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CHILDREN OF THE GHETTO

STAR OF THE SEA

A powerful chronicle of the search for peace and identity amid constant disruption.

A Palestinian exile recalls his ordeals as a child and young adult.

This work by the acclaimed Lebanese author Khoury is a follow-up to his novel The Children of the Ghetto: My Name Is Adam (2019). While that novel considered the life and death of its title character in a fragmentary fashion, here Khoury’s approach is more straightforward, if still suffused with irony and anguish. Adam grew up in Lydda, a ghetto formed by Israel during the 1948 expulsion of Palestinians known as the Nakba. As a teenager in the 1960s, Adam escapes his abusive stepfather, finding odd jobs in a garage and a restaurant, eventually landing in Haifa and pursuing the study of Hebrew literature. But he cloaks his Palestinian identity to get by, tweaking his last name slightly (from Dannoun to Danoun). On a class trip to Warsaw, he meets a participant in the Jewish ghetto uprising there, provoking a debate between him and his teacher about whether it’s best to stand one’s ground or live in exile. Khoury has long been focused on the aftereffects of the Nakba, most notably in Gate of the Sun (2006), emphasizing the cruelty of the forced expulsion and the confusions of statelessness; Adam satirizes the bureaucratese that makes him a “present absentee” in Israel. But though death and loss are key themes (major plot points involve murder and suicide), romance is also central to the novel, as Adam recalls his intense, hopeful, and difficult relationships with women. That doesn’t soften the harshness of the events Khoury chronicles, but it does add lyrical and deeper elements to what’s ultimately a tragic story.

A powerful chronicle of the search for peace and identity amid constant disruption.

Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024

ISBN: 9781962770064

Page Count: 473

Publisher: Archipelago

Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024

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THE WOMEN

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

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A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.

When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781250178633

Page Count: 480

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

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INTO THE UNCUT GRASS

A sweet bedtime story.

A boy and his stuffed bear head into the woods.

Having captured readers’ attention with Born a Crime (2016), his bestselling memoir of growing up in South Africa, comedian and television host Noah has written a parable about decision-making. As he puts it in a brief prologue, “It’s about disagreements and difference—but it’s also about how we bridge those gaps and find what matters most, whether we’re parents or kids, neighbors, gnomes, or political adversaries. It’s a picture book, but it’s not a children’s book. Rather, it is a book for kids to share with parents and for parents to share with kids.” With plentiful illustrations by Hahn and in language aimed at young listeners, it tells the story of a small boy so impatient to start his Saturday adventures that he rebels against the rules of his household and heads out without brushing his teeth or making his bed, despite the reminders of his stuffed bear, Walter. “We can’t just run away,” protests the bear. “Your mother will miss you. And where will we sleep? And who will make us waffles?” “We’ll build our own house,” the boy responds. “And we’ll grow our own waffles!” From there, the pair go on their walkabout, encountering a garden gnome, a pair of snails, and a gang of animated coins who have lessons to offer about making choices. Though the author suggests in the introduction that adult readers might enjoy the book on their own, those looking for a follow-up to the memoir or a foray into adult fiction should be warned that this is not that book.

A sweet bedtime story.

Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024

ISBN: 9780593729960

Page Count: 128

Publisher: One World/Random House

Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024

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