LET IT BE MORNING
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Sayed Kashua
Fiction, 2004
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After a series of disappointments in the Jewish city where he lives, the protagonist of this novel, an Arab journalist, returns to the village of his birth in order to rebuild his life with his wife and daughter. To his amazement he discovers that Arab society has completely changed, and he finds himself unable to avoid confrontations with its new order and customs. One morning the Israeli Army enforces a total curfew for no apparent reason, and the hero and his family have to decide what it means to be human beings in an obviously inhuman situation.
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In LET IT BE MORNING, Sayed Kashua looks at Arab society within the Green Line with a realistic and impartial eye. LET IT BE MORNING is not a political book but rather a novel about people who live in an impossible time, with all the sorrow and joy, pain and laughter, cruelty and compassion that these times bring with them. Sayed Kashua tells their story in an amusing and heartwarming manner.
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Rights Sold to:
France, Editions Olivier; Germany, Berlin Verlag; Holland, Vassallucci; Israel, Keter; Italy, Guanda; Lebanon, Saqi; UK, Atlantic Books; USA, Grove/Atlantic
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Reviews:
“Let It Be Morning offers a riveting study of human values collapsing under inhuman conditions….” – The Guardian
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“Kashua’s story is justifiably overwrought and claustrophobic…Kashua, himself an Arab journalist working in Israel, explores the unenviable status of Arab Israelis.” – The Financial Times
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“[A] provocative and memorable novel… Mr. Kashua’s narrative keeps the story moving to a clever and blackly humorous climax.” – The Economist
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“Let It Be Morning is not only a revealing exploration of the relationship between Arabs and Jews in Israel, but also a thumping good yarn…Kashua juxtaposes the story of a loving father who wants to save his family against a background of increasingly absurdist politics, with a final ironic denouement which turns everything upside down.” – The Big Issue , London
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“Kashua writes about the Israeli Arabs' balancing act with knowledge and passion.” – Publishers Weekly
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“An accessible and remarkably fair-minded book of particular importance in its immediate relevance.” – Kirkus Reviews
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“After Dancing Arabs, Sayed Kashua deepened, with great talent, his watchword: life as an oxymoron.” – Magazine Litteraire
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“Sayed Kashua belongs to the new generation of writers who refuse to be a mouthpiece for any ideology.” – Pages des Libraires
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“The film critic and columnist Sayed Kashua has written a bitter grotesque from the perspective of all those caught between but who are often forgotten during discussions about the Middle East, namely, Arabs who are and wish to remain Israeli citizens.” – Sueddeutsche Zeitung
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“Sayed Kashua offers an impressive illustration of the dilemma between loyalty, disappointment and fear among Israeli Palestinians. He depicts with artless simplicity how history prevents human beings from developing an autonomous personality.” – Neue Zuericher Zeitung
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“A tense and uneasy novel that pulls the reader along to a foreign land.” – Frankfurter Rundschau
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“One of the most potent and impressive novels that have been written in Hebrew in the last several years.” – Ha’aretz
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“If you read just two books a year, Let It Be Morning should be one of them.” – Israel Radio
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