Exposure

(Paperback)

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Description

A gripping tale of identity and deception by one of the most important contemporary voices to emerge from the Middle East. In Jerusalem, two Arabs are on the hunt for the same identity. The first is a wealthy lawyer with a thriving practice, a large house, a Mercedes and a beautiful family. With a sophisticated image to uphold, he decides one evening to buy a second-hand Tolstoy novel recommended by his wife - but inside it he finds a love letter, in Arabic, undeniably in her handwriting. Consumed with jealous rage, the lawyer vows to take his revenge on the book's previous owner. Elsewhere in the city, a young social worker is struggling to make ends meet. In desperation he takes an unenviable job as the night-time carer of a comatose young Jew. Over the long, dark nights that follow, he pieces together the story of his enigmatic patient, and finds that the barriers that ought to separate their lives are more permeable than he could ever have imagined. As they venture further into deception, dredging up secrets and ghosts both real and imagined, the lawyer and the carer uncover the dangerous complexities of identity - as their lies bring them ever closer together.

Reviews

One uprooted Palestinian an elite lawyer finds his world of privilege turned upside down while a marginal drifter seeks to "pass" as Jewish. Strategies of assimilation and impersonation come under scrutiny in a cleverly interwoven, deeply perceptive intrigue -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
Sayed Kashua is a brilliant, funny, humane writer who effortlessly overturns any and all preconceptions about the Middle East. God, I love him. -- Gary Shteyngart * author of 'Super Sad True Love Story' *
A master of subtle nuance in dealing with both Arab and Jewish society * The New York Times *
The novel is written with a keen eye for detail, for character, place, and mood The stories, characters and situations of this novel are fascinating in themselves and it would, I think, be possible to enjoy the book without knowledge of, or reference to, the politics and society of Israel. Yet many in the West will value it chiefly for what it reveals about life in Israel; they may discover that the situation there is more complicated, and certainly far less clear-cut than they had supposed -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *
Intriguing -- Moris Farhi * Jewish Chronicle *

Author Bio

Sayed Kashua was born in 1975 and is the author of the novels Dancing Arabs and Let It Be Morning, which was shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. He has a weekly column in Haaretz and is the creator of Arab Labour, one of Israel's most popular sitcoms. Kashua has won a number of prizes for his writing, including the prestigious Bernstein Prize, which he won in 2011 with this novel. He lives in Jerusalem with his family.