As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

Eighteen year old Salama Kassab is struggling to survive in Old Homs with her sister-in-law Layla.  A year ago, the Arab Spring ignited Syrians' demands for freedom from the dictatorship ruling their country for decades. But the dictatorship ruling Syria brutally fought back. Salama's Baba and her brother Hamza went to the first protest but were taken away and imprisoned. Prior to leaving for the protest, Hamza had made Salama promise to care for their mother and his wife, Layla. Then a week later, Mama was killed when their house was destroyed by a bomb. Salama was also injured, receiving a head wound and wounds from shrapnel in her hands. 

After she recovered, Salama began working at Zaytouna Hospital. Prior to the revolution, life was very different for Salama and her family. Salama had dreams of attending university, becoming a pharmacist at Zaytouna Hospital and traveling the world. But as the protests continued, the government began killing the doctors, leading to a shortage of those who could treat the wounded. With only one year of pharmacy school, Salama found herself  pressed into working as a doctor at the hospital.

When Salama returns home from a shift at the hospital, Layla who is seven months pregnant, asks if she's spoken to Am at the hospital about paying for a boat to take them across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy. But Salama has been stalling. Alone in her room, Salama is visited by Khawf. He is, as Salama describes, "My terror has mutated in my mind, bestowed with a life and a voice that never fails to show up at night." Khwaf insists that Salama ask Am about the boat. He warns her that he will "tear her world apart" unless she does this. Salama has a vision of her promise to her brother Hamza to keep Layla and Mama safe. She has a flashback to the day their mother died when their building was bombed.

At the hospital the next day, Dr. Zaid  who has connections to the Free Syrian Army, orders Salama to help the children who are casualties of a bomb hitting Al-Ghouta. Salama eventually speaks with Am, who tells her that he will drive her to Tartus, where they take a boat to Italy and then a bus to Germany. Am's price is four thousand dollars! This information is devastating to Salama because they do not have the money. Layla's solution is for them to sell some of their gold.

At the hospital, Salama is heartbroken as she watches a little boy named Ahmad slowly die from a head wound. Then she sees a boy who had brought in his sister with a shrapnel wound the previous day, arrive frantic. Salama follows him to his home where she finds his nine-year-old sister in pain from a piece of shrapnel still embedded in her stomach. Salama removes the metal and gives them medicine. Salama is certain she's met this boy, named Kenan before and she learns that his name is Kenan Aljendi. Salama and he were supposed to meet at a marriage proposal set up by their mothers, but the revolution prevented the meeting.

Staying overnight at Kenan's home due to the snipers, Salama learns that he has no plans to leave Syria because his videos on YouTube are showing the world what is happening. Salama challenges Kenan to record what is happening within the hospital and he agrees and Dr. Ziad gives his permission. 

Then Am arrives with his daughter Samar, who has a bullet wound in her neck. Salama threatens to let his daughter bleed to death if he doesn't get her and Layla on a boat. Desperate, Am agrees and Salama saves Samar. Over the next few days Salama bargains with Am and secures passage for her and Layla. In the meantime, her relationship with Kenan continues to blossom; they get engaged and marry. At the same time the war comes to Homs when the military breaks through the Free Syrian Army. Salama, Kenan and his siblings barely escape with their lives. It becomes apparent to both Salama and Kenan that staying in their beloved Syria is no longer an option. But will they survive the treacherous journey to freedom? "If we stay we die.....If we leave we might die."

Discussion

As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow is a story about hope and resiliency amidst the horrors of Syrian revolution.

Katouh has crafted a very realistic character in Salama Kassab; she is intelligent, courageous and resilient.  Like any young woman,  eighteen-year-old Salama had hopes and dreams: she was a pharmacy student with a bright future. She now works as a doctor in the hospital in Old Homs trying to save the victims of the Syrian government's attacks. Salama has lost all of her family and is suffering from the effects of PTSD. The trauma she has experienced as a result of her own injuries and from treating the wounded and dying manifests as hallucinations. 

One hallucination is a man dressed in a suit with drops of blood on the lapels whom Salama has named Khawf which is Arabic for fear.  Salama knows that Khawf is a creation of her mind, helping her to process her trauma and survive. "He's a defense mechanism my brain has provided, trying to ensure my survival by any means necessary..."  Every time Khawf "appears", he torments Salama, telling her she needs to leave Syria, to escape via a boat across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy and then to Germany. Salama recognizes what he is and what he's trying to do. "Maybe the reason he's willing to break me in order to get me on a boat can be explained in a scientific manner: He's a defense mechanism my brain has provided, trying to ensure my survival by any means necessary." 

This leaves Salama deeply conflicted: she loves her country yet wants to help her fellow Syrians achieve freedom. Fleeing Syria feels like abandoning her country and seems wrong. Staying means breaking her promise to Hawza to protect their Mama and Layla to keep them safe and to risk death. To cope, Salama's mind has created a figure who will take responsibility for her actions.

