Mornings in Jenin

Mornings in Jenin, by Susan Abulhawa, is the story of one Palestinian family over four generations. It can be argued, however, that it is also a story about any and every Palestinian family. The novel begins in the picturesque village of Ein Hod in the north of Palestine. The Abulheja family leads the simple life that most Palestinian farmers led before their tragic dispossession in 1948. Love was plentiful in Ein Hod. Love for life, for family, for God, and for the land. This was the essence of a farming society for generation upon generation. The Abulhejas and their countrymen are forced out of their villages and homes only to find refuge in foreign towns and lands. They find themselves in a refugee camp in Jenin, their lives totally turned upside-down after losing everything they knew in their simple but beautiful, Palestinian village. As they struggle in the refugee camp, in the early period after their exile, olive harvest season approaches. Haj Yehya, the family's patriarch, sneaks across the armistice line to tend to his olive groves despite the threat of death from an Israeli bullet. When he returns to the camp in Jenin where his family anxiously waits, he brings them the fruits of his labor, and the labor of generations before him, plucked from their trees in their village. Nothing could stop this old man from returning to his village, but on his next trip, he never made it back to Jenin. That was the last time any Abulheja attempted to return, but the dreams of return only grew stronger. Amal, with a long vowel (a name meaning "hopes" in Arabic), was born in the refugee camp of Jenin to Haj Yehya's son Hasan. Her older brother, Yousef, spent his early years in Ein Hod before the Nakba. Another older brother, Ismael, was taken from his mother's arms during the exodus from Ein Hod. It would be through Amal's eyes, however, that the family's story is told. Susan Abulhawa's masterful writing is delightful to read. She writes with an element of metaphor, undoubtedly owing its origins to the Arabic language, which brings color and feeling to every page of this novel. The characters are well-developed and one cannot help but grow attached to them. After each tragedy, be it 1948, 1967, and 1982, a new generation of the family is born, providing hope not only for the characters, but also for the reader who will inevitably experience a sense of depression in parts of the book. Amal is born into refugee life. She grows up in the shadow of a mother that was devastated by the loss of a child. In 1967, Amal experiences 6 days of horror in a hole in the ground that will forever change her family's life. The father that read poetry to her in the early hours of the morning, the scenes that lend the book its title, is never seen again. Her mother slips into dementia, and her brother Yousef will soon leave to join the resistance. She grows up away from Jenin, and seeks an education in the United States. Her father's wish was that she be educated and a scholarship makes this possible. In her ghorba (life away from home) Amal experiences western life and the contradictions it poses for Palestinians like herself. She will eventually travel to a refugee camp in Lebanon to reconnect with her brother. In Lebanon, she remembers her past, her love for the land and her family, and starts a family of her own. And just as stability seems to be coming back to her life, anchored by the cornerstone of family, tragedy strikes again. The massacres at Sabra and Shatila will devastate the Abulhejas in 1982, just as 1967 devastated them in Jenin, just as 1948 devastated them in Ein Hod. Amal raises her daughter, Sara, as a single mother. She wants her to have nothing to do with Palestine, politics, and the wars that scared Amal literally and figuratively for decades. But a twist of fate, which brings Amal's long-lost brother back into her life, sparks an interest in Sara who is now old enough to start hearing about the secrets of her mother's past. Ultimately it will be Sara, and her generation, which will carry the hopes of Palestine and Palestinians after Amal is gone. Mornings in Jenin is a must read. It is sure to be an eye opening experience for those who know little about Palestine and an eye-watering experience for those who do. Abulhawa's style is magnificent, descriptive and passionate. While the story is fictional, it is built on entirely plausible circumstances and entirely factual events and places. Many have waited for a literary contribution capable of explaining the Palestinian experience to the West. The wait is over, Mornings in Jenin is it. Yousef Munayyer is Executive Director of the Palestine Center. This book review may be used without permission but with proper attribution to the Center.

I love this book and the author’s writing style. This book is heartwarming at times, heartbreaking at others. Always enthralling. The narrative is captivating, drawing you in and helping you identify with the characters. This book is a historical fiction. Parts of it (especially the beginning) reminded me of the writings of Bartolomé de las Casas on the Americas. Later parts reminded me of The Tattooist of Auschwitz. There are multiple love stories explored in this book which add sweetness to a difficult topic. This book tackles difficult subjects very delicately. This book is decidedly Palestinian, though the opinions of characters may not be representative of the opinions of Palestinians. I recommend it for anyone familiar with Palestine or anyone interested to learn more. This book is designed for that. There’s even a glossary of terms at the end of the book for reference. Recommend.

