10 Must-Read Books Written by Arab American Women
by Dani Meyer/Arab America Contributing Writer
As we get into month four of quarantine, we all are looking for more things to keep us busy. Why not try some reading? We should always be celebrating Arab American voices, and literature is a great way to present an incredible story. Thanks to the work of Arab American authors, the world can better understand the struggles and triumphs of Arab Americans. Here, we present a list of 10 fantastic books written by Arab American women that provide an insight into what it is to be Arab American.
1. Between Two Worlds
In Between Two Worlds, Zainab Salbi tells the story of when her father was chosen to be Saddam Hussein’s personal pilot. “In this richly visual memoir, Salbi describes tyranny as she saw it – through the eyes of a privileged child, a rebellious teenager, a violated wife, and ultimately a public figure fighting to overcome the skill that once kept her alive: silence. Between Two Worlds is described as a “riveting quest for truth” that tells a deeply compelling story.
2. A Border Passage
A Border Passage by Leila Ahmed is an autobiography. Ahmed grew up in Cairo in the 1940s and 50s, and her family were proud supporters of the independence movement. In this book, Ahmed details the search for her own identity as an Arab woman throughout the Egyptian Revolution, and then moving to the West. “What, she asks, does it mean to be an Arab? And how does a Muslim woman bridge the divides in her own religion, and how does she foster meaningful, supportive discourse about being a feminist and being a Muslim in an academic atmosphere that assumes the two are mutually exclusive?”
3. A Map of Home
Described as “an extraordinary debut”, A Map of Home tells the story of Nidali, born to an Egyptian-Greek mother and a Palestinian father, trying to find her identity. Oxford American writes: “In Randa Jarrar’s A Map of Home, Nidali, a refugee from Saddam’s bombs, finds a Texan adolescence dizzying to navigate with her Egyptian-Grecian-Palestinian background. Jarrar’s prose is as delightfully dry and intense as her main character. . . . Sarcastic essays, Arabic lyrics juxtaposed with American rap, and other anecdotes present cross-cultural observations that are both humorous and wistful.”
4. Crescent
Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber tells the story of Sirine, an Arab American immigrant living in Los Angeles. “Falling in love brings Sirene’s whole heart to a boil—stirring up memories of her parents and questions about her identity as an Arab American. Written in a lush, lyrical style reminiscent of The God of Small Things, infused with the flavors and scents of Middle Eastern food, and spiced with history and fable, Crescent is a sensuous love story and a gripping tale of risk and commitment.”
5. The Moor’s Account
The Moor’s Account is a historical fiction novel that tells the story of Estebanico, a Moroccan slave who survived a conquistador’s expedition to the United States. “From the moment the Narváez expedition landed in Florida, it faced peril—navigational errors, disease, starvation, as well as resistance from indigenous tribes. Within a year there were only four survivors: the expedition’s treasurer, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca; a Spanish nobleman named Alonso del Castillo Maldonado; a young explorer named Andrés Dorantes de Carranza; and Dorantes’s Moroccan slave, Mustafa al-Zamori, whom the three Spaniards called Estebanico. These four survivors would go on to make a journey across America that would transform them from proud conquistadores to humble servants, from fearful outcasts to faith healers.”
6. West of the Jordan
Laila Halaby tells the story of four cousins, both in the Arab World and in the United States, grappling with their Arab American Identities. “Interweaving their stories, allowing us to see each cousin from multiple points of view, Halaby creates a compelling and entirely original story, a window into the rich and complicated Arab world.”
7. Sitt Marie Rose
Sitt Marie Rose is a novel set during the Lebanese Civil War. It tells the story of a woman abducted by militiamen. It has won the France-Pays Arabes Award.
8. The Tent
The Tent is a beautifully written novel that features many strong female characters. It is told through the eyes of a young girl, and tells the story of all the women in her life. “Set against trackless deserts and star-filled night skies, the story tells of the young girl’s relationship with her distant father and a foreign woman who is well-meaning but ultimately motivated by self-interest. It provides an intimate glimpse inside the women’s quarters, and chronicles their pastimes and preoccupations, their stories and their songs.”
9. Loom
Loom tells the story of the Zaydan family, a Lebanese American family living in the United States. “As a blizzard blankets the northeast United States, burying residents and shutting down airports, the Zaydan family eagerly awaits the arrival of Eva, a cousin visiting from Lebanon after a long separation from the family. Over the course of one day, while Eva is stranded in New York City, Chehade’s nuanced story unfolds in the reminiscences and anxieties of each family member.”
10. 19 Varieties of Gazelle
19 Varieties of Gazelle is a book of poetry that explores the lives of people in the Middle East after 9/11. “Naomi Shihab Nye has been writing about being Arab-American, about Jerusalem, about the West Bank, about family all her life. These new and collected poems of the Middle East — sixty in all — appear together here for the first time.”
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