Khawf also serves to show Salama the reality of what her life has become. As Salama continues to question whether or not to leave, Khawf reminds her through flashbacks of her life that once was, telling her,  "...of what true happiness was. This doesn't exist anymore. This isn't something you'll find here."

Salama's trauma is so profound that she has also been experiencing detachment from reality by way of a second hallucination. This hallucination is foreshadowed in a description of a sniper attack near her home that she describes to Kenan and is revealed later on in the novel. Kenan helps her to deal with this hallucination and it vanishes.

In contrast to Salama, is the quiet perseverance and determination of Kenan who offers her hope, unconditional love and the ability to see colour again in life, amidst all the blood and death. Dr. Ziad is representative of the Syrian "martyrs" who have remained in Syria, resisting the military.

As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow effectively portrays the plight of Syrian refugees, highlighting their deep love for their country, and the desperation that motivates them to leave. Katouh portrays the brutality, destruction and loss individual Syrians experienced during the conflict: the cold blooded murder of children, the bombing of hospitals, sniper attacks that target women and children and the gassing of civilians. In her Author's Note, Katouh writes, "This novel delves into the human emotion behind the conflict, because we are not numbers. For years Syrians have been tortured, murdered, and banished from their country at the hands of a tyrannical regime, and we owe it to them to know their stories."

The lemon trees, referenced in the title and throughout the novel,  are a symbol of hope, that someday Syria will be free. The author has indicated that the title is a reference to a line in one of the poems of Syrian poet, lawyer and diplomat Nizar Qabbani, "every lemon shall bring forth a child and lemons will never die out." - a reference to a hopeful future, that Syria will survive. 

Despite the heavy issues explored in the novel - and there are many, the story ends on a hopeful tone. As they are readying to leave Syria, Salama tells Kenan, "And we will come back," I say, my voice wavering. "Insh'Allah, we will come back home. We will plant new lemon trees. We'll rebuild our cities, and we will be free."

Although listed as a young adult novel, As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow is suited for older teens and adults.  Zoulfa Katouh plans a sequel to As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow which will explore life as a refugee and explore the themes of recovering identity, racism and trauma. 

Book Details:

As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

New York: Little, Brown and Company    2022
417 pp.

Other Words For Home by Jasmine Warga

Jude lives in a small city in Syria with her mama, baba and her older brother Issa. Their town, situated below the mountains and close to the sea, is very supportive of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Jude's father runs a store near a tourist hotel. Jude's best friend, Fatima lives across the courtyard their families share. Although Fatima is only a bit older, because she has her period and now wears a headscarf, Jude feels her friend is "kilometers ahead" of her. Both girls love American movies and want to be movies stars, although Fatima also wants to be a doctor.

Jude's most favourite person in the entire world is her brother Issa who has become involved in meetings about democracy and revolution. He wants something better for Syria and he wants change. Their baba is furious that Issa attends these meetings which he considers treasonous but Issa insists that it is Assad who is treasonous. Their mama tells Issa that they should not tempt fate, that life is good however, Issa reminds her that life is not good for everyone in Syria.

On the day of a huge protest, Jude is forced to stay home. The next day her baba shows her pictures in the newspaper of bloodied protesters. After the protest, police are everywhere, at school, the butcher shop, the beach, and there are rumours of people being rounded up and put in jail. In a nearby town, men with stolen tanks and weapons have taken over and are fighting the Syrian army. In Jude's town, people are now openly showing their support for the president by bowing before his picture which is hung in shops everywhere.  Jude's mama is careful to make sure the police are aware of her support for Assad.

Despite the violence, and warnings from Baba, Issa remains committed to the protests. Eventually he moves out of the family home into his own apartment. On the day that Jude is finally allowed to visit him, his apartment is raided by armed police. Issa manages to lead Jude to safety but this leaves their parents terrified. Her father must now stay at his shop to ensure it remains safe. Amid rising tensions, Jude learns that she and Mama, who is expecting a baby, will be visiting her uncle who lives in America. However, both Baba and Issa will remain behind as Baba must stay to care for their store.

After one final party with friends, Jude and Mama travel to Cincinnati Ohio where they are met by Uncle Mazin, his wife Aunt Michelle  who "looks like an American movie star" and her cousin Sarah. Uncle Mazin and Aunt Michelle are very welcoming but Jude's cousin Sarah seems unhappy about their visit. Jude and her mother settle into a bedroom on the third floor of her uncle's huge old home located in a neighbourhood called Clifton. Once they are settled in, they call Baba in Syria.  Their town is safe for now but Jude senses fear in her baba.

In the fall, Jude begins attending the same school as her cousin Sarah. Instead of helping Jude, Sarah shuns her and goes off to be with her friends.  Jude has seven classes including math and ESL. Although Jude knows how to speak some English, she dreads the ESL class. However, in Mrs. Ravenswood's ESL class, Jude finds a place to belong. As she struggles to fit in at school, to cope with homesickness and missing Baba and Issa, her aunt and uncle try to help Jude adjust to life in America. Gradually Jude begins to find her way, make friends and to dream again of a future filled with hope.

