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Written by Barbara Perlman-Whyman/Special to the World - View Profile
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Thursday, 31 May 2007 |
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“Change is the process by which the future invades our lives.”
Alvin Toffler
As I was enjoying a lovely dinner in Michigan last evening in a restaurant modeled after an old English dining room, my eye caught a saying printed on a wall across from me: “Reading without reflecting is like dining without digesting.” Regardless of when it was painted there, I felt as though it as waiting for me to read it to validate my own belief system. This statement is certainly applicable in discussing today’s book, “The Attack” by Yasmina Khadra and translated from the French by John Cullen.
The book is written from the perspective of Dr, Amin Jaafari, a happily married Arab-Israeli citizen who is a successful surgeon at a hospital in Tel Aviv. Jaafari is respected by his colleagues at the hospital as well as many in the community at large. Apolitical and areligious, he has learned to live with the chaos and violence that pervades Tel Aviv. On the evening of a restaurant bombing which kills nineteen people including eleven school children celebrating a birthday, and sending over thirty-three people to the hospital in critical condition, Jaafari works tirelessly into the night in the emergency room. This event has very personal repercussions and changes his life as his wife’s body is found among the dead with massive injuries.
 However her injuries, the police conclude, that are those generally found on the bodies of fundamentalist suicide bombers and Dr. Jaafari, now under suspicion, is immediately taken to the police station for intensive questioning. Thus begins a journey seeking understanding, truth and discovery while dealing with a sense of betrayal previously not part of Jaafari’s daily existence.
Khadra is skilled writer who is very careful with his choice of words and his focus of plot. He is very succinct and precise as he carefully gives his reader the details of only specific external events while establishing the internal turmoil, angst and confusion that those events create in his characters. The story becomes a psychological thriller as well as an exploration of terrorism. The book jacket states “Intense and humane, devoid of political bias, hatred and polemics, it (the book) probes deep inside the Muslim world, and gives readers a profound understanding of what seems impossible to understand.” Perhaps, but what I come away with from the book is an powerful portrayal of a genuinely decent, well-meaning individual who had succeeded in integrating into a war-torn daily existence but is suddenly impacted and devoured by the realities around him over which he has no control, influence, and minimum comprehension.
Khadra is the nom de plume of the former Algerian army officer Mohammed Moulessehoul who could not reveal his real name when he began writing books set in the Muslim world. He is currently the author of five other books including “The Swallows of Kabul”, which I highly recommend, “In the Name of God”, and “Wolf Dreams”. Born in 1956, he fled his native Algeria in 2000 and presently lives in France.
American Literary Sites Sights:
Journalist B. J. Welborn has written a fascinating travel book for readers, “Traveling Literary America: A Complete Guide to Literary Landscapes” in which she explores the history and literary legacy of the United States. I thought is might be useful for you to know about these places of interest so I will be highlighting one place of interest each week over the summer in this new section called “American Literary Sites Sights”. I encourage you to get to know these authors, read their works, and visit these places either as an interesting destination vacation spot or should you happen to be traveling nearby.
The Literary Trail of Greater Boston: Boston Massachusetts
A favorite, this is a great way to explore the city’s treasures of the past. The guided, two hour walking/trolley tour stops at the homes of Emerson and the Alcotts, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (Longfellow’s “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”), and Walden Pond (Thoreau). For more information visit www.literarytrailsofgreaterboston.org.
Library tip of the week: Come support our children!
On Wednesday June 6 at 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. the Incline Village Library will host a public “Student Artist Reception and Concert.” View artwork by Incline Elementary School, Incline Middle School and Lake Tahoe School students while enjoying refreshments and listening to tunes by rock singer/songwriter Jordan Tyler.
Literary birthdays this week:
June 6 - Alexander Pushkin (1799)
Good Reads list:
• Adults (fiction): “The Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil” by Deborah Rodriquez
• Adult (non-fiction): “Arctic Wings” by Debbie S, Miller
• Young Adult (ages 13-17): “ Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter
• Juvenile (4th-6thgrade): “Septimus Heap” by Angie Sage
• Children (2nd-3rd grade): “The Gulps” by Marc Brown and Rosemary Wells
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