Nisanit

by Fadia Faqir

A powerful socio-political novel, Nisanit, depicts love, compassion, sacrifice, suffering and lost innocence in an atmosphere of conflict, hatred and oppression. Nisanit's three entwined narrative lines show the Arab-Israeli conflicts through the eyes of Shadeed, the Palestinian guerrilla fighter; David, his Israeli interrogator; and Iman, the young Arab woman in love with Shadeed. The three main characters are seen as vicitms of history and geography who are grappling with the human cost of the Arab-Israeli and Arab-Arab conflicts.

Genres: Fiction, Middle East, Historical Fiction, School, Literature

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Fadia Faqir (b. 1956) is a British Arab writer based in Durham, UK. Her work was translated into fifteen languages and published in eighteen countries. She is a Writing Fellow at St Aidan's College, Durham University, where she teaches creative writing.

Faqir’s work is written entirely in English and is the subject of much ongoing academic research and discussion, particularly for its ‘translation’ of aspects of Arab culture. It is recognised for its stylistic invention and its incorporation of issues to do with Third World women’s lives, migration, and cultural in-betweeness

Reviews

[Sincerae Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The word I would use to describe this novel is "grinding", grinding as in one of its definitions which is an "oppressive state or condition." There is grinding poverty and oppression in Nisanit and also brief episodes of beauty. I didn't think I'd like this book. It had been on my shelf for many years, but 2016 I decided to read it. Every time I'd seize the opportunity to pick it up I liked it and learned something important about the Palestinian and Israeli conflict that has been going on like a meat grinder that has shredded up and crushed many lives for the last 60 years. Another Nakba has just come and gone too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Pa...

Nisanit covers the years 1969 to 1985. Fadia Faqir's narrative jumps around among three characters, David, the brute arm of the Israeli interrogation machine. There is no peace for David. Though an interloper in the promised land, finally safe from any potential Hitlers, he has no inner peace. The guilt of occupying someone else's land is always there whether he confesses to himself or not. Even though he sees the marks he beats and whips into Palestinian bodies as the lines, colors, and patterns of an artist, there is still no triumph. David is married, aging, and has no heirs.

Eman is a young Arab woman. When her story begins her home has just been raided by Israeli soldiers. Her first experience with death is when one of the soldiers "kills" her doll Lulu. This image remains with her to adulthood. Eman is loyal to and adores her family, her handsome, dignified father who is imprisoned by his own people and considered a traitor, her long suffering mother withering away with grief over her husband; she wants back the bookshop her husband owned and the family was cheated out of, her three little brothers, and her aging unmarried aunt who is willing to sacrifice her virtue and honor to save her imprisoned brother from the noose. When Eman grows up and prepares herself to become a teacher she meets and reluctantly falls in love with Shadeed.

Shadeed is Palestinian. He is very young and has already lost his father and several siblings to either an Israeli rocket or airstrike. The novel doesn't make it clear which. Shadeed becomes a fedayee(n), a nationalist guerrilla fighter for his people, a hero to them and Eman and to others like David a terrorist. He is handsome, smart, a romantic, and wants to marry Eman. Eman is cautious at first because she isn't sure whether he is serious, plus her life experience has been so far that nearly everyone and everything she intensely loves is taken away from her.

David, Eman, and Shadeed are all tragic figures one way or the other. When people are fighting for survival it often results in tragedy. There are two Nisanits mentioned in the story, the name of the daughter of one of David's and his wife's friend is Nisanit and Nisanit is also a desert flower that once it has rooted itself it's difficult to eradicate from the soil. Eman and Shadeed are the Nisanit, tenacious about their land. David, who is from Poland, despite being the alien to Palestine but with what he sees as ancient claims has nothing like the spirit of someone from the Middle East. He is European and almost blandly Americanized in who his is even down to a meal his wife Jud prepares, steak and potatoes.

There are some shocking scenes in Nisanit, but throughout the novel there is an almost constant dichotomy between the ugly and the beautiful. Fadia Faqir intersperses harsh language with the beautiful, the poetic. She embroiders into the story excerpts from Arab poets such as Syrian Nizar Qabbani. Some people may be turned off by how Faqir created a story that jumps from one character to another, but by mid book I felt this was the best way to get a deeper perspective of the inner worlds of the protagonists and antagonist. In Nisanit, the lives of the three main characters bleed together.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this novel a lot more than I thought I would. It takes places from the late 60's to the mid 80's in occupied Palestine, where a young Palestinian Fedayee named Shadeed has been captured and tortured by David, a Zionist Holocaust survivor who is wrestling with his personal identity. Their story is blended into the story of Eman, a young woman who lives in poverty after he father, a Palestinian rebel, was sentenced to death as a traitor to the country. I had to read this for my Intro to College Literature class, along with in-depth research of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and I learned a lot about the struggles that all people, Palestinian and Israeli, had to endure. Shadeed's slow descent into trauma and madness was heartbreaking to read, but Eman's great strength was inspiring. She was a really great character, and she remained so throughout the whole novel.

I'm kind of confused as to what this novel's history is, since I think it is out of print and I cannot find it at any bookstore or any online store. I wonder why it is seen as so vital in our curriculum. But I did anjoy the story, and I loved the conflicts between the characters. It was part love story between Shadeed and Eman, part epic journey with Eman and her family, part man-versus-self with David's struggles with himself and his purpose. I'm glad the novel explored identities of all people.

[Biya]

Wth? I hate this book. Free Palestine

إِن يَمْسَسْكُمْ قَرْحٌۭ فَقَدْ مَسَّ ٱلْقَوْمَ قَرْحٌۭ مِّثْلُهُۥ ۚ وَتِلْكَ ٱلْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَيْنَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَلِيَعْلَمَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَيَتَّخِذَ مِنكُمْ شُهَدَآءَ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ
3:140

[Ginette Tore · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting book that is for sure. It felt very historicaly influenced and then to add to the fact that i read it for my world lit. class for the middle east unit is another. It was not a book that i would have picked up to read for pleasure by it was alright. You learn about the power of man, love and family. Enjoy!

[Naeem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by a woman from Palestine. Moving.

[Rebecca Stevenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good explanation of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as told from the perspective of soldiers from both sides.