Wild Thorns (Interlink World Fiction) [Paperback]

Sahar Khalifeh (Author), Elizabeth Warnock Fernea (Translator), Trevor Legassick (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999

Wild Thorns is a chronicle of life in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. As the novel opens, Usama, a young Palestinian, is returning there from the Gulf, where he has been working as a translator. A supporter of the resistance movement, he has come home on a mission: to blow up the buses that transport Palestinian workers into Israel every day. But Usama finds a far more complicated reality than he had expected; he is shocked to discover that many of his fellow citizens have adjusted to life under military rule. Bruised by harsh exchanges with friends and family, his mind now torn, he sets out to accomplish his mission anyway - with disastrous results. Written in Arabic in the West Bank and first published in Jerusalem, Wild Thorns, with its panorama of characters and unsentimental portrayals of everyday life, is the first Arab novel to give a true picture of social and personal relations under the occupation. Its convincing sincerity, uncompromising honesty and rich emotional texture plead elegantly for the cause of survival in the face of oppression.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Wild Thorns ($12.95 paperback original; Jan.; 208 pp.; 1-56656-336-4). An earnest Arabic novel, first published in 1976, that dramatizes the reactions of Palestinian nationalists to Israeli occupation of the West Bank, an action that has turned many of their countrymen into nomads dutifully commuting to alien territory to work ( . . . the people had become soft, been brainwashed with lies and Israeli cash). Khalifehs initial focus on Usama, a young Palestinian returned home to find his relatives compromised in this way, yields to more diffused depictions of several other characters with whom he finds himself conspiring to blow up buses transporting day-workers. The conspiracy raises havoc with the storys formal unity but does enable it to portray credibly a troubling spectrum of understandably extreme responses to disenfranchisement and oppression. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

'An impressive narrative of life in The West Bank in which simple profundities are asserted powerfully and poetically.' Morning Star --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Interlink Publishing Group (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566563364
• ISBN-13: 978-1566563369
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A vivid tale of a polarized society under occupation, November 26, 2000

By 

AA "ashour001" (Newton, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wild Thorns (Interlink World Fiction) (Paperback)

The events of this book take place in the Israeli occupied West Bank in the early 1970's, about 5 years after the Six Day War of 1967. Usama, a young Palestinian returns to his homeland after few years of working abroad. The return story includes tales of humiliation at the border crossing. Usama is shocked by the changes around him, he came back to fight the occupation and struggles with the idea that Adil, his cousin and best friend has actually given up the family farm and is working as a laborer in Israel proper, "inside". The reality of his people under the occupation, eating "their" bread, working in "their" factories and learning "their" words was incomprehensible to him.

The way Sahar Khalifeh presented the changes in the Palestinian society during the first few years of the occupation was very illuminating and original. Here we see a highly polarized society, the Palestinians working abroad in the oil states, the Palestinians working "inside", the "intellectuals", the upper and middle classes, of whom, some "collaborated" and others refused to. Tremendous tensions described in a very real and human way, with little attempt to support one group of Palestinians over another.

Adil, is by far the most sympathetic character in the novel. He works tirelessly to support his family; he does however resent his father, and gets drunk to wash it all away. A classic war of the classes, the father fights by talking to western media, would never approve of his son working "inside" yet he does not approve of Usama or his youngest son breaking the laws of the Israeli occupation. Adil, the son, works diligently to improve the condition of fellow laborers and fights for their rights within the Israeli law.

Sahar Khalifeh does a wonderful job describing in very vivid language the everyday life of a neighborhood. Scenes from the markets, cafes, street vendors, hustle bustle and fear. Scenes of small dwellings bursting at the seams and then add a curfew on top of that. There are also the scenes of the polarization disappearing and the whole neighborhood shouting slogans in unison. There is also Usama's mother, an endearing old woman who has her own dreams for her son; dreams that have nothing to do with occupation or politics.

We are treated to 2 accounts of experience in an Israeli jail. Basil, Adil's younger brother is welcomed by the members of the resistance and accepted into their ranks. A friend of Adil, who also ended up in prison, was also eventually welcome. His cell was very different though. Ruled by another Adil, a socialist, who administered justice and education but lacked in sympathy, warmth and understanding; not like the real Adil.

The real Adil is portrayed simply as a good human being, who helped fellow Palestinians in real and tangible ways. Adil was selfless, generous, modest and genuinely caring, that was his only agenda. But at times, we think Adel is the way he is, out of hopelessness, he knows Palestine is lost, no longer worth fighting for, but he can make the lives of those around him less unbearable. And he gets drunk to wash it all away. I am not sure if that is the Adil that Sahar Khalifeh set out to create, but he certainly comes across like that.

While this clearly is a partisan, pro Palestinian and anti occupation novel, it is not a propaganda piece; and it is certainly worthy of reading and savoring. Sahar Khalifeh signals hope for peace, reconciliation, and coexistence in the novel. Several reference to the class struggle overtaking the racial divide and even more promising tales of humans reaching out across the divide. There is the tale of the two Israeli soldiers weeping as they see a five year old boy reunite with his father for the first time ever and there is Adil lifting up the young Israeli girl who had just witnessed the stabbing of her father, an army officer.

Wild Thorns is well worth reading. The translation comes across well. It does not sound stale like many translations of Arabic literature can be.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Understanding the Realities, April 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Wild Thorns (Interlink World Fiction) (Paperback)

I have always considered myself a dedicated sympathiser to the Palestinian cause, I have always had my doubts as to how to categorise in my mind those Palestinians referred to as "Arab Israelis" and those who accept to work 'inside'. With this book I have learned of my total ignorance on the subject of occupation, and Ms. Khalifeh has taught me a valuable lesson: it is impossible to draw this conflict in black and white. The shades of grey in this novel render the reality from within all the more tragic. Never before have i empathised so with this most unbelievable of injustices, one of the heaviest burdens to be placed squarely on the conscience of all nations and most of their citizens. I am sure that anyone who reads this book will be robbed of his or her ability to view the current developments with cold indifference.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An invitation to sit at a Palestinian dinner table, July 12, 2003

By 

Elbert D. Porter "giggle3" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wild Thorns (Interlink World Fiction) (Paperback)

Guess what? Palestinians are people, too. If that sentence makes you angry, then you probably won't want to read this book -- but if you're willing to read with an open mind, you may come away from the book with an enriched understanding of "the other side." On the other hand, even if you already are sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians, but from the remote perspective of news reports, then this book will make it all more real to you.

The tale is already twenty-six years old, set just a few years into the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Written by a Palestinian, about Palestinians, it is sympathetic to them, but it's not a propaganda piece. We get only rare glimpses of Israelis in this book, but when they do appear, they are shown in the same humane light that shines on the main characters. When a five year old Syrian boy meets his imprisoned father for the first time, the Israeli guards turn away with tears in their eyes. This is not the only scene in which someone on one side of the conflict responds compassionately to the suffering of someone on the other side.

Parents and grandparents want their boys and young men to study and become professionals with good incomes, and they hope for their daughters to marry successful daughters. Men struggle to feed their families and to negotiate a little self respect in spite of the compromises they find themselves making. Other men (and boys) alternate between pride, fear, and shame as they try to respond to the humiliations and oppression of their people with costly courage.

One of the great functions of literature is to let the reader walk in another's shoes. That is what I had in mind when I chose to read this book. I have not been disappointed.