The Book of Disappearance
Ibtisam Azem
21 €
Coup de coeur
(Literature), by Celia
Ariel and Alaa are neighbours and friends. They live in the same city but experience life differently. Alaa is a Palestinian who is haunted by his grandmother's expulsion from her home in that very city and Ariel, a liberal Israeli Jew who is critical of the military occupation while faithful to the project of Israel, finds it hard to comprehend his friend's pain. One day Ariel wakes up to hear that all Palestinians have disappeared overnight without a trace. In an effort to get to the bottom of this collective disappearance, Ariel goes through Alaa's diary in search of clues. Between their two stories, the book weaves through the perspectives of ordinary citizens, lyrically highlighting everyday life in contemporary Palestine/ Israel.
Longlisted for the 2025 International Booker PrizeAlaa is haunted by his grandmother's memories of being displaced from Jaffa and becoming a refugee in her homeland after the Nakba. Ariel, Alaa’s neighbour and friend, is a liberal Zionist, critical of the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza yet faithful to the project of Israel. When he wakes up one morning to find that all Palestinians have suddenly vanished, Ariel begins searching for clues to the secret of their collective disappearance. That search, and Ariel’s reactions to it, intimately reveal the fissures at the heart of the Palestinian question. Between the stories of Alaa and Ariel are the people of Jaffa and Tel Aviv – café patrons, radio commentators, flower-cutters – against whose ordinary lives these fissures and questions play out. 'Speculative and haunting, this is an exceptional exercise in memory-making and psycho-geography' The International Booker Prize 2025 Judges
Translated by Sinan Antoon
Publisher: And Other Stories
Binding: Paperback
Publication date: 01 Aug 2024
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 11 mm
ISBN: 9781916751026
