"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...
...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 angles raffle their white wings in the age of air
bombing, demons, and senseless killing?
"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.
