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Enter Ghost
Paperback
General FictionLiterary Fiction
Publisher Price: $18.00
ISBN13: 9780802163301
Publisher: Grove Press
Published: Apr 9 2024
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.60
Height: 1.10 Width: 5.40 Depth: 8.10
Language: English
A really formally interesting novel where a Palestinian theatre company puts on a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. Middle-aged British-Palestinian woman protagonist (I always appreciate perspectives from women who are not young!), a lot of nuanced exploration of what occupation does to family dynamics, intra-community dynamics. One of my favorite aspects of this novel is that it includes Hamlet translated back into English from Classical Arabic - it's very compelling, to me, to encounter Shakespeare reverse-engineered through the Arabic language. -Sophia
Winner of the Aspen Words Literary Prize
Winner of the Royal Society of Literature's Encore Award
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction
A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book of the Year
Assured and formidable. - Wall Street Journal
After years away from her family's homeland, and reeling from a disastrous love affair, actress Sonia Nasir returns to Haifa to visit her older sister Haneen. This is her first trip back since the second intifada and the deaths of their grandparents: while Haneen made a life here commuting to Tel Aviv to teach at the university, Sonia remained in London to focus on her acting career and now dissolute marriage. On her return, she finds her relationship to Palestine is fragile, both bone-deep and new.
At Haneen's, Sonia meets the charismatic and candid Mariam, a local director, and finds herself roped into a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. Sonia is soon rehearsing Gertude's lines in Classical Arabic and spending more time in Ramallah than Haifa, along with a dedicated group of men from all over historic Palestine who, in spite of competing egos and priorities, each want to bring Shakespeare to that side of the wall. As opening night draws closer it becomes clear just how many violent obstacles stand before a troupe of Palestinian actors. Amidst it all, the life Sonia once knew starts to give way to the daunting, exhilarating possibility of finding a new self in her ancestral home.
A stunning rendering of present-day Palestine, Enter Ghost is a story of diaspora, displacement, and the connection to be found in family and shared resistance. Timely, thoughtful, and passionate, Isabella Hammad's highly anticipated second novel is an exquisite feat, an unforgettable story of artistry under occupation.
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