Status Updates From Translations

All love lies in the distance between translation and interpretation, a distance that is always expanding. Selflessness is the word of a poet; off the page love has its ultimatums.

Colonisation begins in the imagination, so it matters what people see. It depends on who is making the image, who the image is for.

Abdu continues to weave a story that engages me. She is somehow able to present a perspective that, whilst alien to my own becomes more familiar the further I read. I have friends and colleagues who follow Islam and I feel like I have gained more insight via Abdu's prose than for questions neither asked nor answered. Aliyah's experiences are written softly, without artifice., without any sense of promotion.

the prose draws me in; jumaana abdu has somehow managed to extract prosal rhythm and lyricism from the english language

This has been a highly enjoyable read so far, Abdu has a gift not only for evocative prose, but a talent for introducing sensitive topics with both gentleness and grace. As a white Australian boomer, I am being gently led through a world view that I would not otherwise have encountered. My only complaint is that a writer of this calibre shines a spotlight on the paucity of my own efforts. :-)