Second Person Singular discussion

First and foremost, what an eye catching cover. Love the visual hidden message, the interesting model and clever title. Nicely done.

Now, this book was thought-provoking on every ground. There were many times I caught myself reading passages out loud to my spouse whenever I came across something culturally interesting.

This is about two Arab-Isreali men. One is an affluent lawyer, nameless, who buys a used book recommended by his wife and finds a love letter written in her hand inside the book. He fervently believes she's cheating on him and goes on this crazy investigation to find out the truth. The other guy, Amir Lahab, is a social worker who gets a job as a caretaker for a Jewish family where he goes through a self-identity crisis. Mysteriously, the guys' lives cross paths and secrets are revealed.


This was my first time reading anything by Sayed Kashua, and this isn't going to be my last. The plot moves very quickly and the prose is beautifully crafted. The recurring themes in this story were: racism, tokenism, and discrimination. The main characters had much in common. They both had a burning desire to assimilate into a Jewish society that didn't accept them the way they are. As I was reading I couldn't help but draw some parallels to the "black experience" in America dealing with prejudice and equality. The novel also had some gay undertones and sensibilities, which I found quite interesting. There were allusions that Amir could've been gay or bi-sexual. The author deftly flirted with the topic. But this story was intriguing, none the less. It's not everyday I read novels set in Israel dealing with this subject matter. So, it was very refreshing.

Now, there were a couple of things that didn't sit well with me. The time periods between Amir and the lawyer didn't seem to add up. The lawyer is telling his story in matter of weeks, while Amir is telling his over an expanse of several years. Eventhough, the story projected itself years in the future, I felt Amir's character didn't show any growth. He stayed child-like, simple minded all throughout which was baffling, given he had went to University for approximately eight years. And whatever happened to his inheritance? I thought the lawyer promised Amir's mother that he will help out with the situation. It seems as if the author had left that subplot open for the reader to draw their own conclusions. And the meet up between Amir and the lawyer was a bit disappointing. I wanted it to be a bit more climatic. It just felt rushed.

All in all, I still enjoyed it. It was entertaining, and informative. I've never read anything like it in literature dealing with the Middle East. I definitely recommend it. I give it a solid four stars. I knocked off a star for the ending.