Kamila Kunda's Reviews > The Locust and the Bird: My Mother's Story

Sometimes reading books in translation, especially in Polish, I feel I miss out on a lot. This was the case with Hanan Al-Shaykh’s “The Locust and the Bird: My Mother’s Story”, which I read in Polish as I got the Polish edition of the book from my Polish friend. Fragments of songs, exchanges between lovers from films and poems are originally, as it is often mentioned, in Egyptian Arabic, and in Polish they sound overly sentimental, pompous and exalted. Where there should be lyricism and passion there is cringe-worthy silly loftiness. The book was originally written in English and I wonder how Arabic was handled in it.
As for the story, it reads very well. Certainly, the author’s mother was a charismatic and strong woman, a unique personality, though not a very likeable one. Others often considered her to be frivolous and selfish and having read the book I tend to somewhat agree with those who knew her well. She was also a woman of a certain time and upbringing, having grown up in Lebanon of the 1930 and lacking formal education, remaining illiterate until her death, therefore I don’t judge her decisions and choices. I was looking in the book for the ambiance of the 20th century Beirut and in that respect Al-Shaykh’s memoir disappointed me but at the same time showed what emancipation of Lebanese women looked like then.
I must also mention the shocking cultural ignorance of the Polish publisher. The title, as one can see on the cover, as well as the titles of all chapters, though written in Polish, are supposed to imitate hindi script, whereas the cover shows a photograph (taken by famous Polish journalist and writer Konrad Piskała) from the Moroccan city Chefchaouen. Both have no relation to the story and its location whatsoever I cannot find any explanation for why a reputable Polish publisher would decide to use them. This is a good example of Polish orientalism, “Let’s put something vaguely oriental on the cover and make the font look ‘exotic’ to give a reader a feeling of reading a book from a foreign culture”, which I despise.