West of the Jordan: A Novel (Bluestreak) [Paperback]

Laila Halaby (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bluestreak | Publication Date: June 15, 2003

This is a brilliant and revelatory first novel by a woman who is both an Arab and an American, who speaks with both voices and understands both worlds. Through the narratives of four cousins at the brink of maturity, Laila Halaby immerses her readers in the lives, friendships, and loves of girls struggling with national, ethnic, and sexual identities. Mawal is the stable one, living steeped in the security of Palestinian traditions in the West Bank. Hala is torn between two worlds-in love in Jordan, drawn back to the world she has come to love in Arizona. Khadija is terrified by the sexual freedom of her American friends, but scarred, both literally and figuratively, by her father's abusive behavior. Soraya is lost in trying to forge an acceptable life in a foreign yet familiar land, in love with her own uncle, and unable to navigate the fast culture of California youth. Interweaving their stories, allowing us to see each cousin from multiple points of view, Halaby creates a compelling and entirely original story, a window into the rich and complicated Arab world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Four young women from Palestine and Jordan contend with issues of identity in this debut novel from Arab-American author Halaby. Hala, who has just finished high school in Arizona and intends to go to university, returns to Jordan to spend time with her dying grandmother. She finds herself at odds with her conservative older sister and her father, a traditional man much older than her independent mother, who died two years earlier. As she spends time in the country of her childhood, she forges a relationship with her older cousin, Sharif, and faces tough choices about her future. Hala's cousin Mawal has remained in the West Bank village of Nawara and leads a passive existence, living with her mother and listening to the many stories of villagers and relatives who have left for Jordan or the United States. In Los Angeles, two more cousins, Soraya and Khadija, attempt to integrate themselves into American life while facing prejudice and coping with their parents' traditional expectations; Soraya rebels with her sexuality, while Khadija faces a drunken and abusive father. The themes of choice and independence are very much at the forefront of the story, and much of the news revolves around loss: of homeland, of family, of traditions. Halaby's choice to alternate the narratives of the four young women offers real characterizations to latch onto, and her prose, often lyrical-particularly when the speakers relate other peoples' stories-deepens the complications of history and heritage. Contemplative and lush, this coming-of-age tale resonates with the challenges of cross-cultural life.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-This title conveys familiar themes-culture clash and the individual identity crisis that it provokes, plus coming-of-age-but its Muslim protagonists are somewhat rare in Western contemporary literature. In alternating chapters, four female cousins-Mawal, in the West Bank village of Nawara; Hala, in Arizona; and Khadija and Soraya, in California-tell their stories. Their experiences range from the orthodoxy that imbues Mawal's life to the freedoms that her American relatives find both exhilarating and frightening. The author focuses on the difficulties facing Arab women wherever they live, but especially when trying to navigate the crosscurrents of parental and traditional mores while seeking acceptance and success in a foreign country. The extremes of the latter difficulties are represented by Soraya, who is the most Americanized, and by shy Khadija, who endures an angry father's abuse. Hala's story bridges the two cultures; during a visit to Jordan to see her dying grandmother, she develops strong feelings for a male cousin, forcing her to seriously consider her future. With the possible exception of Hala, Halaby provides neither answers nor tidy endings to her characters' dilemmas, thus showing that growing up is messy and difficult whatever the ethnicity or religion, but perhaps especially so for the first generation in a new land.
Dori DeSpain, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (June 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807083593
• ISBN-13: 978-0807083598
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #355,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you really wanna know, August 29, 2003

By 

Marvin Jawahery (Qatar) - See all my reviews

This review is from: West of the Jordan: A Novel (Bluestreak) (Paperback)

I read this book in many of it's stages; it combines the writers maturity and artistic complexity along with the ability to present complex characters on a simple and attractive plate of interwoven stories. If you really wanna know what it means to be a palestinian girl living under constant deprivation of stable mental conditions .. read this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Realistic and Intriguing, September 28, 2005

By 

Kem Laurin Kramer "Kem-Laurin Kramer" (Princeton, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: West of the Jordan: A Novel (Bluestreak) (Paperback)

This book is real and touching on so many levels. I can see and touch the characters and feel their pain with each turn of the pages. I must say that I was initially deceived by the simplistic language in rendering the story - only to realize that the writer had no choice but to simplify the complex in a way that was palatable for those of us not from the Arab-Muslim world. And while I do not come from the East, many of the scenes mirror my own cultural experience and held a fascination in itself. It also reassures me that in the scope of things, we are more similar than different. I was also amazed by the speed of reading and saddened when I realized that the pages were all almost read.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Done, November 11, 2003

By 

Lina Fairchild (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: West of the Jordan: A Novel (Bluestreak) (Paperback)

This insightful first novel by Jordanian-American author Laila Halaby shows that the influences that shape the lives of many Arab women are the same ones that affect their American sisters: upbringing, religion, the urban-rural divide and economic and educa-tional circumstance. Halaby writes about four young Arab women, cousins with deep family roots in Palestine. One still lives in the occupied West Bank, one is torn between her family in Jordan and her studies in Arizona, two live with their immediate families in unfamiliar California. The novel speaks through different voices in successive chap-ters, and the chapters overlap in the narrators' shared memories of their collective ex-tended family: grandparents and a spectrum of aunts and uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters. Halaby interweaves the women's stories, allowing us to see each cousin from multiple points of view. Her dialogue is comfortably authentic, whether traditional or transplanted. The four women relive the oft-repeated legends of their origins in Pales-tine: tales of births, weddings and funerals captured in photo albums and replayed on videotapes. Individual lives become fragments in a rich and intricate mosaic as the lar-ger family history unfolds.