
life.
A chronological account of developments in Palestine would have
been useful – there is mention of the Israeli occupation and Intifada-organised
strikes in 1988, then note of the gradual development years later of resentment
towards the leaders, who the civilians think have negotiated away their rights
for money, but facts about the sequence of historical events over decades would
have made for a more informative book. Still, as an introduction to Palestinian
history wrapped in an light but sparky coming-of-age novel, Out of It is to be
applauded.