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QAIS GHANEM
FINAL FLIGHT FROM SANAA
BOOK REVIEW:
By: Elie Nasrallah
"This novel started as a dare!"
That is the spirit and context of the book.
Dare we say then that life is an "I dare you" enterprise/adventure.
I dare you to be daring like the author Dr. Qais Ghanem who broke the taboos of culture, religion, sexuality, tradition, myths and endless assumptions in Yemen and in the Arab World.
The tyranny of History and culture are so heavy and overwhelming that touching their facets and content is only possible sometimes through literature and novels. Fiction is the twin face to reality; the reality of despotism; woman's subjugation; religious intolerance; political tyranny; one-man-rule; tribalism; lack of separation between the affairs of the state and the affairs of religious belief; adherence to old rules and mythology that only childhood dreams can comprehend and connect to.
This novel is a dare to every thinking Arab person to dare to change the lenses that one is using to see the world. Otherwise we would see a world that is shady, shadowy and shabby; or walking blindly to the abyss thinking we are going somewhere, or re-living a past of glory that surely is in the heap of history. The unexamined life, said Aristotle, is NOT worth living.
On page 141 of this historic novel, Dr. Ghanem describing how the minister of health-- in true tradition to most Arab political speech-making --delivered the regular sermon of endless praise and lavish language on the president: "The president's name was mentioned ten times, with a deliberate brief pause to allow for the expected obligatory applause."
Rulers stage respect; they stage power by mandatory consent; they stage every political, social and religious act to keep women marginalized and illiteracy present and captive minds prevailing.
Chapter 11 (Abu-Bakr) represents in my mind the best and brightest dialogue in this great novel. Page 164 summarizes the challenges facing tradition/culture and modernity and thinking anew: " We are poles apart, doctor...."
The Arab World until the New Political Awakening in 2011 was living outside History; living in a bubble and some even today are trying not to leave the mental prison or escape the deadly bubble. But history is marching to a different drum.
Dr. Ghanem busted the bubble and in his novel is urging all to clean, change and connect with new lenses to see self and the world at large. Bravo, brave...
Elie Nasrallah
Ottawa