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Kirkland Publishing House
Pub date September 27, 2023
ISBN 979-8985915235
Price $21.95 (USD) Hardcover, $16.95 Paperback, $1.99 Kindle edition
A young man embarks on a cross-country trip in Abu-Rish’s poignant latest novel. In 1963, Mustafa, a Palestinian international student at Duke University, went to an event in Durham, North Carolina, where he became a victim of terrible sexual assault. This incident caused him to distance himself from his significant other and travel cross-country on foot to Stanford University where he had been accepted earlier. As his journey progressed, he came to the realization that if he hoped to start afresh, he must confront and conquer the demons of his past. The story is told in a third-person point of view, creating enough of a distance between readers and Mustafa so as to allow them to remain with his story until the end without becoming overwhelmed. Mustafa’s journey is both heartbreaking and uplifting. He is aware of what happened and wishes to move on, but he finds it difficult to shake off the traumatic experience. The reader witnesses his remarkable fortitude as he goes on a metamorphic voyage from North Carolina to Stanford University. There are plenty of other characters in the novel, including rugged farmers, hard-core criminals, kind strangers, and even a unique polygamist family, and Abu-Rish portrays them with gimlet-eyed precision. Smoothly-paced and compelling, this is a solid read.
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