The Attack by Yasmina Khadra, Paperback. Editorial Reviews. From the Publisher. Engrossing. Instead, it is the way that he limns, quite brilliantly, the character of a man torn to pieces by extremism and extreme social distress, neither of which has been of his own making.— The Washington Post. Publishers Weekly. Khadra, the pseudonym of Mohammed Moulessehoul, an exiled Algerian writer celebrated for his politically themed fiction (The Swallows of Kabul), turns his attention to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict in this moving novel unlikely to satisfy partisans on either side of the issue. Amin Jaafari is a man caught between two worlds; he's a Bedouin Arab surgeon struggling to integrate himself into Israeli society. The Attack By Yasmina Khadra Translated by John Cullen By Yasmina Khadra Category: Women’s Fiction Category: Women’s Fiction Best Seller Read An Excerpt. Our Reading Guide for The Attack by Yasmina Khadra includes a Book Club Discussion Guide, Book Review, Plot Summary-Synopsis and Author Bio. Book Reviews By the end of The Attack, Israel's heavy firepower appears to have marginally eclipsed. The balancing act becomes impossible when the terrorist responsible for a suicide bombing that claims 2. Jaafari's wife by the Israeli police. In an effort to make sense of her decision, Jaafari plunges into the Palestinian territories to discover the forces that recruited her. Khadra, who nicely captures his hero's turmoil in trying to come to terms with the endless violence, closes on an appropriately grim note. The narrator is a much- honored surgeon in Tel Aviv, Dr. Amin Jaafari, an Arab- Israeli. As Amin works on the victims of a suicide attack, saving lives, his friend, a Jewish policeman, tells him his wife was also in the attack. Amin is horrified by his wife's death, and stunned to learn the police believe it was she who was the suicide bomber. What unfolds is Amin's determination to find out if indeed his wife was the bomber, and then to learn why she did this outrageous act. Amin had believed their marriage was happy, that their comfortable life in Israel, their assimilation in Israeli society, was a success. What follows is a tense few weeks as Amin follows every tiny lead that might bring him to the truth. He is doing this as he is lost in grief and irrational rage. His once- friendly neighbors have trashed his home and threatened him, since he is the husband of a terrorist. So, with his life completely upturned, he uses his intelligence and family ties to discover the truth about his wife, about her decision, about the condition of the Palestinian community, including Amin's own relatives. You may recognize the author because of his book The Swallows of Kabul. He is a former Algerian army officer, now living in France, and seems to be an ideal interpreter of the life of an Arab living an assimilated life in a Western country. The Attack is suspenseful and insightful. Reviewer: Claire Rosser. Library Journal. Khadra (The Swallows of Kabul) has the ability to convey that damning sense of unrelenting anxiety that may indeed be the object of terrorism. His latest novel concerns Dr. Amin Jaafari, an esteemed surgeon of Arab- Bedouin descent who has worked against the odds to become a relatively well- appointed citizen of Tel Aviv. In an instant, the doctor's life is turned inside- out by a suicide- bomb attack near the hospital where he practices. The very worst of it comes when he learns that his beloved wife, who perished in the attack, is believed to have been the one who actually carried out the bombing. Listen to The Attack Audiobook by Yasmina Khadra, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. For a runaway slave in the 1840s South, life on the run can be just as dangerous as life under a sadistic master. That's what 15-year-old Naomi learns after she escapes the brutal. The attack, Yasmina Khadra, Vintage/gb. Des milliers de livres avec la livraison chez vous en 1 jour ou en magasin avec -5% de r The Attack Yasmina Khadra 16-09-2016 2/2 The Attack Yasmina Khadra Other Files Available to Download A suicide bombing provides an unusual plot for Yasmina Khadra's The Attack. By James Buchan The suicide bomber is easier to fathom as a weapon or act of propaganda than as a personality. If the bomber is a woman, killing other women and their children, the character is all the more baffling. Incensed by this accusation, Amin rejects the idea that their idyllic marriage may not have been all that it seemed. His relentless search for the truth leads him back to a place from his past, and the story comes full circle. This could prove to be a book of some importance owing to its fine technique and relevance to current world affairs. Yasmina Khadra is a pseudonym for Mohammed Moulessehoul, a former officer in the Algerian army who lives in France. Recommended for all fiction collections. Khadra (pseudonym of a retired Algerian army officer) moves from Algeria (Wolf Dreams, 2. Yasmina Khadra (Arabic: . 