The Locust and the Bird

by: Hanan Al-Shaykh; Translated from Arabic by Roger Allen

Published by: Pantheon Books

Reviewed by Beth Cummings

(Translation originally publish in Great Britain by Bloomsbury Publishing, Plc)

Hanan Al-Shaykh is a well-established Lebanese fiction writer with five novels. She grew up in a poor section of Beirut as the youngest daughter of an extremely religious man. Her mother, Kamila–the subject of this book, was forced to marry him when she was only fourteen and divorced him and left her two daughters when Hanan was seven.

After Hanan was a successful journalist and author, her illiterate mother begged her to write her life’s story. Finally, Hanan relented and took copious notes as her mother dictated. Then as she began to write the book, she felt she must do it in her mother’s voice. Thus, the biography of Kamila reads like a memoir except for the prologue and afterward.

The title of the book comes from an old Arabic story. A locust flew into the wide sleeve of a king. A bird followed immediately after. The king closed up his sleeve and then asked his people what he had up his sleeve. A man who was in love with a woman named Locust came forward and with the face of his beloved in his mind told the king: “Wails and Tales. My life story is one long revelation. Only the Locust can capture the Bird.”

In the Arabic the locust signifies famine, hunger, destruction and unhappiness. Birds signify spring, love, hope and song. According to Hanan Al-Shaykh these are all states that describe her mother’s life.

This is the story that Kamila finally unburdened herself of – a fascinating, epic tale of a woman’s life in Lebanon from the 1930’s until 2001.

This is an excellent book. Hanan Al-Shaykh’s mother is a survivor and in order to do that she often had to go against the expectations of family and society. The moral conflicts she endures make her an extremely interesting character.

I enjoyed it immensely. This would be a wonderful book for group discussions.

Armchair Interviews agrees.