Introduction:
A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar is a coming of age novel told from the perspective of Nidali, an Egyptian-Palestinian muslim girl growing up in the 1980’s. The location of the novel shifts from Nidali’s birth in Boston, her childhood in Kuwait, vacations spent visiting family in Egypt as well Palestine, an eventual move to Egypt during the 1990 Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, to eventually settling in Texas when Nidali is beginning high school.
Jarrar’s novel, which parallels much of her own life, details Nidali’s tumultuous relationship with her father, the convergence of her identities, and coming into oneself in the liminal space following the collapse of one’s home.
Author Randa Jarrar herself was born in 1978 in Chicago, she spent her childhood between both Kuwait and Egypt before relocating to the US as a teenager.
Content Warnings: Depictions of domestic violence and child abuse
Overview:
The novel begins with Nidali narrating the story of her birth in Boston. Her father immediately filled out her birth certificate with the name “Nidal”, a traditionally masculine name, before learning the sex of his child. Upon discovering that he has a daughter instead of an assumed son, he adds an “i” onto her name in order to make it feminine. After discovering what her husband has done, Nidali’s mother is furious. The two adults get into a tense argument, setting up their dynamic throughout the novel as one that is terse and volatile.
Nidali ruminates on her childhood, remarking that she had always loved school because it was an escape from her parents' constant bickering. Her father is a domineering force, both wanting Nidali (and eventually her brother) to share his political ideals and passion. On one such manic occasion, Nidali’s father has her repeatedly draw the outline of Palestine, his home country, so that she memorizes the borders of the country being constantly torn and picked apart.
As the war comes closer and closer to their home, Nidali’s family packs what they can and escape to Egypt where they stay with family there. During their stay at the family’s summer home in Egypt, Nidali is sent to stay with her ailing Grandfather in the city. This gives Nidali her first taste of true freedom away from her father. She is able to meet boys, explore her sexuality, and begin to come into her own.
Eventually, Nidali’s father flies to America to look for work. He is able to find a job as an architect in Texas, Nidali, her mother, and her brother join him after he secures a mobile home for the family to share.
Nidali struggles with adjusting to American culture, customs, and school. Throughout high school Nidali’s mother and father continue to butt heads over every little detail to do with their new life. Nidali herself also fights with her father frequently, eventually running away from home after a particularly bad fight where her father says she cannot attend college in Boston. Nidali returns home after her mother finds her, both of her parents agree to let her go to school away from their home in Texas.
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