Table Of ContentPraise for Let It Be Morning:
“Valuable and convincing…Like characters in Kafka, the locals try to puzzle out
a reason for the hardships they are subjected to…. An accessible and remarkably
fair-minded book of particular importance in its immediate relevance.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Kashua writes about the Israeli Arabs’ balancing act with knowledge and
passion.”
—Publishers Weekly
Praise for Dancing Arabs:
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year
“Books like this one, books that tell the stories of war through the eyes of
children, are the textbooks for future generations. They carry the cultural
information, those memes that are missing from conventional, nonfiction
accounts.”
—Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times
“Kashua can be equally unsparing when it comes to the anti-Semitism that
pervades the Muslim community and the inequities that plague Arab-Israeli
culture…[and] succeeds admirably in creating a protagonist adrift between two
worlds, neither of which, tragically, can sustain him.”
—Andrew Furman, The Miami Herald
“An impressive debut novel…[that] stares unflinchingly at the many ugly
realities on both sides of an eternal national crisis, and the result is a bracingly
candid lamentation.”
—The Baltimore Sun
“Kashua’s prose (translated from the Hebrew with great panache by Miriam
Shlesinger) has a manic verve to it…. This sly and caustic novel…delivers an
on-the-ground sense of being an Arab in Israel that you couldn’t get from any
news report. Its collision of headline realities with domestic worries is right on
target…and its eye for the logistics of daily life in intifada-era Israel is wickedly
double-edged.”
—Michael Upchurch, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“An amazing work of fiction that has integrity and beauty. It rises above the
polemics of that searing conflict and renders the life of that land with a touch of
humanity. An astonishing achievement.”
—Fouad Ajami
“Gritty and agile…On any given day, Kashua’s narrator may daydream of
becoming the first Arab prime minister, bringing ‘peace and love to the region,’
or embracing militant Islam and blowing up Israeli soldiers at a local intersection
—only to do neither. As a portrait of a young man’s drift into emotional no-
man’s-land, this novel has the feel of grim truth.”
—Charles Wilson, The New York Times Book Review
“In its moving and mordantly funny depiction of a life lived on the margins of a
fundamentally inhospitable society, Dancing Arabs introduces humanity where
politics has failed…. A grim but affecting debut.”
—Gabriel Saunders, Time Out New York
“Kashua’s fallible, nameless antihero (and alter ego) presents a deeply personal
view of an intractable conflict.”
—The Washington Post
“As Americans we often see the situation in Israel in extremes. We are either
condemning suicide bombers and angry settlers or praising idealistic culture-
exchange programs; Dancing Arabs offers us a land without heroes or villains,
and mocks our pitying tears….[Kashua’s] deadpan innocence makes Dancing
Arabs—a personal take on the endless divide between Jews and Arabs in Israel
—both hugely entertaining and unexpectedly disturbing.”
—Jade Chang, LA Weekly
“This literary jewel of a debut novel from an Arab-Israeli expresses what it
means to be a hyphenated citizen in Israel today…. One doesn’t find hate or
venom in [Kashua’s] writing…. The story takes many twists and turns, with
some interesting surprises, and makes a delightful summertime read.”
—Aharon Ben Anshel, The Jewish Press
“Sayed Kashua looks courageously at harsh realities in blunt, sardonic prose
whose nuances are rendered perfectly by Miriam Shlesinger…. The story stands
out for its courage and originality.”
—P. David Hornik, The Jerusalem Post
“Dancing Arabs is a tenderly written, honest portrayal of Israeli-Arab society….
Sayed Kashua is an unusually gifted storyteller with exceptional insight. How
unfortunate that so few leaders possess the same clarity of vision and longing for
peace.”
—Atara Beck, The Jewish Tribune (Canada)
“Provides a devastating yet understated picture of what it’s like to live in Israel
today, for an apolitical (at first) Israeli Arab who ‘looks more Israeli than the
average Israeli.’ Most of us don’t know enough about Israeli Arabs and the
nature of their lives. In a resigned manner, Kashua tells us. His portraits stay
with you long after the book is finished.”
—Jewish Currents
“Dancing Arabs is a book that will make you cry. It is honest and funny and
unbearably believable…. The warm and interested reception by the Israeli public
and press is an acknowledgment that this important story must be read. Here,
too, we should all read Dancing Arabs.”
—Esther Cohen, Na’amat Woman
“Slyly subversive…The hopelessness of [the protagonist’s] life is offset by
Kashua’s deadpan, understated humor…. A chilling, convincing tale.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Remarkable…Kashua’s debut is as much about family relationships as it is
about familiar political challenges. Despite its dark prognosis, there is a lightness
and dry humor that lifts it with the kind of wings its protagonist once hoped for.”
—Booklist
“[Kashua’s] story rings out on every page with a compelling sense of human
truth.”
—Kirkus Reviews
LET IT BE MORNING
Also by Sayed Kashua
Dancing Arabs
LET IT BE MORNING
SAYED KASHUA
Translated from the Hebrew by Miriam Shlesinger
Black Cat
New York
a paperback original imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Description:In his debut, Dancing Arabs, Sayed Kashua established himself as one of the most daring voices of the Middle East. In his searing new novel, a young Arab journalist returns to his hometown — an Arab village within Israel — where his already vexed sense of belonging is forced to crisis when the v
