Her First Palestinian
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Finalist for the 2022 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
Elegant, surprising stories about Palestinian immigrants in Canada navigating their identities in circumstances that push them to the emotional brink.
Saeed Teebi’s intense, engrossing stories plunge into the lives of characters grappling with their experiences as Palestinian immigrants to Canada. A doctor teaches his girlfriend about his country, only for her to fall into a consuming obsession with the Middle East conflict. A math professor risks his family’s destruction by slandering the king of a despotic, oil-rich country. A university student invents an imaginary girlfriend to fit in with his callous, womanizing roommates. A lawyer takes on the impossible mission of becoming a body smuggler. A lonely widower travels to Russia in search of a movie starlet he met in his youth in historical Jaffa. A refugee who escaped violent circumstances rebels against the kindness of his sponsor. These taut and compelling stories engage the immigrant experience and reflect the Palestinian diaspora with grace and insight.
Customer Reviews
Wow! So we’ll written!
I’m heartbroken by what’s going on in the Middle East. No words can describe it. I feel the best way to get a perspective of the people affected in both sides by this war is to read stories about and from them. I saw a lot of recommendations in my bookclub groups and will check them out later. I stumble upon this book during the Asian heritage month ( May ) which includes cultures of East, South and Middle Eastern countries. This book tells stories about Canadian Palestinian immigrants. The short stories are beautiful and each end with a gut punch that makes you think beyond the story and what it really means to be an immigrant in Canada with the perspective of a Palestinian. I found the stories relatable as being an immigrant myself and it even helped me understand the plight of any immigrants leaving their country in a foreign land. It is beautifully written. While it doesn’t address any of the current conflict in the Middle East, it definitely helps understand the people from Palestine.