New article: Nihad Sirees’ The Silence and the Roar reviewed
ArabLit, 31st January 2013
Sirees’ novel depicts one day in the life of a writer in an unnamed city, in a country ruled by a dictator known only as The Leader. Over the course of the day our writer visits his mother, his lover, Lama, and his sister, but every journey and interaction is dominated by a vast demonstration of loyalty to The Leader which fills the streets of the city, and where anyone not apparently participating immediately becomes an object of suspicion. Sirees’ tone is one of sarcastic humour as he ridicules the degrees of devotion the people must display and traces his protagonist’s efforts to carve out some mental independence.
The full review is here.
Sarah Irving 
Sounds really good! I look forward to reading it. Do you think there is an echo – intentional or unintentional – of the relationship between WInston Smit and Julia in Orwell’s 1984? The idea of love as a solace in times of dictatorship…