AustLit

In this article, Syrine Hout argues that The Last Migration 'is a prototype of Lebanese diasporic literature, and may usher in a new brand of postwar fiction' (p. 144).

Dawn Mirapuri argues that 'Somewhere, Home participates in the dialogue within Lebanon about the memory of war.' As Mirapuri outlines: 'My reading will show that in the first part of the novel, the lacuna presented by the obvious omission of the civl war reflects the amnesia that has prevailed in the postwar era. I will show that this kind of amnesia fosters forms of subjectivity and representation that abrogate responsibility and hinder reconciliation. It will be shown that, in the second part of the novel, Jarrar conveys the necessity to address the issue of communal guilt and shame in relation to the war. My reading of the third story in the novel is that Jarrar focuses attention afresh on the people left behind through migration or exile, to show that their loss of a loved one who has moved away needs to be highlighted in memory discourses' (pp. 468-469).