Isabella Hammad is such a talented writer and ambitious, and Enter Ghost was proof of her beautiful writing but lost me at times in the multi-strandedIsabella Hammad is such a talented writer and ambitious, and Enter Ghost was proof of her beautiful writing but lost me at times in the multi-stranded complexity of the story she was telling.. The story takes place in Israel and the West Bank and the characters are all Palestinians. They are drawn together to put on a production of Hamlet.
There are three central characters, Sonia, her sister Haneen, and their friend Mariam who is the theatre director. I found these three the most problematic part of the story: I didn’t quite believe in them, in their reactions to each other, in their relationships. These are grown women, late 30s and up, but sometimes seemed childish, or more like 20-something. But, yes I know, old people can behave childishly. Additionally all the family dynamics related to the sisters was lost on me.
What I did like was the strand of the theatre production, and the strand that dealt with life as a Palestinian in Israel and the occupied territories. Hammad caught vividly the unstable combination of fear, anger, and resignation in the face of endless checkpoints and the menace of soldiers and their capricious and dangerous ways. That part of the story was vivid and illuminating, maybe especially now, watching from afar.
The other part I enjoyed was the putting on of the play, which was interesting partly because unfamiliar. I also liked all the secondary characters associated with the play. However, my other quibble has to do with not understanding the point: Hamlet, Israel and Palestine, unhappy families. Enter Ghost? It was all so resonant but I never felt I understood the point even as it seemed there had to be one, drawing it all together. (I confess that I never feel like I understand Hamlet either…)
I loved Hammad’s first novel The Parisian and I certainly will not miss her next novel. She is a marvelous writer even if Enter Ghost was not as compelling nor as fulfilling as I’d hoped....more
Blown away. Sheer beauty of it. I have an old copy that I read in 1969. I reread it today because of an album by Johnny Flynn and Robert Macfarlane caBlown away. Sheer beauty of it. I have an old copy that I read in 1969. I reread it today because of an album by Johnny Flynn and Robert Macfarlane called Lost In The Cedar Wood, which is inspired by the epic. I’ve been listening to the album for awhile. I’ve also been watching the sweet and funny sitcom Lovesick which stars Flynn. Somehow that led me to a podcast called Folk on Foot in which Macfarlane and Flynn talk about their friendship and the album they collaborated on with the pod host as they walk around a wood. Johnny performs several songs live. So then I got Gilgamesh off the shelf, blew off the dust, and read it. What a day!...more
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