Her First Palestinian

August 1, 2022
Teebi's exquisite story collection mostly focuses on young Arab Canadians and their ambivalence about their homeland. An eager law-school student discovers that family connections from the old country may be more useful than corporate pull, while an ill-advised blog post has insidious consequences even in faraway Toronto. A bloom of yellow post-it notes whispers of unrequited, obsessive love from the lonely Canadian woman whose apartment he is renting, while a young Gazan humiliates himself playing the grateful refugee for his wealthy Canadian cousin's fundraisers. Teebi's stories speak of the pain of attempted assimilation and of the refugee's fate as a token and object of pity or resentment.The particular anguish of Palestinians is underlined in the title story about an earnest activist who falls more in love with the Palestinian cause than with her Palestinian Canadian boyfriend, and in the final tale, in which a father and teenage daughter clash over her activism and his accommodation, which he gradually realizes may be treasonous to his people. Teebi perfectly captures intergenerational and intercultural tension in stories as brilliant and cutting as finely hewn diamonds.

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