Traces of a Tattoo

"The scars of failed love are often more painful than the wounds."

...Traces of a Tattoo earns one of its distinguished qualities from its scrupulous monitoring of its characters in their silence, speech and movements: in its scrutiny of their reactions, their deep and ambiguous fears, their sense of guilt and anxiety; and captures the tribulations of emotions and records the sound of pleasure as it crawls over, spreading numbness in both body and soul. In total, the novel becomes a spectrum that reflects the colours of life and existence as well as that pivotal conflict - the female conflict and all that it entails: east versus west, technology versus backwardness, all the dualities, the gamut of antitheses that is ever present in the Arab author's mind. More...

Times of Death and Roses

"A woman's true love is her son."

...A passionate, and extremely romantic love story evolving on the backdrop of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the novel poses problematic questions: can love and life exist in times of destruction and death? Could a rose blossom in a soil infected by mines? Could the angels spread their white wings in an age of air bombing, demons, and senseless killing? More...

Gardens of Despair

"The purpose of life is the perpetuation of life. No other reason is necessary."

In Traces of a Tattoo, the theme centres around a journey from death (Hisham's wife), to life (Wissam and Aroob). If this interpretation is correct, then Gardens of Despair takes the opposite direction and moves slowly but surely from life to death. Still, those who hold this view, may not have sufficiently realised that death was not offered by the novelist as a means by itself but rather as a means to life i.e. the determination of the heroine (Rasha) to have a child despite warnings that it may cost her life. More...