This debut novel, written by a woman who experienced firsthand the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the 1980s, weaves the horrors of war with the love and devotion of family. Ruba is seven years old, living in a small Christian village outside of Beirut during the Israeli invasion. Her father is depressed and lethargic; her older brother, Naji, avoids the family, more interested in guns and the local thugs. As the conflict draws closer to the town, causing acts of inhumanity based on religious differences, Ruba learns a secret from her father's past that forces her to face the reality and cruelty around her. Abi-Ezzi walks the delicate tightrope between man's inhumanity and the power and strength family members must draw upon in order to survive. The book is beautifully written, lyrical, with vivid, sensual descriptions that are sophisticated yet completely believable as experienced and retained by a child. ("My bedroom smelt of cotton and books, Mami and Papi's room smelled of ironed sheets.") This disturbing, beautiful book, in turn hopeful and despairing, brings clarity and compassion to an untenable situation. (July)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Abi-Ezzi, whose family emigrated from Lebanon to England, sets her debut novel during her native country's civil war. Eight-year-old Ruba Khouri lives with her family in Ein Douwra, outside of Beirut. Her father has isolated himself inside the family home, and her older brother has also withdrawn, becoming involved with some dubious characters. As the war intensifies, so do the tensions within Ruba's home. Her mother becomes increasingly dismayed by her husband's inability to take any initiative with either his business or his children. In one particularly affecting scene, Ruba discovers a troubling incident in her father's past, and her longing to understand what happened reflects her tendency to internalize others' burdens and make herself responsible for her family's welfare. Abi-Ezzi deftly tells this story through Ruba's eyes, allowing the reader to experience her loss of innocence as she learns of the complexities of the world. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ4/15/09.]
—Cristella Bond
War-ravaged Lebanon, seen through the eyes of a brave, wise child. Debut novelist Abi-Ezzi, who moved to London in 1983, gives readers the outlines of her homeland's major conflicts, but she focuses on the intimate wars inside the narrator's tiny clan. The book concerns eight-year-old Ruba and her family. Maronite Christians, they seek safety for her older brother, already drawn to guns, and for Papi (father), paralyzed by a mysterious trauma. He returned to their village one day from Beirut as a zombie, closed his shop and retreated; now he rarely speaks except to rage at the Palestinians. At Ruba's birthday party, he frightens her girlfriends and barks at Mami (mother). Even his successful, ever-upbeat brother, who drives a Mercedes so beautiful it makes Mami cry, can't rouse him, but circumstances and his daughter do. As Israeli troops mount an offensive, Ruba calls upon Papi's dormant courage and, ultimately, frees him. At the end, "no longer a cactus standing motionless in a pot full of dry cracked earth," he has reclaimed his life, his dignity and his family's respect. In order to enact this emancipation, however, Ruba first must exhume the secrets of Papi's painful past. In lean, lyrical prose, the author juxtaposes scenes of everyday pleasure (eating sugared almonds, hunting snails) with surrealist horrors (playing in a forest, Ruba comes upon a glass eyeball) to depict coming of age in the line of fire. Part folk tale, part reportage, this moving portrait achieves a dark poetry. Agent: Isobel Dixon/Blake Friedmann
“[A] powerful, poetic debut novel . . . Ruba is a delightful and precocious narrator . . . [reminiscent of] Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. . . . Both graceful and wise, [A Girl Made of Dust is] a simple narrative that lets the pure vision of childhood speak for itself . . . [and] makes a reader wonder: If more Rubas found their voices, might there not be less war?”—Marjorie Kehe, Christian Science Monitor
“Abi-Ezzi’s exquisitely affecting debut novel, A Girl Made of Dust, not only conjures a fully-realized and vividly-populated world via the perspective of an eight-year-old girl, but adroitly plays on her ingenuousness to subtly convey its themes, namely the senselessness of religious conflict and the elusive importance of responsibility and forgiveness. . . . Abi-Ezzi portrays the inhumanity of the violence that devastated Lebanon without a tub-thumping agenda . . . Page-turningly suspenseful . . . A Girl Made of Dust is equally gripping as a poignant family drama and as a visceral depiction of living with war literally crashing on your doorstep. The local sounds, smells, and sights are astonishingly well-rendered, with transportingly-textured details that nevertheless are wholly convincing as the impressions of a young child.”—Words Without Borders
