Page Two of CultureWatch
THE LOCUST AND THE BIRD
By Hanan Al-Shaykh, © 2009
Published by
Pantheon (Random House); Hardcover, 302 pp
The Locust and the Bird is in one sense a memoir dictated by Kamila, an illiterate Lebanese woman, to her daughter, Hanan Al-Shaykh. In another, it is simply a biography, written by a fine writer/journalist (Al-Shaykh) about her mother. In yet another, it is an explication of a different ethos, in this case a vivid account of life in the Middle East/Arabic world of fifty years ago. And in yet another, it is a timeless mother-daughter tale of conflict and abandonment and resolution. I daresay that the slant that grabs you may be different from what grabbed me, but take your pick and just dive in, because this is a fascinating and enlightening book.
The story takes place in and around Beirut, and in southern Lebanon. Al-Shaykh, a novelist who now lives in London, has traveled widely and often. She manages to keep her feet firmly in two worlds, describing clearly the Lebanon of her childhood while making accessible to the Western mind the demands of other customs and times.
Kamila’s tale begins with the story of her own mother, who married and bore four children. Her husband was killed while the family was fleeing the Ottoman Turks, and she and the children were left with no choice but to return to their village. Life was very hard for her, but eventually, she was able to send all four children to school in Beirut, although this meant that she had to walk for four days each way once a month, just to catch a glimpse of them on their school’s balconies.
Later, she remarried, this time to a man 10 years younger than she. They had two children, a boy and a girl (Kamila). Although their mother was able to bring the four older children back to the village, they did not get along with their stepfather, and one by one, fled back to Beirut. He, however, took a second, younger wife, whom the two younger children did not like at all. Ultimately he abandoned both Kamila’s mother and her children.
After many misfortunes, Kamila, her brother and their mother made their way to Beirut, where they were taken in by her older half-sister, Manifa, and her husband, Abu-Hussein. In the big city, Kamila, who was by then in early adolescence, discovered the movies. At first she believed they were real-life happenings, taking the misfortunes and fortunes of the actors and actresses literally. Even after she discovered that they were engaged in make-believe, she related to their impact throughout her life, much the way many people relate to the great stories of the world learned through books. Although she longed to go to school, it was never possible for Kamila, and she remained illiterate.
Eventually, her brother-in-law arranged for Kamila to go to a seamstress named Fatma, to learn how to cut fabric and sew. One day, a young relative of Fatma’s named Muhammad saw the beautiful Kamila, and instantly fell in love with her. He was a student from the south of Lebanon, tall and handsome. From that point on, the two of them began meeting furtively, attending movies and making small forays into the countryside. He asked her to wait for him, until he had finished school, but her family had other plans for her.
Kamila was forced to abandon her lover, Muhammad, and marry - at just 15 - a man she did not love. That he was the much-older widower of her half-sister, and a man whose life revolved around his study of the Quiran (Koran), only added to her misery. She married as commanded, and almost instantly conceived a child, her first daughter, but the pull to Muhammad proved too strong for her, and she began meeting him on the sly. For quite a while, they managed to keep their affair secret, but eventually the families found out. By then, Kamila had a second daughter (the author, Hanan Al Shaykh). At that time, divorce was a huge scandal in Lebanon, as was a woman’s leaving her children, but ultimately it was the only course for Kamila. She gave up her children and married Muhammad.
Al-Shaykh does a fine job of capturing the bright, rebellious spirit of her mother, who grows from the self-centered childishness of her youth to become a charming, forthright , and rather vain woman. The author also shows us a world of Muslim women which is largely closed to those of us on the outside looking in. Where the Western eye sees women garbed and swathed in fabric and secrecy, controlled by their husbands and fathers, we discover instead a vibrant sisterhood of supportive women who deal with the constraints of their lives in endlessly imaginative ways, wielding power through humor and connection to one another.
Al Shaykh has written five novels and a collection of short stories. This biography will perhaps send those of us who aren’t familiar with her earlier books rushing to the library. I know that I, at least, will do just that.
— J.S.
©2009 Julia Sneden
