• Behind You Is the Sea

Behind You Is the Sea

Publication Date
January 16, 2024
Genre / Grade Band
Fiction /  11th − 12th
Language
English
Behind You Is the Sea

Description

"Behind You Is the Sea fearlessly confronts stereotypes about Palestinian culture, weaving a remarkable portrait of life's intricate moments, from joyous weddings to heart-wrenching funerals, from shattered hearts to hidden truths--I wept and grew alongside this family. This is a story that challenges perceptions, offering a heartfelt glimpse into the interior lives of those who call this community home. A must read novel with unforgettable characters and an unwavering, fresh voice--I couldn't put it down until the very last page! Darraj delivers an instant, necessary, and authentic classic to the cannon of Arab-American literature."--Etaf Rum, author of Evil Eye and A Woman Is No Man

An exciting debut novel that gives voice to the diverse residents of a Palestinian American community in Baltimore--from young activists in conflict with their traditional parents to the poor who clean for the rich--lives which intersect across divides of class, generation, and religion.

Funny and touching, Behind You Is the Sea brings us into the homes and lives of three main families--the Baladis, the Salamehs, and the Ammars--Palestinian immigrants who've all found a different welcome in America.

Their various fates and struggles cause their community dynamic to sizzle and sometimes explode: The wealthy Ammar family employs young Maysoon Baladi, whose own family struggles financially, to clean up after their spoiled teenagers. Meanwhile, Marcus Salameh confronts his father in an effort to protect his younger sister for "dishonoring" their name. Only a trip to Palestine, where Marcus experiences an unexpected and dramatic transformation, can bridge this seemingly unbridgeable divide between the two generations.

Behind You Is the Sea faces stereotypes about Palestinian culture head-on and, shifting perspectives to weave a complex social fabric replete with weddings, funerals, broken hearts, and devastating secrets.

Publication date
January 16, 2024
Genre
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780063324237
Publisher
Harpervia
BISAC categories
FIC019000 - Fiction | Literary
FIC044000 - Fiction | Women
FIC043000 - Fiction | Coming of Age
FIC045000 - Fiction | Family Life | General
FIC016000 - Fiction | Humorous | General
FIC051000 - Fiction | Cultural Heritage
FIC029000 - Fiction | Short Stories (single author)
FIC076000 - Fiction | Feminist
FIC082000 - Fiction | Own Voices
FIC111010 - Fiction | World Literature | Middle East - Arabian Peninsula
FIC081000 - Fiction | Muslim
Library of Congress categories
Families
Parent and child
Bildungsromans
Social classes
Psychological fiction
Muslims
Domestic fiction
Poverty
Maryland
Baltimore (Md.)
Baltimore
Novels
Conflict of generations
Palestinian Americans

ALA/Booklist

Starred Review
In this episodic debut novel, Darraj portrays the joys, resentments, and yearnings of three generations of a tight-knit Palestinian American community. . . . Marvelous and moving.

Kirkus

Starred Review
A moving portrait of Palestinian families caught between the pressures of the Old World and the New.

Publishers Weekly

This potent novel-in-stories from Muaddi Darraj (The Inheritance of Exile) follows a group of Palestinian Americans in Baltimore. In "Ride Along," Marcus Salameh, a U.S. Marine, is trying to mediate a conflict between his father and his sister, who's graduating from college with honors after coming out of a rough patch following an abortion. "Escorting the Body" finds Marcus returning to Palestine to bury his father and reflect on how his Baba's American dream had turned sour because of his inability to be more compassionate to his family. The title story looks at the power dynamics between rich and poor immigrants, as a young woman named Maysoon Baladi takes a job as a cleaner for the Ammars, a wealthy fellow Palestinian family. In "Gyroscopes," high school student Layla Marwan, a cousin of the Ammars, expresses concern about the negative representation of Arabs in her school's production of Aladdin, but is ignored by her adviser. Throughout, Muaddi Darraj brilliantly depicts complex characters reckoning with the costs of holding tightly to their principles. This is a beautiful portrait of a family reaching for their dreams while holding onto their roots. Agent: Thomas Colchie, Colchie Agency. (Jan.)

Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
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