source – library
Mahmoud Shukair was born in Jerusalem mount scopius in 1941 ,studied philosophy at university and was Palestine minster of culture from 97 -00 ,he has also been a Journalist and is currently working on the mahmoud Darwish prize ,he has a great site in arabic that I translated via google .Mordechai’s moustache is a collection of stories and Vignettes his first collection to be translated in to english by Banipal books .
The book has four longer short stories ,all funny and poignant in their own ways ,a talk about the Columbian pope star Shakira hows family originate from Palestine originally ,a tale about will the brazilian footballer Ronaldo come to Palestine ,the title story a funny tale set on a board post a touch of gallows humor .But the main part I loved was the Vignettes these were total gems ,they remind me of Ben Okri describing the process when he wrote his ultra short stories for tales of freedom as being like fiction Hakiu ,well I think these are like that ,these are like postcards of life under fire a Polaroid of Palestine some of these made me belly laugh the man sing to a women that had moved ,others were dark a murder scene by a fountain,you jump in and out weather it shopping ,loss .It is clever mix the palenstine situaton leads to a dark humour which is wonderfully caught in the title story .the stories are vivid are vibrant
Mordechai was a simple man .There were tens of thousands like him in Tel Aviv .However ,he insisted that there were few like him there .He liked to live an easy , comfortable life , not disturbing anyone and not being disturbed by anyone .that,s why Mordechai continued to be like by his neighbours ,for he did not disturb them .mordechai joined the army and left it .
opening of title story .
Most of the stories were translated by Issa Bouletta ,who’s retired gentleman I read a couple of years ago another book worth reading .the book is short 110 pages .a wonderful view of a fractured land and its people
Have you read any Palestine fiction ?
That’s funny, Stu, I jumped straight over to read this review ‘cos I just love the title of the book!! and then it turns out to be set in Palestine! Double whammy!
I have read Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa (one of my fave reads of 2010 and I was lucky enough to interview her also on my blog). MiJ is a very moving story set in Palestine and spans over 60 years through several generations of one family. Highly recommended.
I llok that one out boof ,thought you’d like it ,all the best stu
Oh, forgot to ask, when is W&P starting?
next week going post over weekend ,all the best stu
The only Palestinian author I know so far is Barghouti. This has an intriguing book title though. 😉
It was title caught my eye Jo ,all the best stu
This book is fun, and the title is great! Totally had my interest at that.
It is fun and dark a little gem emily ,all the best stu
Oops, I mean *looks* fun. I’m not sure I’ve read any Palestinian literature! :/
This sounds great! I’ve read Khoury’s Gate of the Sun and the memoir I Saw Ramallah, but that’s it. I’ve also read a great nonfiction book, City of Oranges, by a British journalist about Jaffa/Tel Aviv in the 20th century.
I read Khourys Yalo must read gates of the sun at some point ,all the best stu
Sounds interesting. Very interesting.
It is Nana a little gem ,all the best stu