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Brief Modern Fable Set In Palestinian Village The Honey by Zeina B. Ghandour. London: Quarter Books, 1999. 107 pp. With the unfolding mystery of an ancient fable, this short novel tells a richly-layered story set in an oasis village in contemporary Palestine, against the political backdrop of the Israeli occupation. Unfolding over a period of 24 hours in segments separated by the intervals between the five daily prayers, "The Honey" revolves around a village muezzin’s daughter, Ruhiya, who breaches one of the deepest taboos of Islam by performing the call to the dawn prayer. With her father ailing and unable to perform the duties he has faithfully rendered for 30 years, Ruhiya heads for the minaret of the village mosque. At the same time, her childhood love, a young man who has recently embraced fundamentalist politics, is setting off on a suicide mission. Her sweet-voiced adhan-which shocks the villagers yet leaves them with a lingering delight-reaches the young man just in time to spur him to alter his course, running off instead of detonating the explosives that were strapped to him. The very same day, a foreign journalist arrives in the village to cover the story but encounters an impenetrable wall of silence. Instead she searches inside herself for answers with the encouragement of a young girl, the "keeper of all secrets." As the story unfolds, a secret history is brought to light-one of rape, incest and violent death-told successively by five characters, their names denoting their narrative destinies in thematic chapters. Conflicts shaped by cultural, sacred, and emotional allegiances emerge. For example, Ruhiya, an intensely spiritual young woman ponders why the female voice is not allowed to be raised in prayer. This is the first novel by Zeina B. Ghandour, who was born in Beirut in 1966 and studied at Kent University, specializing in Islamic and Jewish law. Each character is one piece of this complex puzzle, built around the themes of liberation and suicide. Although an opening page proclaims "I want to speak with a non-poetic voice. I want to tell it as it is," this novella, with its distinctive and original format and flowing, shimmering prose, has the overarching feel and transport of poetry. Something mellifluent runs through it, much like the healing properties of the honey which plays an important role both in the storyline and in its symbolic significance as the lifeblood of the land.
Revealing the Secrets of Levantine Recipes Secrets of Healthy Middle Eastern Cuisine by Sanaa Abourezk. New York: Interlink Publishing Group, 2000. 200 pp. $25.00. ISBN: 1-56656-310-0 Traditional food of the Levant-Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria-has long utilized the very health secrets that the West is just now beginning to adopt such as a sparing use of meat and olive oil instead of butter. Sanaa Abourezk has taken the traditional fare one step further, creating a collection of low-fat recipes by cutting back the olive oil, stepping up the herbs and spices, and emphasizing the healthiest mainstays of the region. With chapters on basic nutrition and tips for healthy cooking, Abourezk also includes a catalogue of herbs and spices, many of which have medicinal as well as culinary applications, and points out that spices were brought to Europe by returning Crusaders. The Crusaders left their own mark on the cuisine of the Levant, along with plenty of other influences. The traditional recipes are recast with the expertise of an accomplished chef and nutritionist, using modern culinary techniques to adapt an abundance of regional fare. Abourezk studied at the Masha Innocenti Cooking School in Florence and the Cordon Bleu Baking School in Paris, and has worked as a nutritionist in South Dakota, where she now makes her home. Her recipes include a nutritional value breakdown listing the fat, cholesterol, calories, fiber, and sodium for each serving. As if the plethora of recipes-from mazza dishes to main dishes, topped off with a few low-calorie deserts-were not enough, she adds interest with anecdotes, describing for instance how her grandfather filled a hole in the ground with burning olive pits to warm the winter night; and the baking-day rituals around the tanoor, the communal clay oven where fragrant loaves of fresh bread were baked. Full-page color photographs by Neal Cassidy beautifully depict the rich colors and traditional presentation of dozens of the book’s recipes. The book is designed to enable anyone to reproduce many dishes from the Levant, with clearly written instructions that explain every preparatory step. A list of several Middle Eastern stores in the United States and Canada that carry the special regional ingredients completes this thorough and tantalizing volume. AJ
New Book Documents, Condemns Iraqi
Sanctions Iraq Under Siege, The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War, edited by Anthony Arnove. Boston, South End Press, 2000, pp 216 "Iraq Under Siege" is a wide-ranging collection of personal essays, first-hand accounts and analyses of the effect of the war and sanctions on Iraq, raising its many voices to rail against the US policy that many feel has reached near-genocidal proportions. This collection, not the first of its kind (See "The Children are Dying," 1996; and "Metal of Dishonor," 1997), is perhaps the most comprehensive documentation of the ongoing suffering of the people of Iraq. The latest book by South End Press brings together such well-known sanctions critics as Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Denis Halliday, Phyllis Bennis, Robert Fisk, Rania Masri, Kathy Kelly and John Pilger, as well as many others. An excellent source book for background material on this subject, and as useful for an academic as for an activist, "Iraq Under Siege" is well-organized and well documented. Although it certainly does not condone the brutality of Saddam Hussein, it makes it clear that the overwhelming destruction of the society is now largely due to the economic embargo, enforced by the U.S. The issue of the effects of depleted uranium, which was used in southern Iraq in 1991, is also dealt with. "Iraq Under Siege" would make an ideal text for college courses in Middle East studies, political science, or even contemporary ethics classes. The book is also geared to generating activists and encourages a stronger movement to end the sanctions. AJ These short reviews appeared in Al Jadid, Vol. 6, No. 31
( Spring 2000) | |||||
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