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y separately published work icon A Good Land single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 A Good Land
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The old neighbourhood block in Beirut was home to an ever-changing population as the fighting intensified and lessened. But three people were almost always there. The older Polish woman, Margo, refugee from her past, her country and family after another war, spinning her tales of freedom fighters, itinerant peoples, despair and courage. And Lebanese born and bred Layla, only recently returned from Australia after fleeing the earlier civil war to teach her students again. Palestinian Kamal; refugee, writer and lecturer, whose cherished faith in a free, tolerant, democratic Lebanon has been shattered by difficulties of living there now. Among their friends are older politicians, university friends often visiting from lucrative posts in Europe or the USA, and local political activists.

The retaliation raids by Israel and the political aftermath further shatter their community: some flee to the mountains, many leave the country. Some like Layla try to identify more deeply what it is that holds her to this place, why she cannot leave.

Nada Awar Jarrar has written a powerful and moving novel, full of character and insight, of joy and tears, which makes us understand how people can stand such daily fear of violence and can continue to have faith in the country of their heart.' (From the publisher's website.)

Notes

  • Dedication: For my mother, with all my love. And for Marianne, I will always miss you.
  • Epigraph: For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment. - Viktor Frankl

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      HarperCollins Australia ,
      2009 .
      image of person or book cover 118078415307047634.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 277p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: 13 August 2009.
      ISBN: 9780007257713
    • Pymble, Turramurra - Pymble - St Ives area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: HarperCollins Australia , 2010 .
      image of person or book cover 587477273625417447.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Goodreads.
      Extent: vi, 277p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: 1 March 2010.
      ISBN: 9780007221981

Works about this Work

Exile, Return, and Nationalism in A Goodland Luma Balaa , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 29 no. 1 2015; (p. 91-104)

'Nada Awaar Jarrar grew up in Lebanon but left during the civil war of 1975-1990, living in exile in Australia, England, US, and France. Her most recent novel, A Goodland, is about Lebanese woman who was forced to leave Lebanon because of the war when she was an adolescent, but because she suffers from restorative nostalgia, she returns to Lebanon. Here, Balaa examines the notions of exile, nostalgia, return, and nationalism in Jarrar's novel, wherein the protagonist undergoes a quest for both her personal and national identity.' (Publication abstract)

Exile, Return, and Nationalism in A Goodland Luma Balaa , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 29 no. 1 2015; (p. 91-104)

'Nada Awaar Jarrar grew up in Lebanon but left during the civil war of 1975-1990, living in exile in Australia, England, US, and France. Her most recent novel, A Goodland, is about Lebanese woman who was forced to leave Lebanon because of the war when she was an adolescent, but because she suffers from restorative nostalgia, she returns to Lebanon. Here, Balaa examines the notions of exile, nostalgia, return, and nationalism in Jarrar's novel, wherein the protagonist undergoes a quest for both her personal and national identity.' (Publication abstract)

Last amended 14 Jul 2021 07:05:42
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