Arabian Jazz: A Novel - Softcover

Abu-Jaber, Diana

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393324222 ISBN 13: 9780393324228

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003

Synopsis

"This oracular first novel, which unfurls like gossamer [has] characters of a depth seldom found in a debut."―The New Yorker

In Diana Abu-Jaber's "impressive, entertaining" (Chicago Tribune) first novel, a small, poor-white community in upstate New York becomes home to the transplanted Jordanian family of Matussem Ramoud: his grown daughters, Jemorah and Melvina; his sister Fatima; and her husband, Zaeed. The widower Matuseem loves American jazz, kitschy lawn ornaments, and, of course, his daughters. Fatima is obsessed with seeing her nieces married―Jemorah is nearly thirty! Supernurse Melvina is firmly committed to her work, but Jemorah is ambivalent about her identity and role. Is she Arab? Is she American? Should she marry and, if so, whom? Winner of the Oregon Book Award and finalist for the National PEN/Hemingway Award, Arabian Jazz is "a joy to read.... You will be tempted to read passages out loud. And you should" (Boston Globe). USA Today praises Abu-Jaber's "gift for dialogue...her Arab-American rings musically, and hilariously, true."

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Here is the hyphenated-American story told with a sense of humor and bitter-sweet love. Set in a small poor-white community in upstate New York, where "ethnics" are few and far between, it is the story of the Ramoud family: Matussem, his two daughters, Melvina and Jemorah, his sister, Fatima, and her husband, Zaeed. Matussem loves American jazz standards, Arab folktales, lawn ornaments, and - above all else in the world - his daughters. Fatima, the truest representative of the Old World in the New, is obsessed with joining the social committee of the local Syrian Orthodox Church and with seeing her nieces - Jemorah is nearly thirty! - married. Melvina, "all-Nurse", has her mind set firmly on her work, but Jemorah will consider marrying anyone from a pool hustler to a car mechanic to a Jordanian cousin. With "Family Function Season" about to begin ("thick with the air of summer upstate and heavy, sweating relatives who thought, somehow, that this was preferable to the desert"), Arabian Jazz will explode into a hilarious, poignant tribute to family bonds, hybrid cultures, and the individual search for home.

About the Author:

Diana Abu-Jaber is the award-winning author of four novels, including Crescent, and two memoirs, Life Without a Recipe and The Language of Baklava. She and her family divide time between Miami, Florida, and Portland, Oregon.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0393324222
• ISBN 13: 9780393324228
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 390