Zubaida's Window: A Novel of Iraqi Exile (Women Writing the Middle East) - Hardcover

Al-Qazwini, Iqbal

3.5

26 ratings by Goodreads

9781558615724: Zubaida's Window: A Novel of Iraqi Exile (Women Writing the Middle East)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1558615725 ISBN 13: 9781558615724

Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2008

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In the first novel in English by an Iraqi to focus on the 2003 invasion, Iqbal Al-Qazwini masterfully describes the tortured psyche of a woman who fled Iraq but still longs for her homeland.

Like millions around the world, Iraqi exile Zubaida watches the invasion on her television. As she sits in her apartment in Berlin, the unreal and constantly flickering images of US forces closing in on Baghdad are her only connection to the war a world away. But unlike most viewers, she can remember the city of her childhood, where memories of her loving grandmother and of attending movies with her father mix with nightmarish images of hangings in Al-Tahrir Square. Struggling to deal with the horror on the television and the ghosts of her memory, Zubaida, in her grief, creates her own world, one in which she can almost go home.

Haunting and lyrical, Zubaida’s Window reveals the individual costs of war and the resilience of those who live through it.

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About the Author:

An Iraqi exile with a human rights background, Iqbal Al-Qazwini has lived in Berlin since 1978. She is a noted freelance journalist for various Arab and German media; her articles have appeared in Asharq Al-Awsat, the most widely circulated Arabic daily, and Transnational Broadcasting Studies. In 1993, Al-Qazwini was elected to the International PEN World Association of Writers.

Review:

"A powerful commentary, not only on war but also on the alienation of exile." ―Booklist

". . . the explosiveness of the past and present recollections that Zubaida experiences, closely connects to the explosiveness and tragedy of every event that has led Iraq to its current situation." ―Three Percent

"Zubaida’s Window is a compelling, difficult, and important novel. . . . [It] flows seamlessly between past and present, experienced and imagined. . . . A must read for anyone looking for a fresh perspective on the war in Iraq and its effects on the lives of Iraqis.” ―Feminist Review

"A strong, moving, and beautiful novel . . . that attempts to preserve [Iraq] by words . . . by the strength of a scream." ―Alia Mamdouh, author of The Loved Ones

"A powerful commentary, not only on war but also on the alienation of exile." Booklist

". . . the explosiveness of the past and present recollections that Zubaida experiences, closely connects to the explosiveness and tragedy of every event that has led Iraq to its current situation." Three Percent

"Zubaida’s Window is a compelling, difficult, and important novel. . . . [It] flows seamlessly between past and present, experienced and imagined. . . . A must read for anyone looking for a fresh perspective on the war in Iraq and its effects on the lives of Iraqis.” Feminist Review

"A strong, moving, and beautiful novel . . . that attempts to preserve [Iraq] by words . . . by the strength of a scream." Alia Mamdouh, author of The Loved Ones

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