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Senselessness and Sensibility Suad Amiry. Sharon and My Mother-in-Law: Ramallah Diaries. London: Granta Books, 2005. xi + 194 pp. $12.99, cloth, ISBN 978-1-86207-721-8. Reviewed by John Collins Published on H-Gender-MidEast (June, 2005) The tremendous international success en‐ day, Sharon and My Mother-in-Law recalls Jean joyed by Suad Amiry's Sharon and My Mother-in- Said Makdisi's 1990 memoir, Beirut Fragments.[2] Law, which has already been released in several Whereas Makdisi utilizes a number of formal de‐ languages, speaks to the reading public's desire vices (diary, chronology, autobiography), Amiry for a more human account of the Palestinian stays frmly within the realm of the diary. Span‐ predicament than is typically provided in the cor‐ ning more than two decades (the earliest entries porate media. Deceptive in its apparent simplicity, are from 1981, when she began living in Ramal‐ the book provides a fascinating window onto the lah), her book constitutes a series of snapshots, daily complexities and absurdities of life under each documenting a moment or an hour or a day occupation. in a life that has been spent oscillating between a Amiry's, of course, is not the only frst-person range of experiences that are shared by many account to treat these uniquely Palestinian reali‐ Palestinians: confinement, waiting, exile, danger, ties. The frst Palestinian intifada, for example, border crossings. produced a wealth of accounts by Palestinians These snapshots are presented, sometimes and "outsiders" alike. More recently, groups such but not always chronologically, with very little ac‐ as the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), companying commentary. In her brief preface, aided by the explosion of internet technology, the author notes that during the 2002 Israeli rein‐ have generated an ever-growing body of eyewit‐ vasion of the West Bank, writing provided her ness narratives in which the daily outrages, strug‐ with an opportunity to "release the tension" pro‐ gles, and triumphs of Palestinian life take center duced by the combination of Ariel Sharon's colo‐ stage. Such texts effectively occupy the space that nial brutality and the presence of Amiry's mother- has been vacated by mainstream journalism.[1] in-law (p. x). Writing and publishing a diary was a In its compelling mixture of the tragic, the conscious decision to "step out of the frame and ironic, and the comic and its focus on the every‐ observe the senselessness of the moment" and a H-Net Reviews way to defend herself against what she calls "the able, fantasy becomes a useful and "sensible" tool Israeli occupation of our lives and souls" (p. xi). of survival. Amiry, an architect and the founder and di‐ Similarly, Amiry describes a number of rector of the RIWAQ Center for Architectural Con‐ scenes in which she throws caution to the wind servation, returns repeatedly to the "senseless‐ and openly risks arrest, injury, or death simply ness of the moment." In one scene from 1991, she because she is tired of living under the thumb of and her husband (Salim Tamari, a prominent the occupation. Here she makes strategic and ef‐ Palestinian sociologist) join an anxious march to fective use of hegemonic gender constructions, the military headquarters in Ramallah when the playing the role of the "hysterical" or "crazy" Israeli authorities suddenly announce, inexplica‐ woman in order to exert power in an interaction bly, that gas masks will be made available to resi‐ with (male) Israelis. In one memorable entry she dents of their particular neighborhood (and to no describes her decision, inspired by the frst intifa‐ one else). The sense of black comedy that perme‐ da's spirit of independence, to "take control" of ates the crowd ("You think they're going to give us her life. Having waited seven years for a gas masks, ha? This is the Transfer Bus to Jordan," promised hawiyyeh (identity card) from the Is‐ says one man as soldiers tell the group to get on a raeli Civil Administration, she marches unan‐ bus) is ultimately justified as the promised masks nounced into the office of Captain Yossi (an officer never materialize. who had been phoning her regularly and pressing Elsewhere Amiry describes her efforts to vac‐ her to inform on the political activities of her uni‐ cinate her two dogs, Antar and Nura. After taking versity colleagues) and demands that he give her Antar to a chauvinistic Palestinian veterinarian the card. "I could see that he was capable of han‐ who asks her why she wants to "waste" her mon‐ dling Palestinian demonstrators, rebels, stabbers, ey on a "baladi bitch" (p. 102), she takes Nura to terrorists," she observes. "He was trained to han‐ an Israeli vet who proceeds to give the dog some‐ dle them all. BUT NOT A CRYING WOMAN. NOT A thing that not even the owner is allowed to have: WOMAN FREAKING OUT" (p. 43). The strategy a Jerusalem "passport." Later she drives to works: