The Sea Cloak and Other Stories, Nayrouz Qarmout
Qarmout’s book of short stories portrays what it is like, and has been like, to live in Palestine for the last 60 years. If you’ve been paying attention, nothing you read here will surprise you, and if you haven’t, Qarmout’s deft storytelling between the past and present can serve as an introduction. The stories are full of painful things – Israeli murders, growing up under apartheid, destruction of life, culture, and property – as well as beautiful things, like falling in love and the small details of one’s home country and culture. Life continues, even under horrendous conditions, and Qarmout’s slight volume is proof of that.
Sight, Jessie Greengrass
“Sight” was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize in 2018, and tells the story of one woman dealing with the loss of her mother, the decision to have children of her own, and the eventual birth of her own two daughters through the reading she did at the public library in the six months following her mother’s untimely passing. Interspersed through memories of her childhood, specifically the summer months she spent with her grandmother each year and her analysis of her grandmother’s work as a psychologist, are snippets of information about the invention of the x-ray, the development of psychoanalysis, and the advances in understanding the anatomy of pregnant women’s bodies. The narrator is attempting to understand herself and her place in the world, but at least for me, the novel ends before it is clear whether her efforts have been successful. At the very least, however, it seems that the narrator has achieved a sense of peace, particularly with her life decisions. With Sight, Greengrass has succeeded in the telling of a time-old narrative through a fresh and compelling approach.