Darraj, who edited Scheherazade's Legacy: Arab and Arab American Women on Writing
, makes a capable debut with this collection that follows Palestinian-American émigré families in South Philadelphia. Darraj succeeds admirably in suggesting the diversity of Palestinian-Americans: the four friends Nadia, Aliyah, Hanan and Reema each comes from a family with its own story of exile. Nadia's mother, a doctor's daughter, discovers in "The New World" that the mysterious "tall, slim blonde woman" whom she nicknames "Homewrecker Barbie" was her husband's former green-card wife. Aliya spends "An Afternoon in Jerusalem" at the Dome of the Rock where a hijab-wearing woman, noticing her crucifix, welcomes her in and shows her how to wrap her hair. After suffering the patronizing attitudes of her husband John's parents and graduate school colleagues, Hanan makes "The Journey Home," reconciling with her parents and practicing her mother's craft, basket making, with commercial success. In "The Scent of Oranges," Reema's mother retells her refugee camp experience, specifically for her daughter. Darraj's first-person narrators are not distinct, and her vignette-like stories remain at the edge of plot. There's a passionate sense here of inheritance as a two-way street that transforms immigrants and their children, but Darraj doesn't quite connect the dots. (Apr.)
