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In her first novel, Mornings in Jenin, Susan Abulhawa undertakes the daunting task of presenting a historical account of the Israeli occupation of Palestine from a refugee camp survivor's perspective. Abulhawa's aim is to shed light on the Palestinian holocaust, the soul murder of generations, and the cruel indifference of a hypocritical world that promotes democracy, human rights, justice, freedom; yet selectively condones the atrocities and the violations that humans commit against humanity. She accomplishes this by telling the story of Amal (Amy) Abulheja, a Palestinian American who was born a refugee in Jenin. Abulhawa unfolds the lives of four generations of the Abulheja family beginning with Amal's grandparents, a Palestinian couple from Ein Hod and ending with Amal's daughter, Sara, an American Palestinian from Philadelphia.
This book is an attempt to give a voice to the voiceless, to broadcast the headlines that are never published, and to educate a world that willingly chooses ignorance as a defense against failure, disinterest and even prejudice. It is an effort to humanize a people who, for decades, have been humiliated and vilified and to preserve the memory of a besieged nation that continues to gasp for air, for life.
Mornings in Jenin is a sensuous and poetic narrative. The author's exquisite descriptive capacity gives life to each character and a vivid sense of the places where the story is set. Although her providing the translation of the proverbs, phrases and prayers captures the essence of the Arabic culture and tradition, Abulhawa's insistence on the use of the Arabic words themselves exemplifies, especially to a native speaker, the lyrical and passionate nature of this language and people of the region. Abulhawa evokes the senses with her depiction of the colors, clothes, the aroma of trees and flowers, the glowing images of Arab features, the eroticism, the skill and pride with which food is prepared and offered, the imperative virtue of generos