BG 2 - February 2023
REVIEW - THE MAP OF SALT AND STARS BY JENNIFER ZEYNAB JOUKHADAR |
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The Map of Salt and Stars, a novel by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar, puts a face on the tragedy of the Syrian refugee crisis. The war in Syria has raged for more than eight years now, obliterating cities and homes and casting the people who lived there adrift to seek lives elsewhere. The reader experiences it through the eyes of one of the main characters, Nour. Nour's family is Syrian, but she was born and raised in the United States.
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One of Nour's favourite stories is about a young, adventurous girl named Rawiya, who journeyed with famed mapmaker Al-Idrisi on his voyages and explorations in the effort to make one of history's most famous maps: the Tabula Rogeriana. Though Al-Idrisi is a real historical figure, Rawiya is a character of Joukhadar's creation. But Rawiya and her adventures seem so real to Nour that she begins to believe that maybe they are.
“Inside, the walls breathe sumac and sigh out the tang of olives. Oil and fat sizzle in a pan, popping up in yellow and black bursts in my ears. The colours of voices and smells tangle in front of me like they're projected on a screen: the peaks and curves of Huda's pink-and-purple laugh, the brick-red ping of a kitchen timer, the green bite of baking yeast”.
The novel is filled with effortlessly stunning passages like this, a feat of writing. The most important aspect of the novel, however, is its treatment of history. Though it touches on myth and magic, many of the historical characters like Al-Idrisi are real and an integral part of, not only world history, but Nour's cultural sense of self. The major message of this book is that the destruction of a homeland threatens to destroy history, but that history can never die, as long as people, like Nour, choose to remember.
This moving, debut novel places today's headlines in the sweep of history, where the pain of exile and the triumph of courage echo repeatedly.
The group rated the book 7/10.
Nabila Ahmad
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