Dune Song
By Anissa M. Bouziane
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Sandstone Press
*Gifted*
Watch the breakdown
Everything changes for Jeehan Nathaar, after witnessing the collapse of the World Trade Centre. Her American identity gets brutally shattered causing Jeehan to retreat from New York back to her birthplace. Thousands of miles away in Morocco, with fresh friendly faces, Jeehan cannot escape her memories of the 9/11 attacks and gets tangled in a different type of atrocity.
Chapter by chapter the setting shifts between the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in New York and the desert in the south of Morocco. From the minute Jeehan enters Morocco she is on a journey; her vision is blurry but as time goes on it gets clearer and clearer. And it’s after a burial ceremony in the dunes that Jeehan eventually starts to rebuild herself up from Ground zero.
Seasoning Level
CO2 | Salt | Pepper | Mixed Herbs | All Purpose Seasoning
Is that how you’re feeling yeah?!
There is something really colourful and poetic about the book, which considering the story, shouldn’t work but it does and it's so beautiful. The book is really raw yet mellow. Issues such as human trafficking appear in the book and I imagined the story would be typically action-packed and abrupt because of the emphasis on that topic but it's honestly nothing like that at all.
The descriptions used in this book are so vivid, even after finishing the book I can still picture the minute Jeehan enters the arrivals lounge in the Moroccan airport, with her yellow suitcase and gets her foot bashed by the cart of an impatient passenger.
I love the Arabic language and am in awe with how the author used French and Arabic words throughout the book.
It hit me when
I really felt Jeehan’s pain as she explored the newly formed conflict between her Muslim-Arab and American identities. It made me feel really sad that they now had a brand-new meaning because of the actions of some individuals. The same people she had worked alongside, and been friends with now approached her as the other, the protagonist, the enemy and it felt so unsettling to read.
“Why do Muslims, or Arabs, or whatever… why do you hate us so much?”
It's frightening how the notion of home can be flipped upside down so rapidly. The people that knew Jeehan and saw her on a daily basis turned on her in the US so quickly, yet on the other hand, the strangers she met in Morocco took her in and extended their kindness just as quickly.
It reminded me of an interview I recorded with a school friend for a radio feature I was doing years ago. She openly spoke about her pain of having to endure prejudice and Islamophobic comments because she passed as white. She was a British born Moroccan and didn’t wear a hijab which made others feel comfortable to reel out nasty comments about Muslim people and it really knocked her.
Favourite character
Fareed is my favourite character. I quickly realised that I preferred the Moroccan characters in this book, because I connected with them and was really invested in them.
Even in the harshest of times, Fareed gives you a sense of hope. Because of some of the activities he is involved with it's hard to remember that he is actually just a child. But then I remember his interactions with Jeehan, and his excitement in his Hawaiian shirt and it really drives home his age and it's easy to picture Fareed as a little brother; good-hearted but naive.
Length
357 pages. The book went at a really good pace making me feel really at peace with the finishing. It felt like the author was holding my hand and slowly walking me to the end. It really was the ending I hoped for.
Questions for the author
1.What did you title Jeehan’s article?
2.Where does Jeehan eventually make her base as home?
3.Does Mr yellow suit ever face prosecution?
The BIG quote
“She comes to you heavy with the weight of the world.”
*This book was gifted by Sandstone Press.