173 422 Nov 12, 2009.Afghanistan (The Swallows of Kabul, 2. Israel/Palestine. A huge explosion kills 1. Tel Aviv. Amin Jaafari operates on the injured before returning to his beautiful home, under the illusion that his wife Sihem is visiting her grandmother's farm. Then he gets a call to identify her body in the morgue and is interrogated by the cops for three days before being cleared. Amin is still in denial; after all, they were a close, loving couple, they were not practicing Muslims, and most of their friends were Jews. Only when he finds a note from her implying her guilt does he accept the truth. He is attacked by a mob outside his home and is given shelter by a fellow doctor and old flame, Kim Yehuda. Desperately confused and angry, Amin drives to Bethlehem; that is where Sihem had mailed her note. He exposes himself to danger by forcing a meeting with the radical imam, but gets nowhere; Kim sympathetically points out that he needs a shrink more than a sheikh. But Amin feels betrayed, doubly so when he suspects, on flimsy evidence, that Sihem was having an affair with his nephew Adel, whom he tracks down in Jenin after scary encounters with Intifada leaders. Yes, says Adel, Sihem had been part of an Intifada cell; no, they were never lovers. Khadra keeps the story moving at a good clip, but there's a flaw at its center; how could Amin's intimate marriage have contained such a devastating secret? Sihem is ashadowy figure, and her freelance self- destruction, opposed by her cell, is unconvincing. Amin's question is never satisfyingly answered. The action is always convincing, the relationships less so. He's an alert, lively gentleman, despite his sixty- odd years and his increasing corpulence. Around the hospital, he's known as . But when the going gets tough, he's the first to roll up his sleeves and the last to leave the shop. Before I became a naturalized Israeli citizen, back when I was a young surgeon moving heaven and earth to get licensed, he was there. Even though he was still just a modest chief of service at the time, he used the little influence his position afforded him to keep my detractors at bay. In those days, it was hard for a son of Bedouins to join the brotherhood of the highly educated elite without provoking a sort of reflexive disgust. The other medical school graduates in my class were wealthy young Jews who wore gold chain bracelets and parked their convertibles in the hospital lot. They looked down their noses at me and perceived each of my successes as a threat to their social standing. And so, whenever one of them pushed me too far, Ezra wouldn't even want to know who started first; he took my side as a matter of course. He pushes the door open without knocking, comes in, and looks at me with his head tilted to one side and the hint of a smile on his lips. This is his way of communicating his satisfaction. Then, after I pivot my armchair to face him, he takes off his glasses, wipes them on the front of his lab coat, and says, . My wife's due home tonight.? You haven't won a single game against me. You always take advantage of my bad days and score lots of points. But today, when I feel great, you back out. You don't have as much punch as you used to, and I hate myself for taking advantage of you. Sooner or later, I'm going to shut you up once and for all. A simple suspension would do the trick. I pick up the phone, dial our number, and hang up again at the end of the seventh ring. My watch reads 1: 1. If Sihem took the nine o'clock bus, she should have arrived home some time ago. Kim Yehuda, surprising me by bursting into my cubbyhole. Continuing without pause, she says, . You were lost in space. We've known each other since we were at the university together. We weren't in the same class—I was about three years ahead of her—but we hit it off right away. She was beautiful and spontaneous and far more open- minded than the other students, who had to bite their tongues a few times before they'd ask an Arab for a light, even if he was a brilliant student and a handsome lad to boot. Kim had an easy laugh and a generous heart. Our romance was brief and disconcertingly na. I suffered enormously when a young Russian god, freshly arrived from his Komsomol, came and stole her away from me. Good sport that I was, I didn't put up any fight. Later, I married Sihem, and then, without warning, very shortly after the Soviet empire fell apart, the Russian went back home; but we've remained excellent friends, Kim and I, and our close collaboration has forged a powerful bond between us. Have you tried to reach her at her grandmother's? I want to see all the wonders you're pulling behind you. He sets his overloaded tray on the table and places himself on my right so that he's facing Kim. His jowls are scarlet, and he's wearing a loose apron over his Pantagruelian belly. He begins by gobbling up three slices of cold meat in quick succession and then wipes his mouth on a paper napkin. Not far from Ashkelon. A pretty little villa with just what you need to tune out completely.”My wife and I have been looking for a small house on the seashore for more than a year. Every other weekend, my hospital duties permitting, we get into our car and head for the beach. We walk on the sand for a long time, and then we climb a dune and stare at the horizon until late in the night. Sunsets exercise a degree of fascination on Sihem that I've never been able to get to the bottom of. Surely enough to make at least half of your dreams come true . Everyone in the place looks at one another, puzzled, and then those close to the picture windows get up from their tables and peer out. Kim and I rush to the nearest window. Outside, the people at work in the hospital courtyard are standing still, with their faces turned toward the north. The facades of the buildings across the way prevent us from seeing farther. A group of nurses is already coming up from the basement and racing toward the lobby. Judging from the force of the shock wave, I'd say the explosion couldn't have gone off very far away. A security guard switches on his transceiver to inquire about the situation. The person he's talking to doesn't know any more than he does.
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