Discussion

Other Words For Home is a delightful gem of a novel, written in free verse. The story, which covers about nine months, focuses on a twelve-year-old Syrian refugee's experiences as she struggles to adapt to life in America. Fleeing from the violence of the Syrian Civil War, Jude and her mother travel to Cincinnati to stay with her mother's brother, Jude's Uncle Mazin and his family.

When she first arrives in America, Jude is overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of a country so different from Syria. Everything is bigger, brighter and faster. So much selection and the feeling that "everyone is trying to sell you something", Jude finds herself "... dizzy with want," But Jude also notices another side to America when she sees the poor on the street. She notes that Americans like to label things because "They help them know what to expect." and that her school is filled with many different types of people, with different skin color and shapes and sizes. Jude is also struck by the boldness of Americans as exemplified in restaurant ads.

Warga's portrayal of the struggles a Syrian refugee might encounter in a new country like America seems realistic. The author states that Jude's story reflects the experience of a family friend who was able to leave Syria by plane, a method most refugees did not have to means to use. (Most fled over land and by sea in rickety boats.)  Jude struggles with learning a new language, making friends, understanding a new culture and encounters the ugliness of racism. She must deal with missing her way of life in Syria and with the fear of having her brother missing in Aleppo. Jude must also begin to cope with personal changes as she starts having her period and moves to wearing a head scarf. If her skin colour and heavy accent haven't already set her aside, her head scarf opens her to more visible racism, with unsettling and unkind remarks from both strangers and even her well-meaning Aunt Michelle.

Warga employs the tried formula of a new student who finds herself through participation in a school event such as a concert, competition or school play. In Other Words For Home, Jude gradually attains a sense of belonging, when she takes the bold step of auditioning for a speaking role in the school play, Beauty and The Beast. She is warned by her new Muslim friend Layla, that such roles are not for girls like us.

"Jude, those parts aren't for girls like us...
We're the type of girls that design the sets,
that stay backstage.
We're not girls who
glow in the spotlight."

But Jude is having none of it. She wants to be one of "those girls." The required two minute monologue gives Jude the chance to speak out and speak up.

"Every time I practice,
I think about how wonderful
it feels to speak
for two whole minutes,
with no fear of being interrupted,
with no one saying, Skety.

Just me and my big mouth,
speaking,
being heard."

Auditioning and winning a speaking part, offers Jude the opportunity to be a part of something big, to fit in, to make friends. It is the beginning of her rebuilding her life in America.

One of the themes explored in the novel is that of luck and the belief that those who are able to move to America are "lucky". Jude experiences guilt that she has been able to escape from Syria while so many have not. As the war intensifies and America and other countries begin to close their doors to refugees, Jude tries to find a reason why she deserves to be one of the "lucky" people:

"I search every day for a clue about why I deserve
to be here in Aunt Michelle's kitchen,
safe
and fed.
When so many others
just like me are not.

Lucky. I am learning how to say it
over and over again in English.
I am learning how it tastes --
sweet with promise 
and bitter with responsibility."

As Thanksgiving approaches, both Omar who is from Somalia and Jude struggle with how luck has impacted them. When Omar struggles to mention what he's thankful for, Jude understands.

"Omar goes next.
It takes him a moment to speak,
and I wonder if like me,
he is searching for something to say.
If he is struggling with how you can feel so lucky
and unlucky
at the same time...

we are lucky to be here
when so many others aren't
But we don't understand the luck of
why or how
just the luck."

Other Words For Home is a book about journeys both geographical and personal. There is the obvious journey of Jude and her mother by plane from war-torn Syria to safety in America. A more important one is Jude's own inner journey, as she begins to make her own choices like whether or not to wear a head scarf or to apply for a speaking part in the school play instead of accepting what others might expect of her. A third is Jude's journey from being told "Jude, skety", meaning "Jude, be quiet" to speaking a two minute monologue in front of an audience.

Jude's cousin Sarah experiences her own inner journey as she moves from shunning her cousin and experiencing jealousy over the cultural connection Jude shares with Sarah's father,  to moving towards acceptance. Sarah apologizes to Jude for her unkind remarks, offering to help Jude's friend Layla after their restaurant is targeted in a racial attack. She is drawn into a deeper relationship with her cousin after the birth of Jude's sister, Amal.  Jude's mother's also experiences her own personal journey towards adapting to a new life by learning to speak English, and encouraging her daughter in her own journey of self-discovery.

Although Other Words For Home may not necessarily reflect the typical Syrian war refugee's experience in fleeing the country, it seems realistic in its portrayal of the struggles that newcomers to America might experience in adapting to a different culture and in dealing with discrimination and misunderstanding. Jude is a thoughtful, strong, intelligent girl, whom readers will come to identify with. Warga has put a face to refugees, those who are different and vulnerable, showing their dignity and humanity.

Book Details:

Other Words For Home by Jasmine Warga
New York: Balzer + Bray       2019
342pp.