Every Exit Brings You Home : A Novel

Domestic strife in his adopted city of Chicago proves a fleeting distraction from the atrocities that Jamal--now Jack--Shaban and Dimra, his traditional Muslim wife, left behind in a Gaza refugee camp. When they fled Gaza two decades ago, against her parent's wishes, the couple had hoped for a bright future in the Windy City that included children. But Dimra's series of miscarriages and crippling illness have compromised that dream. The nonreligious Jack, who dutifully manages their condo association in addition to working as a flight attendant, is further burdened by the endless noise of complaining residents including a newly arrived single mother, Marcia, who is livid about her foul basement unit. Compared to the pain and suffering in Gaza, which "had become bodies removed from shattered homes, wreathed in blood and concrete dust," life in the U.S. is a walk in the park. But that walk becomes bumpy when Jack poses as gay at work to avoid getting romantically involved with a vivacious friend called Birdy--and the desperate Marcia begins using Dimra as daycare for her children for longer and longer stretches. The British-born Murr, who is of Lebanese descent, does a masterful job of bridging ordinary and extraordinary experience, achieving an unlikely balance between the stark tragedy of war and the gentle comedy of everyday people struggling with fate. "I've become the Occupied Territories," Dimra says, sadly joking about the cancerous tumors inside her. Unlike his father, Jack is not political, but his head is unavoidably filled with images of Israel's offenses. All of which makes a childhood memory of him and his book-loving mother "sobbing over the death of Beth March, Little Nell, or Lennie Small" while their camp was "filled with black smoke, tear gas, and shouts of protest" pretty unforgettable. A great novel: Beautifully written, timely, and as enjoyable as it is heartbreaking. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.