Susan Abulhawa shows great promise in her writing. Her words at times are haunting and reach great depths. I understand the comparisons to "Kite Runner"- and believe with more experience she could indeed reach that potential. It's important for the reader to understand that the author not only combines/changes protagonist, she also combines/changes historic details in the telling of this tale. One reviewer points out that Ein Hod had been abandoned during the time Abulhawa tells of attacks... It's clear Abulhawa is combining histories of many Palestinian villages, and different camps into the experiences of this one family. She is encapsulating the wide reaching Palestinian experience into the lives of Amal and those she loves. One needs only to understand this and know of the various attacks, massacres, forced exodus', hindrances on everyday life and humiliation to see it clearly. The author is not pretending to portray the history of one village/family and that criticism is short sighted. This is the Palestinian experience, all rolled into one family for the sake of telling the tale in novel form. I feel she does a beautiful job of it. There were several sympathetic Israeli Jewish characters, which is of course vitally important in a book of this nature. The author clearly understood that humanity runs on both sides of this tragedy; she just happens to be telling the story from a side most westerners are not used to. Many westerners have been browbeaten into never criticizing Israel and find listening to the Palestinian experience uncomfortable. The telling of these experiences however is not criticism of Israel or Judaism. It is merely sharing the truth from the point of view of a people. These people for far too long have not had a public voice in this side of the world. This fact alone makes this book an incredibly important read. I think one thing that would add dimension and balance would have been to add some three dimensional Palestinian characters that Amal did not like. She portrayed Jews who were against Zionists. She portrayed Palestinians who were against terrorists. She understood the horrors of a people reeling in the aftermath of the Holocaust and she also understands the horrors faces by Palestinians for the last several generations and today. Half of my family is Jewish and we have many Jewish friends. I also work with Palestinians and Israelis from all sides (and are friends with some) and have heard their experiences directly. This tragedy continues today. The heartache will only get worse if people don't try to understand the humanity running through both sides. For that reason, along with the bias of our media I recommend this book to everyone.

A beautifully written and moving piece of historical fiction that eloquently summarises the Palestinian experience. Ms. Abulhawa is truly gifted with the ability to write so poetically about something that is so horrific. This book is not in the least bit anti-Semitic, it clearly and truthfully explains that Palestinians had lived for centuries among Jews and Christians and were in fact conquered by several forces over the centuries —Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Ottomans, British— and “nationalism was inconsequential. Attachment to God, land, and family was the core of their being and that is what they defended and sought to keep” (p. 27). Throughout these various occupations Palestinians were always able to live and exist on their land. It wasn’t until the blight of Zionism, which does not represent true Judaism, that things changed.

This is a hard book to read because it is so heavy on one's spirit. But it is vital for peace and justice eventually. It is about human lives, their spirits, their joys, their pain, their horror and flickers of hope. All we get in the news is numbers - those are real people we are talking about that politicians play with like they were ants. It is not a book to read fast. A few pages at a time was all I could handle and then digest. but it is important. Frankly it should be reading material in schools, from high school on.

Abulhawa is a natural story-teller and her compelling work is a must read for anyone who wishes to understand history from the bottom up. It does have its flaws: about 2/3 of the way through the book, I grew tired of her overly detailed, angst-filled inner dialogue. I began to think: "OK, I get it." The way she crafted her novel, reminded me of "Bonfire of the Vanities". This may be a bizarre comparison but essentially, we the readers are living inside someone's mind. It is an interesting way to tell a story, but in the end, I grew weary of it. There were sections of chapters that disturbed me, upset me, and made me angry, for example, the chapters "David and Me" and "David's Gift" - particularly, this comment: "He [David] looked on in silence at the proof of what Israelis already know, that their history is contrived from the bones and traditions of Palestinians." What??? Seriously, is the author trying to say that were were no Jews in Palestine prior to 1948? Absurd. The chapters where she and David discuss their mothers - very disturbing. It read like the author was qualifying pain - 'my mother's pain was worse than your mother's pain." It's not a contest! This actually speaks to resilience and there is no explaining resilience - it is what it is. One person lives through horrors and turns out like Jolanta, David's mother; and another turns into Dalia, the author's mother. The author had me - it is a compelling story from a Palestinian perspective. And there is perspective and there is historical facts. To remain credible, the author and her editors should have gone back, and re-wrote sections that are not up for interpretation: like Israeli history is build on the backs of Palestinians. Jews were living in Palestine prior to Ottoman Empire, prior to the Crusades and have a natural, historical right to be there, just like the Palestinians.

