Dancing Arabs

Sayed Kashua

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9781501277474: Dancing Arabs

Synopsis

As a child, our nameless antihero has big shoes to fill, having grown up with the myth of a grandfather who died fighting the Zionists in 1948, and with a father who was jailed for blowing up a school cafeteria in the name of freedom. When he is granted a scholarship to an elite Jewish boarding school, his family rejoices, dreaming that he will grow up to be the first Arab to build an atom bomb. But to their dismay, he turns out to be a coward devoid of any national pride; his only ambition is to fit in with his Jewish peers who reject him. He changes his clothes, his accent, his eating habits, and becomes an expert at faking identities, sliding between different cultures, schools and languages, and eventually a Jewish lover and an Arab wife. With refreshing candor and self-deprecating wit, Dancing Arabs brilliantly maps one man's struggle to disentangle his personal and national identities, only to tragically and inevitably forfeit both.

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About the Author

Sayed Kashua is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, author and journalist born in Tira, Israel, known for his books and humorous columns in the Hebrew language.

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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780802141262: Dancing Arabs

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0802141269 ISBN 13:  9780802141262
Publisher: Grove Press, 2004
Softcover