Touch
by Adania Shibli
2020-12-29 16:13:15
Touch centers on a girl, the youngest of nine sisters in a Palestinian family. In the singular world of this novella, this young womanâs everyday experienceswatching a funeral procession, fighting with her siblings, learning to read, perhaps fal...
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Touch centers on a girl, the youngest of nine sisters in a Palestinian family. In the singular world of this novella, this young womanâs everyday experienceswatching a funeral procession, fighting with her siblings, learning to read, perhaps falling in loveresonate until they have become as weighty as any national tragedy. The smallest sensations compel, the events of history only lurk at the edgesthe question of Palestine, the massacre at Sabra and Shatila. In a language that feels at once natural and alienated, Shibli breaks with the traditions of modern Arabic fiction, creating a work that has been and will continue to be hailed across literatures. Here every ordinary word, ordinary action is a small stone dropped into water: of inevitable consequence. We find ourselves mesmerized one quiet ripple at a time.
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