Let It Be Morning

by Sayed Kashua

Book Overview

In his debut, "Dancing Arabs, " Sayed Kashua established himself as one of the most daring voices of the Middle East. In his searing new novel, a young Arab journalist returns to his hometown an Arab village within Israel where his already vexed sense of belonging is forced to crisis when the village becomes a pawn in the never-ending power struggle that is the Middle East. Hoping to reclaim the simplicity of life among kin, the prodigal son returns...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802170218
• ISBN13: 9780802170217
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Let it be exceptional

A great writer once said that good fiction is more accurate than jouranlsim. It is impossible to really understand a different perspective from newpapers and T.V. This book has the feel of a suspence novel, and at the same times, provides a glimpse of what it would be like to live in a village as a "majority-minotrity" when this town is in lock-down under overwhelming force, with no relief and no information.

Is It Fair?

"Let It Be Morning" is an interesting and informative novel of village life among Arab citizens of Israel. The protagonist is a young Arab journalist who comes from one of the influential and prosperous village families. The emphasis is on what it means to be living in the Jewish state, but there is more to the novel than that. It takes a more general view of Arab family and village life and, more importantly, the protagonist is a well developed character, who I found very sympathetic. Still, it is important to question whether the novel is fair to the Jewish Israeli's. There are no sympathetic Jewish characters, but the Arabs are not painted in a very favorable light either. More bothersome to me is that the government inflicts great hardship on the village without apparent motive; i.e., it is trying to suppress any Arab political activity prior to the hypothetical announcement of a peace accord, but not only isolates the village, it cuts off its electricity, thereby disabling the pumps necessary for its water supply. At a roadblock, Arab migrant workers are casually gunned down without warning and before they could constitute a threat. On the other hand, as a supporter of the New Israel fund, which assists the underdogs, including Arab citizens, I know that some of the implied criticism of Israel and its Jewish majority is on the mark.

Extraordinary Reading

If I could give this book 6 stars, I would. Timely, beautifully written account of an Arab family's experience while living in Israel. It would make a wonderful book group discussion. I couldn't put it down.

An extraordinary and brave voice!

A young journalist, his wife, and baby daughter leave their rented apartment in an Israeli city and move to the Arab village in which the couple grew up. Feeling not that much a part of the Jewish establishment in which he works anymore, this journalist thinks that returning to what was once familiar will be comforting. The sad realization overtakes him that he is not returning to the same place he left 10 years earlier. It's not so much that the writing is good, but it's the fact that the words the author chooses so acutely and accurately convey his feelings--the most pervasive one being the burden of an Arab feeling at ease any place at all in Israel. How odd that I should have chosen this book to read precisely during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006. I really feel for the Israeli Arabs who seek a home in which they can feel comfortable and secure at all times. This book takes a a further and more painful step into the uncormfortable world between Jew and Arab. In Dancing Arabs, the author tread lightly on this precarious relationship. In Let it be Morning, Kashua heads from the psychological problems to the threat of physical harm as well. Where can the line be drawn into comfortably fitting Arabs into the life of the Jewish state? That's the issue this difficult, but engrossing, read is trying to express. The story left me breathless. The tension was unbelievable as the author drove deeply into me into what it must really feel like to be in the limbo of the Arab-Israeli world. I much look forward to reading more work by this amazingly talented writer.