she leaves the office with the hawiyyeh in Jerusalem with Nura, talking her way through an hand. Israeli checkpoint by telling the soldier, "I am the Captain Yossi later returns in a 1993 entry, dog's driver. As you can see, she is from this time in his civilian role as a journalist for the Jerusalem, and she cannot possibly drive the car Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, asking permission to or go to Jerusalem all by herself" (p. 108). interview Amiry for a story on the Israeli-Pales‐ How does one cope with such madness? For tinian peace negotiations. Amiry refuses the re‐ Amiry, one strategy is to take periodic refuge in quest, a gesture that demonstrates not only her fantasy. The book is peppered with examples of own empowerment, but also the success of the oc‐ what the author refers to as her "hallucinations," cupation in closing off the possibility of uncoer‐ when she drifts off in order to contemplate other cive human contact between Israelis and Pales‐ possibilities that are sometimes more inviting, tinians. Throughout the book, Amiry's claim that other times more troubling than "reality." These the occupation encompasses both "lives and brief episodes function in a manner akin to the in‐ souls" fnds support in vignette after vignette. The tifada legends that folklorist Sharif Kanaana has overwhelming impression one gets is of an occu‐ researched.[3] In both contexts, we fnd that when pation that is objectionable not only for macropo‐ reality is senseless and fundamentally unaccept‐ litical reasons, but also because it makes a "nor‐ mal" life impossible for individuals and distorts 2 H-Net Reviews the relationships they have with others. This per‐ Readers and teachers looking for a book that version of the personal by the political is Amiry's provides the deep historical and political context primary message, whether she is discussing for recent events in Palestine will need to look weeks and months spent apart from her husband elsewhere, for this is not Amiry's purpose. Given ("What business does a military governor have to the nature of the diary form, this choice is entire‐ interfere in one's love affair?"), frustrating days ly appropriate; for the narrator, after all, these endured under curfew with her mother-in-law, or things are taken for granted and don't need de‐ her relationship with a young neighbor who is tailed explanation. In this sense, the book would manipulated into working as a collaborator with be most effective in the classroom if used in con‐ the occupation. junction with other texts that explain the major To her credit, Amiry does not attempt to im‐ aspects of the conflict, thus allowing the beauty pose an artificial sense of order onto the events and power of Amiry's narrative to shine through she is narrating. While some readers will un‐ in all its fullness. doubtedly view this as a shortcoming--the au‐ Notes thor's failure to sustain a coherent "story" amidst [1]. Noteworthy examples of this "eyewitness" the chaos--it is nonetheless an accurate reflection genre from the two intifadas include Dick of the frenzied, often anarchic nature of the way Doughty, Gaza: Legacy of Occupation: A Photog‐ such events are experienced in everyday life. rapher's Journey (Bloomfield: Kumarian Press, Despite the book's episodic form, Amiry still 1995); Janet Varner Gunn, Second Life: A West manages to open up a series of interesting issues Bank Memoir (Minneapolis: University of Minne‐ related to the overlapping structures of identity sota Press, 1995); Muna Hamzeh, Refugees In Our that shape the lives of Palestinians. These include Own Land: Chronicles From a Palestinian Refugee structures of age, gender, and class, but also a Camp in Bethlehem (London: Pluto Press, 2001); range of legal and administrative categories that Josie Sandercock et al., eds., Peace Under Fire: Is‐ govern the ability (and inability) of individuals to rael, Palestine, and the International Solidarity move within and across particular spaces. With Movement (London: Verso, 2004); Raja Shehadeh, this matrix of identity out in the open, the reader The Sealed Room (London: Quartet Books, 1992); is forced to recognize the specificity of Amiry's and Nancy Stohlman and Laurieann Aladin, eds., own life; it becomes impossible to speak confi‐ Live From Palestine: International and Palestini‐ dently about a single "Palestinian experience." an Direction Action Against the Israeli Occupa‐ Perhaps the greatest strength of Sharon and tion (Boston: South End Press, 2003). My Mother-in-Law, however, lies in its powerful [2]. Jean Said Makdisi, Beirut Fragments: A economy of language. Through the briefest of sto‐ War Memoir (New York: Persea Books, 1990). ries, Amiry manages to evoke a range of intense [3] See Sharif Kanaana, "Humor of the Pales‐ emotional responses, from shock and anger to tinian Intifada," Journal of Folklore Research 27 laughter and deep sadness.
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