Miral

Sneha Mathan is a well-chosen narrator for this epic tale of love growing apace with political instability and injustice in Jerusalem. Mathan's ability to convey strong female characters is central to enjoying the two female protagonists in this emotional coming-of-age story as one of them, a young woman named Miral, wrestles with choosing between nonviolence and insurgent action against the wishes of her family. A precise cadence, in an accent not exactly British or American, is the narrator's trademark feature in this reading as she traces the lives of two very different women against a backdrop of escalating political conflict. M.R. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

May 30, 2011
Jebreal refracts the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lens of the experience of generations of Israeli and Palestinian women, focusing ultimately on Miral, a young Palestinian orphan who comes of age in the shadow of the intifada and gradually joins the resistance. Sneha Mathan's dignified delivery has a light, indistinctly Middle Eastern accent that lends the narration authenticity. She infuses emotion through emphasis and tonal shifts, but never crosses into the overdramatic. Despite an ever-shifting cast in the first half, she keeps vocal consistency of the characters and moves into other accents seamlessly. A Penguin paperback.

June 14, 2010
This novel of a Palestinian girl growing up amid the intifada is packed with historical facts, but never rises above mediocrity. Philanthropist Hind Husseini creates a children's shelter in 1948 in response to the destruction wrought by the first Arab-Israeli war. Decades later, Miral comes into Hind's care after her mother kills herself. As Miral witnesses the effects of the Israeli campaigns against the intifada, she draws closer to the political fringes, finally choosing to join the struggle in full. Yet the benevolent influence of Hind and an eye-opening friendship with an Israeli socialist subdues Miral's radicalism and offers some hope for the future. Jebreal is a successful journalist in Italy, and true to form the plot rips along with quick-reading prose, though the characters' simplicity presents a big problem, in that, despite the dire circumstances, it's hard to connect with archetypes. It's perfectly serviceable and offers a reliable refresher of the Palestinian struggle, but there are many more distinguished novels on the subject.