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Health, Mind & Body |
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The Attack (Unabridged)
written by Yasmina Khadra
Studio : audible.com
by audible.com
Publisher : audible.com
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 13 reviews)
List Price : $24.95
Our Price : $13.10
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Product Description |
From the bestselling author of The Swallows of Kabul comes this timely and haunting novel that powerfully illuminates the devastating human costs of terrorism.
Dr. Amin Jaafari is an Arab-Israeli surgeon at a hospital in Tel Aviv. As an admired and respected member of his community, he has carved a space for himself and his wife, Sihem, at the crossroads of two troubled societies. Jaafari’s world is abruptly shattered when Sihem is killed in a suicide bombing.
As evidence mounts that Sihem could have been responsible for the catastrophic bombing, Jaafari begins a tortured search for answers. Faced with the ultimate betrayal, he must find a way to reconcile his cherished memories of his wife with the growing realization that she may have had another life, one that was entirely removed from the comfortable, modern existence that they shared. |
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The Anguish... |
An Algerian friend gently suggested that I update my list of Algerian writers, from Camus and Roy, to an "Algerian du socle," to turn Le Pen's formulation on its head, and proposed this book by Khadra. And what a wonderful suggestion it was.
Khadra has also written books on other touchstones of the current era: Iraq and Afghanistan. "The Attack" however addresses the core issue: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His novel (he writes under a female nom de plume) is fast-paced, maintains high dramatic tension, which is difficult to set down, even to refill your coffee. He weaves so many essential elements of the Israeli Dilemma into this one novel: a successful Arab-Israeli surgeon, a female suicide bomber, sympathetic and humane Jewish police officials, the humiliation of the dispossessed, eloquent statement of the Palestinian positions and the inevitable "logic of war," reprisals, and counter-reprisals. Elements of the novel transcend its time and place, and address the secrets and betrayals of conjugal life, as well as a spiral descent into depression.
Dr. Amin Jaafari is the Arab-Israeli surgeon, having risen into a comfortable middle-class existence in Tel Aviv, from his Bedouin origins in only two generations. He manages to deal with the discrimination all such Arab-Israelis experience. As other reviewers have revealed, fairly early in the novel he is devastated when he learns that it was his wife who was the suicide bomber who killed numerous Israelis, including children at a birthday party. Much of the novel involves his search for the reasons why she did it. Did she reveal clues to her destiny that he did not see? In his search he is aided by a Jewish female doctor, Dr. Kim Yehuda. Khadra has haunting evocative passages on the beauty of the so fought over Israeli-Palestinian landscape. In other sections he aptly describes the narrow mindedness and meanness of people, both in their official capacities, as well as not.
In terms of weaknesses, I felt that Khadra did not provide a plausible reason for the actions of Amin's wife, Sihem. Furthermore, descriptions of Jaafari's visit, and imprisonment at Jenin stretched credulity. But it is hard to definitely state the limits of the possible given the corrosive effects of a brutal occupation on the occupiers, as well as the occupied.
Overall though, a wonderful book which weaves many of the essential elements of the Palestinian-Israeli tragedy into a tale which illuminates the elements of this heart-breaking "clash of civilizations."
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Fiction describing the Truth and Pain - just like a true story! |
In THE ATTACK, which viscerally details the prolonged detonation of just such a bombing, Yasmina Khadra has taken the brave (perhaps even brazen) approach of turning the wretchedness of generations-old enmity into very personalized fiction. The book does not take any particular sides; it merely lays out events and lets readers form their own opinion on each scenario.
Even though, this book is a fiction, many readers can think this book "based on a true story" because of the way the writer described the pain and truth. Even the characters like Sihem, or her loving husband Amin who cannot get over his sudden loss, so strong is his love for her, as well as his confusion over the whole issue, seemed to be real - forces me to identify with them while they breathe life into the novel, yet also at the same time making the story all the more tragic because of that very authenticity factor.
Definitely this book is highly recommended and you will enjoy every minute of it. |
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Disappointing |
I'm unclear as to why everyone is raving about this book. I found myself skipping paragraphs, dismayed by cliches in copy (he actually used "avoided like the plague") and character (the seemingly content woman who finds the need to make her life mean so much more).
Make no mistake about it. While this book offers the pretense of providing deep insight into a complex situation (I hate the arrogance of this in any writer) and claims to show two sides of the troubles in Israel, it is extremely pro-Palestinian. |
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Absorbing, but depressing. |
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I can't say I enjoyed this book, because the subject matter was so sad. Read it for book club, and I do appreciate the writing and characters because they were so well done. |
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The Attack |
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I could not put it down once I started. It is very riveting and made for a greater understanding of a complex issue. |
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