The Attack

Fabulous, unbiased account

Given the state of the Middle East today, this is a timely and incredibly written story that I recommend without regard to your particular political beliefs. Beautiful and haunting in it's delivery, the author leaves you feeling very sad for both sides.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Shimmerkit

"HELP ME!!!" Shimmerkit yowls crying. "Please!" I was just playing. Why did u hav to take me! Leave me alone!" Shimmerkit screams pleading. Stuggleing in a large cats jaws.


-shimmerkit of shadowclan

Stardream

*licks his cheek* be careful! *picks up leafkit with her mouth and bounds to camp*

Rockheart

U know me and the uk wat *says grinning

PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At my party result one ane two.

Furypaw

*hides nearby, watching*

Even Handed Book

The Attack by Yas­mina Khadra is a fic­tional book set in Israel and the West Bank. Yas­mina Khadra is the nom de plume of Mohammed Moulesse­houl, a for­mer Alger­ian mil­i­tary officer.

Dr. Amin Jafaari is a well-respected Arab who is an Israeli cit­i­zen and suc­cess­ful sur­geon in a Tel Aviv hos­pi­tal. One day a mas­sive sui­cide attack hap­pens close by which mobi­lizes the whole hos­pi­tal. After get­ting home from a very long shift, Dr. Jafaari is woken up ask­ing to come iden­tify his wife's body who has been killed in the attack. Dr. Jafaari dis­cov­ers that his wife was not vis­it­ing fam­ily as she said, but she was the sui­cide bomber.

And thus the story begins.

The Attack by Yas­mina Khadra is a won­der­ful, even handed and fas­ci­nat­ing book. Deal­ing with sen­si­tive sub­jects yet stay­ing away from a mil­i­tant point of view is a remark­able achieve­ment by itself, com­bine that with an excel­lent story and you've got your­self a winner.

The story is told from the per­spec­tive of Dr. Jaa­fari, a nat­u­ral­ized Israeli Arab who works in an Israeli hos­pi­tal in Tel-Aviv and lives in an exclu­sive neigh­bor­hood in town. There are more than a mil­lion Arabs with full Israeli cit­i­zen­ship, who live between worlds and often find them­selves in unen­vi­able positions

Even though Dr. Jaa­fari is sup­pose to the model of inte­gra­tion and peace, one day his life falls apart when it is dis­cov­ered that his wife exploded her­self in the mid­dle of a restau­rant, killing many includ­ing chil­dren who were there to cel­e­brate a birth­day party.

The novel doesn't directly deal with the com­plex­ity of the issues in the Mid­dle East, but with the tur­moil of one man who con­sid­ers him­self a sec­u­lar­ist, a suc­cess­ful man mar­ried to his wife, liv­ing in paradise.

As I men­tioned, this book is even handed, there is no right or wrong. Both Israelis and Pales­tini­ans are nei­ther demo­nized nor are they being heroic. They are sim­ply peo­ple liv­ing day to day try­ing to get through a tough time.

Last time when we vis­ited Israel we had to take our son to the hos­pi­tal (my wife's worst night­mare com­ing true). A Druz doc­tor took care of our son in the best pos­si­ble way and we were grate­ful to him. It did not mat­ter to us, or to the rest of the peo­ple in the pedi­atric ward, the doctor's ori­gins as long as he knew his stuff. Our son, by the way, was fine - just a lot of gas like his old man and to his mother's dismay.

The book starts out beau­ti­fully, but as the nar­ra­tor sinks into a state of con­fu­sion so does the nar­ra­tive. The reader isn't sure what day it is, which twist comes next or even if the plot is told in a lin­ear sense. Any­one who has ever been in a posi­tion where they are con­fused, bit­ter and depressed or on the brink of mad­ne

Powerful! A hard to put down, until the end...

The setting is that of the evening news, on any given night. However, Mr. Khadra has found the gift of transporting you from the confort of your favorite evening news viewing couch, chair, etc... into a world that not even the protagonist in this book could have ever imagined, could be experienced. Your transported into the anguish and bewilderment that is felt by so many unfortunate souls on both sides of such an existance, from one whom would have never expected to be thrown into the mix in such a personal tragic manor. Truely heart pounding. Read and pass it on... Everyone will thank you. And surely pass it on...

What a waste

Read this book on recommendation from book group and reviews. I thought it was a waste of time, I could just watch a Palestinian recruitment video and get the same information. The Jews were bad -- the Arab was good. Failed to show both sides of the story, did not stress the conflicts both sides felt. Much ado about nothing.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Two Points of View

Fascinating depiction of life in Israel of an Arab-turned-Jew to a wife who, though she had supposedly 'converted' to Judaism, was unable to renounce her Arab heritage, to the point of killing herself and others because of her perceived wrongs.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Hard to put down

The protagonist is Amin a Muslim, an Israeli, a prominent well thought of surgeon. The attack is a suicide bomber in a restaurant. Amin's world is turned upside down when the authorities discover the bomber is his pampered beloved wife. Amin dives into the madness of the Palestinian terrorist, in order to prove the police wrong. This is a strong work, especially in light of today's world affairs. This is the first time I've understood the psychology of sucide bombers.

Zionist appreciates Palestinian position

As a past president of a Zionist organization this beautifully written book gave me new and needed sympathetic viewpoint of the genesis of the Palestinian position

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