“In lean, lyrical prose, the author juxtaposes scenes of everyday pleasure with surrealist horrors to depict coming of age in the line of fire. Part folk tale, part reportage, this moving portrait achieves a dark poetry.”—Kirkus Reviews
“In her affecting and assured first novel, Nathalie Abi-Ezzi lyrically evokes village life in rural Lebanon during civil war.”—Anna Mundow, Boston Globe
“Subtle and unique.”—Mary-Liz Shaw, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“A testimony to survival.”—Rebecca Starford, The Australian
“Abi-Ezzi walks the delicate tightrope between man’s inhumanity and the power and strength family members must draw upon in order to survive. . . . Beautifully written, lyrical, with vivid, sensual descriptions that are sophisticated yet completely believable as experienced and retained by a child.”—Publishers Weekly
“Abi-Ezzi deftly tells this story through Ruba’s eyes, allowing the reader to experience her loss of innocence as she learns of the complexities of the world. Highly recommended.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Vivid and unflinching, A Girl Made of Dust portrays the deterioration of a family and a war-torn town from the perspective of a candidly charming and astute eight-year-old girl. Nathalie Abi-Ezzi’s prose is evocative, radiant and lyrical. This poignant and gripping debut virtually crackles with urgency and compassion.”—Kiara Brinkman, author of Up High in the Trees
“[A] haunting story that raises elemental global issues that are part of headlines today.”—Hazel Rochman, Booklist
“Captivating . . . A subtle, pertinent depiction of civilian life in the midst of bewildering conflict.”—Catherine Taylor, The Guardian (UK)
“I adored A Girl Made of Dust. . . . At once tender and tragic and Nathalie wonderfully evokes that transient aspect of childhood where everything is possible. It is a book that begs to be re-read. . . . One of those books you can't help but think about long after you finish. A truly remarkable story.”—Patricia Wood author of Lottery
“A timely evocation of civilian suffering underneath the ubiquities of war, A Girl Made of Dust is, at its heart, a story of growing up and the terrifying things we have no names for in our childishness. . . . Abi-Ezzi portrays [Ruba's] awakening to the cruelties of life as both heartbreaking and profound, successfully eluding the clichés associated with the coming-of-age novel while simultaneously generously enriching its vocabulary.”—Val Nolan, The Sunday Business Post (Ireland)
“Her well-crafted first novel offers a moving insight into brutal conflict.”—Melissa McClements, Financial Times
“Abi-Ezzi's endeavour for perfection is as clear as the presence of her exceptional talent. She describes the world of her characters with a sharp eye for the slightest detail.”—Jad El Hage, Al-Hayat
“A Girl Made of Dust reflects the pain that haunts many Lebanese emigrants attached to the landscape and culture of home. . . . Never preachy or political, Abi-Ezzi makes the reader feel the impact of savagery in the civil war. . . . There is no hatred in this book, only the mystified wonder of a child reared on hope-filled religion. . . . A beautifully written, powerful anti-war statement . . . Ruba is a siren of hope in what could have been a nihilistic document.”—Cecile Yazbek, author of Olive Trees Around My Table
“A Girl Made of Dust is a timely reminder of the agonies thousands of Lebanese families had to go through during the years of the Lebanese Civil War. . . . Abi-Ezzi skillfully introduces the reader to a life in fear of bombs and stray bullets, as well as to how new hope can be born from affliction.”—Ingrid Lamprecht, Socialist Review (UK)
“Written with such maturity, it is hard to believe that it’s a debut. . . . This novel transplants us into the world of Ruba, a girl on the cusp of adulthood: a world where the threat of death is very real, the quest for survival strong. It also begs us to ask the question: what happens to those without the money or means to escape a war zone?”—Jason Austin, readings.com.au
“A subtle story of the civilian experience of war, as told through the eyes of a child. It’s as evocative of family life as it is of conflict, but its real value is in bringing home that real people are living—or trying to live—behind the news headlines we see.”—The Bookbag
