The Scar of David [Hardcover]

Susan Abulhawa (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Every now and again a literary work changes the way people think. Abulhawa, 2003 winner of the Edna Andrade Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Award, has crafted a brilliant first novel about Palestine. The book opens in the 1940s, in the small village of Ein Hod, before the forced relocation of residents to the Jenin refugee camp. Once in the settlement, a young girl named Amal Abulhawa becomes the story-s focus. Through Amal-s eyes, readers see the daily routines of generations of refugees and glimpse the indignities imposed on Palestinians by the Israeli army; they-ll also see people fall in love, have babies, and develop an appreciation for poetry and scholarship. While some readers might see this novel as anti-Semitic, it is not. Indeed, Abulhawa goes to great lengths to highlight the universal desire of all people for a homeland. Furthermore, Abulhawa-s compassion for American victims of 9/11 and for those who suffered in the Holocaust illuminates what it means to be humane and spiritually generous. The Pennsylvania-based Abulhawa, herself Palestinian, has crafted an intensely beautiful fictionalized history that should be read by both politicians and those interested in contemporary politics. Highly recommended. --Library Journal, June 1, 2006

Product Description

The Scar of David is historic fiction about a Palestinian family from the village of Ein Hod, which was emptied of its inhabitants by the newly formed State of Israel in 1948. It is told in the first person by Amal, who is born into that family in a UN-administered refugee camp in Jenin, where her family would eventually die waiting, or fighting, to return to their beloved Palestine. Set in lap of one of the 20 th century's most intractable political conflicts, this novel weaves through history, friendship, love, frayed identity, terrorism, exhaustion of the spirit, surrender, and courage. Three massacres and two major wars provide five corners to this novel: 1. Sabra and Shatila, Lebanon, 1982; 2. US embassy bombing, Beirut, 1983; 3. Refugee camp of Jenin, West Bank, 2002; 4. The Naqbe , Mandate Palestine, 1948; and 5. The Six Day War, Middle East, 1967. During the family's eviction from their ancestral village, Ishmael, Amal's brother is lost in the mayhem of people fleeing for their lives. Just a toddler at the time, Ishmael is raised by a Jewish family and grows up as David, an Israeli soldier. During the 1967 war, Yousef, Amal's eldest brother, comes face to face with David, his brother the Jew. Yousef recognizes his brother by a prominent scar across David's face. The title of this story takes its name from this scar, and assumes other layers of meaning as it is told. The end is the beginning: terrible suffering packaged by Western press into perfidious sound bites, like "the Middle East Conflict," and "War on Terrorism." But through the course of this story, a suicide bomber is given a name, face and life of a man pushed to incomprehensible limits; An Arab girl of pious and humble beginnings escapes her destiny and lives the "American Dream," which her soul cannot bear; An Israeli man becomes tangled in a truth he cannot reconcile, and his identity can find no repose but in the temporary anesthetic of alcohol.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Journey Publications; First edition. edition (December 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977207889
• ISBN-13: 978-0977207886
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #873,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unforgettable story, February 14, 2007

By	Pearl Crescent (Delmarva, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Scar of David (Hardcover)

I keep a journal and record in it much of what I read, because at 66 much of what I read is eminently forgettable, both by virtue of its lack of importance and due to my failing memory. But I will never forget this book.

"The Scar of David" gives a voice to the tragedy of a people whose own story has always been overshadowed by the looming darkness that is the Holocaust. I am unable to read it without a trememdous sadness. Susan Abulhawa's book moved me to tears for many reasons. Since others have summarized the subject matter here, I will not, and say only that it is the story of the conflict in the Middle East and the Palestinian experience within it, from the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 to the present day.

No tragedy has ever been narrated by a voice more genuine and believable. I have read Shakespeare, Steinbeck, Eugene O'Neill and Faulkner, but never have I seen the eternal human tragedy more exquisitely rendered. Abulhawa makes us see that the things that unite us are far more numerous than the things that divide us. We all need and seek love, bear offspring and love them, seek to protect them and share their pain when they hurt. We all feel fear, we all feel grief. Our children all need to play and learn and grow into adults who will be the sum of all their experiences. We all need shelter, food and water, and a sense of continuity, of a shared past and a certain future.

If her prose is occasionally a little more florid than I would like, it is more than made up for with emotional authenticity. Reading this book is a penance and a revelation, and yes, everyone should read this book, but gird your loins before you do.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving, tragic, and a must read, January 15, 2007

By	Brian Wood (Washington DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Scar of David (Hardcover)

Ms. Abulhawa has composed a marvelous story that weaves history with fiction, personal experience with imagination into a dynamic novel that offers points of contact for readers of many backgrounds. Her narration thick with motherly affection and human virtue invites the reader to read slowly and truly experience the story she is trying to tell. Ein Hod, outside of current-day Jenin district, is the village of the Abul Heija's, a rural Palestinian family who are forced to flee during the war in 1948. Amal Abul Heijah, the granddaughter of the family, takes center stage as a symbol of hope and the tenacious will of survival, creativity, and love, even if doubt, depression, and poverty cloud her dreams and opportunities. Amal's struggle for self-identification, caused by several layers of displacement from family, land, and home, is constantly accompanied by her detailed memory, which ultimately leads her to her destination. A must read.

26 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful, moving book. Please read it., February 26, 2007

By	ArabAmericanChristian (Chicago, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Scar of David (Hardcover)

I met Susan, the author, quite by chance this weekend at a bookstore where she was signing the book. I bought a signed copy from her, took it home and read almost all of it in one sitting. Susan has done something very difficult and admirable, namely to write a literary narrative of the Palestinian Diaspora through the eyes of a family which experienced it. Like the protagonists, my parents also became refugees after 1948 and this is the first novel about the Palestinian exile which has really grabbed me and made me want to share the book with everyone I know. It is well written and will stand the test of time.

Although one professional reviewer feels that the book is not even-handed in its depiction of the Jewish characters, the plain fact is that, in the story of the Palestinian Diaspora, there were relatively few Israelis whose actions were worthy of praise. One might as well expect a story about the tragic history of American Indians (Native Americans) to sing the praises of the white men at whose hands they suffered so much. Reading this book allows the reader to understand the passion which Arabs and Palestinians have over Palestine, and Jerusalem, and appreciate why there never will be peace until there is a just and honorable settlement for the Palestinians, including some form of compensation for their losses. This is a very topical, timely and effective story.