Freida Pinto as Miral in the 2010 film depiction of the novel [/caption]
Rula Jebreal’s novel Miral is a heartfelt semi-autobiographical work about the lives of Palestinian girls and individuals in Israel and the West Bank, their personal and political struggles, the diversity of their identities and experiences as they mature, the challenges and deprivations and beauties of family life, and the love and strength that friends and teachers provide with their nurturing and generosity of spirit.
Miral explores the tensions within these women's identities and the different ways that individuals respond to injustice and suffering and find ways to grow in a positive way despite political and personal adversity. [caption id="attachment_55234083" align="alignright" width="195"]
Miral, Rula Jabreal[/caption]
Though sincere and crafted with care, the literary quality of the book is undermined by the style of writing which is often cramped, with short staccato sentences that tell about emotions and images and interactions between characters in an explicit journalistic way rather than illustrating them in a literary way.
Consequently, many of the scenes and interactions between characters suffer from a lack of believability. Characters are sometimes drawn in too narrow and simple a way, lacking in multiple dimensions of personality that can seem somewhat contrived. Their dialogue is at times stilted and their experiences and moments of personal transformation too schematic.
The simplicity of the prose is not so much a function of a deliberate spare style as a lack of development of character and place. The shifting elements of the plot do not always cohere into a well connected, comprehensible whole. Consequently parts of the book feel disjointed and more like a collection of disparate individual perspectives and testimonies than a novel informed by a true story with a narrative core that captures the reader’s attention and sustains it.
Despite these weaknesses, Miral communicates important grassroots perspectives and does so with a sense of moderation that is often lacking from more polemical works of literature addressing the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian experience.
Jebreal’s empathy and identity is firmly grounded in the Palestinian perspective and much of its emotional power stems from this orientation.
Unfortunately, and not inevitably, at times Jebreal's depictions of the history of the conflict and of Israelis is less than reliable and tendentious to the point of lack of credibility due to the omission of facts and historical events, caricatured characterizations of Israelis that are too facile whether they are positive or negative, and simple mistakes of geography made by the author.
Jebreal's commentaries on the nature of terrorism and its psychological and ethical origins and consequences are also problematic in their limited and rather reductionist depictions which largely criticize violence against innocents but sometimes imply that individuals driven to undertake such acts primarily act in protest of injustice without acknowledging the role of racist hatred in motivating their actions and willingness to target civilians.
Although she takes care to humanize some Israelis the author’s writing sometimes confuses presenting the Palestinian perspective and experience with idealizing and romanticizing it.
The result is that although it touches upon difficult issues within Palestinian society in a critical way, it does not do justice to the complexities, contradictions, and shades of grey inherent to the conflict and too easily champions a narrative that reflects the political commitments of the author rather than the reality in which her characters are acting, struggling, and growing.
Best read not as a work of literature but as a series of related narratives about the Palestinian Israeli experience and Palestinian struggle for self-determination, Miral can offer readers a window on individuals whose life experiences are too often marginal to Arab literature.
Though clearly informed by indignation and a passionate desire for justice for Palestinians in content and tone the book is also informed by values of peace, tolerance, compromise, and dissent through non-violent protest.
Miral champions constructive social empowerment with a strong focus on education, women’s rights, and community development that can be the most effective means of combating injustice through its depiction of the humane, gentle but tough, wise and altruistic Hind Husseini who runs an orphanage for Palestinians girls in Jerusalem. She is in many ways the most compelling and intriguing figure in the book.
This is a unique work that gives voice and creates a space for Palestinian women. Whatever its flaws – Miral contributes to Palestinian literature and offers a distinct commentary on the Palestinian experience and struggle.
