Middle+Ground+-+Habibi+Book+Review

Habibi Book Review - Heather Wildrick

Habibi is a poignant novel that explores cultural perspectives from a teenager’s point of view. Liyana, a freshman-aged Arab-American teenager, has just received her first kiss and comes home to the news that her Arab father is moving their family to the Palestinian section of Israel so that they can become reacquainted with the rest of their family (who are Palestinian). Liyana demonstrates the expected teenage reluctance at the idea of leaving her friends and all that is familiar behind, but she has no choice. Within a month, the family is in a hotel near Ramallah and Jerusalem, surrounded by scores of family members whom Liyana has never met and who only speak Arabic.

Liyana’s family finds a home outside of Jerusalem, very near a Palestinian refugee camp. While she struggles with feeling like a stranger in a strange land, Liyana is soon immersed and embraced in the culture of Palestine and begins to understand the roots of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, although in a rather one-sided way. One day, she meets a boy named Omer, who she only later learns is Jewish, and with whom, of course, she very quickly falls in love. Her family, having suffered discrimination at the hands of Jewish authorities, is very wary of allowing Liyana to have anything to do with Omer, but she persists in trying to bring him into her world. Ironically, it is Liyana’s old Palestinian grandmother, one who has suffered the most in the family from the conflict, who welcomes Omer into her home and helps the rest of the family accept this Jewish boy. The story concludes with an aura of hope that Arabs and Jews might one day live side-by-side in peace, as Liyana’s family is trying to do.

Habibi is a good book in which to immerse younger readers because it convincingly demonstrates how universal teen feelings and issues really are, regardless of culture, religion, or ethnic background. The teenagers in the book act just as teenagers do, with all the emotions and angst American readers would expect. Liyana often talks about feeling like she is viewed as a half-breed, both by her American counterparts and her Palestinian relatives, and her challenges with discovering who she is and finding her place in this world. The book is unique in the fact that Liyana is describing her experience as an American immigrant to another country; most immigrant novels present the opposite view of an immigrant coming to America. The universal themes of young love, friendship, and a feeling of alienation from one’s parents and family are all present. As the book is written almost primarily from the Palestinian perspective, the novel also presents a good opportunity to introduce the topic of bias, and how students can detect bias in their reading. Liyana, while doing her part to try to bring about unity and peace between Jew and Arab in her family, also represents a very one-sided picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and without background information, students may not have a full understanding of how the conflict developed and the issues that make it so complicated, long-standing, and difficult to resolve. But this also represents an opportunity for research by the students to learn more about this region in the Middle East and its cultural and religious issues.

The book is well-written, with a lot of first-hand descriptions and cultural richness. Each chapter begins with a proverb, thought or phrase that helps the reader think more lyrically and deeply about the situations presented in the reading. However, the pacing of the book, and its strong relationship focus, as opposed to action focus, may prove to be a bit tedious for some middle school readers, particularly boys. For this reason, it is very important that teen readers be guided to make connections between their own thoughts, feelings, and relationship issues and those of the protagonist.

Teen Connections

Because Middle Eastern literature comes from a perspective that is often ethnically, culturally, and religiously removed from your average American teenager, it is important to draw as many parallels as possible between the characters in ME literature and their American counterparts so that your students can better relate to and invest in what they’re reading. It’s important that teen readers have the opportunity to learn how to see Middle Eastern characters not as “others” but as people who could very well be their peers. Good novels based on teens’ lives in the Middle East do a great job of breaking down these inhibitions, because teenagers in all places of the world still share common experiences as they struggle to come to grips with their emerging adolescence, anxiety, issues with family and peers, etc. A great way to help our student readers connect better with ME literature is to emphasize the commonalities the students have with the characters and to find books that will allow them to connect well with and feel a kinship to the characters. This will also help them to understand the cultural situations better, because teens naturally can recognize the common experiences they share with the protagonists, and also any tensions or happiness due to those they do not, such as religion or culture.

Bias

Another principal that becomes very important when studying ME literature is the issue of bias. This is particularly evident in the novel Habibi, which I will tell you about next. Because of the many ongoing tensions in the region, much of Middle Eastern literature touches on troubles caused by violence or injustice, but often from one particular perspective. Because of this, a proper introduction into the culture, history, and politics of the region is a good idea before studying works from the ME. It also enriches the reading adventure for the young readers since they will have a better handle on what the characters are experiencing.

Students reading one work or the other without historical background information could be misled by the one-sided experience of any one author. Giving background and coaching students on how to recognize bias allows students to further learn about perspective and also teaches them to articulate the how and why they believe this particular perspective came about. It also builds empathy for more than one perspective.

Bias can be a challenging subject to tackle, particularly for ME literature, because both teachers and students can come to the classroom already armed with strong opinions on the situation in the ME and who they believe is at fault and what should be done about it. This is particularly true if the teacher or some of the students come from or have family in that region. While everyone’s initial perspective is very valuable to share, what makes the focus on bias such a great tool is that it not only allows students to recognize one-sided accounts when they read or hear about them, it also allows them to safely explore other viewpoints and perspectives that they may not have thought of before. If you can explore these issues using the cover of the character, then opinions and perspectives can be discussed without people feeling alienated or attacked for their personal beliefs.

Beginning with a foundation of studying the background and significance of the difficulties faced in the ME and the reading of different perspectives from different authors, students can learn to read a one-sided novel such as Habibi and detect the bias, all the while understanding and appreciating why it is there.