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REVIEWING TODAY: WHEN THE HABOOB SINGS BY NEJOUD AL-YAGOUT
Perhaps the following complimentary comparison first arises from the similarity (to a Westerner) of their names, but Kuwaiti author Nejoud Al-Yagout’s potently concise, deeply incisive, and vigorously expressive writing is strongly reminiscent of the great Egyptian nobel laureate, Naguib Mahfouz. Whether in her articles or her fiction, or the suggestion of both within her latest work, When the Haboob Sings, Ms. Al-Yagout speaks with clarity, immediacy, and the raw insight of a writer most intent on observing without prejudice the fault lines in her culture, her country, and her people. She is unforgiving when applying such penetrating insight toward centuries of tradition or the few decades of her own experience. And she is unflagging in questioning the irrational mores (with their self-serving rationales) that have survived.
The main character of When the Haboob Sings easily resembles a simpler, perhaps more naïve version of the author, Nejoud Al-Yagout, who in turns lets her character appear much more newly formed in her progressive thinking. When she is jailed for publishing an article critical of the national religion, emphasizing her personal right to shed the more restrictive aspects of that religion, she laments her self-admitted fantasy of literary influence: “I saw myself making headline news: Dunya Khair makes strides for her country. Dunya Khair, the awakener. Dunya Khair changes antiquated laws. Dunya Khair abolishes the crime of apostasy.” But Dunya Khair is also daughter, sister, friend, and neighbor to her countrymen, and it is precisely these people who most threaten her freedom to pursue her writing mission. This, with a chorus in her head insisting she is mad. A most intimate, psychological exploration of a modern cultural rebel.
N. AL-YAGOUT
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