Mornings in Jenin is a startling and moving novel, based on true events, that should be compulsory reading for every responsible adult, particularly for everyone who wonders why conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians have gone on for so long. The story of an extended Palestinian family across four generations, the story places these conflicts in their historical context, and, from the perspective of the family, it enables us to begin to comprehend something of the unutterable heartbreak, excruciating loss, despair and bewilderment of a people, in relation to the loss of their land, their heritage and their loved ones. As many in the west also have a very uninformed and distorted impression of Islam and the Arab culture, this book is also worth reading in order to grasp something of the meaning and beauty of these to those whose heritage encompasses these traditions. More importantly, the novel illustrates, with reference to factual accounts, the utter horror and tragedy of warfare and the variety of human reactions to conflict, despair and loss...a theme that is relevant not only to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, but to every national conflict that occurs in the world. I defy anyone to read it without weeping from time to time, and without recognizing that, in certain circumstances, we are all capable of unspeakable cruelty in one form or another, and need to actively choose the often-difficult path of love and peace in the face of unbearable provocation if we want healing to occur in ourselves and our world. Not everything about this novel deserves the five-star rating I've given it...for example, I found the constant shifting from first-person to third-person perspective a little disjointed at times. However, the plot is so good, and the story so insightful, that such small irritations hardly rate a thought.

There is no doubt Susan Abulhawa writes very well. Her story needed to be told and will give the reader plenty of food for thought. I read it so I could have a more "balanced" view on this ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. This is Susan Abulhawa's story, warts and all and it describes the horrors and suffering of the Palestinian people therefore one is in danger of getting a one eyed view that all the Palestinians are good and all the Israelis are bad, which could not be further from the truth as atrocities have been committed on BOTH sides. If you only read this book without hearing the Israeli story you are doing yourself an injustice. This ongoing tit for tat conflict has been going on since 1948 and doesn't show any signs of ever stopping. The pen is mightier than the sword and Abulawa had the opportunity to create a story based on facts that could have helped the cause instead of perpetuating the anger and hate and acts of revenge by omitting anything that showed the Palestinians in a bad light. The Shatila Massacre, for example was a horrific event where innocent Palestinians, men, women and children were massacred in the hundreds by the Phalangist militia during the Lebanese War. This was not done by the Israeli army but reports state the Israeli army surrounded the camp and did nothing to prevent this catastrophe. This was a horrendous event and one to be absolutely condemned, but Abulawa declines to mention that this was in retaliation of the Damour massacre carried out by the PLO where once again crimes against humanity were conducted and where innocent men women and children were executed.Again, the Damour Massacre was carried out in retaliation for a previous massacre and on and on it goes in tit for tat. She writes almost in defence of the PLO who conducted many murderous attacks against innocent Israelis and appears to want to throw a golden glow around suicide bombers and "martyrdom". Towards the end of the book the protagonists enter the Jenin refugee camp and she describes the invasion there by the Israeli army and the subsequent horrors for her people perpetrated by the monsters of Israel. Once again she fails to mention that Jenin harboured Palastinan terrorists who were living amongst civilians for "protection". This group had been committing ongoing offences against Israel for a long time before Israel decided to bring it to an end. The Palestinian population tried to accuse the Israelis of another massacre of innocent people but nothing like this was ever proven and the UN agreed it was a military action against the Palestinian militia. Both Israeli soldiers and PLO militants lost their lives and a small number of civilians died in the cross fire which was inevitable considering the militia were embedded amongst the civilian population. To summarise this ongoing conflict there are no heroes and no monsters. Just two groups of people in an "eye for an eye" battle for supremacy over a tract of land in the middle east. From my readings I can see no end to this conflict as hate and mistrust is handed down from generation to generation. One could say Israel was wrong in setting up an Israeli state, forcing the Arab population off their land and thereby creating human suffering and despair and continuing acts of violence. Of course they were wrong, but history tells us this plundering and aggressive takeover of land from the indigenous inhabitants has happened since the beginning of the human race. Those of us who sit comfortably in America or Australia or South America etc etc etc and dare to judge the Israelis takeover of Palestine should recall the facts of our own countries, and take time to consider that we live the lives we live because the powerful invaders conquered the indigenous inhabitants and created a more technically advanced country. Right or wrong, good or bad this human behaviour will continue. I hope Susan Abulawa's family finds peace and happiness in America, a country that also destroyed their indigenous people.