The Ninety-Ninth Floor by Michelle Hartman

Abstract

over the woes of his defeat. But what makes Arjen remarkable is that he finally refuses to accept defeat. In retirement he finds himself irresistibly drawn back to his roots, searching for the home he never really had, like Hesling Alberda in Sykjend nei it lêste hûs (Searching for the last home), driven by “a desire to have something of my own, something I could call mine, that would make me feel safe and salvaged and human, yes, maybe something that rises above the material , something you cannot touch, but that gives emotional comfort, something you carry with you in your heart, something that looks like love.” It’s that quest for wholeness Arjen’s been pursuing his whole life which, in the end, saves him. Through constant flashbacks, past and present are inextricably intertwined in this novel, as, we come to realize, they are indeed in our own real lives. Here Van der Ploeg proves himself once again master of the human drama of ordinary people who often turn out most extraordinary, striving for significance against forces that would diminish, defeat, and destroy. Henry J. Baron Calvin College Jana Fawaz Elhassan. The NinetyNinth Floor. Trans. Michelle Hartman. Northampton, Massachusetts. Interlink Books. 2017. 288 pages. In Jana Fawaz Elhassan’s first translated novel, she explores the entwinement of passion and affection with despair and anger through children of the Lebanese Civil War when revisiting one of the Levant’s bloodiest eras. Set between the year 2000 in New York and early 1980s Lebanon, this multiple narrative penetrates the complexities of Arab identity in both the East and West. The Ninety-Ninth Floor, which was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2015, follows Palestinian Majd, a young man living in New York City as a gaming designer, and his Lebanese lover Hilda—a dancer from a right-wing Christian family. Majd’s traumatic upbringing included the murder of his pregnant mother, while he was left severely physically impaired from a vicious attack during the war. “Under the New York sky, even if I am using my cane as I walk through the streets, feelings of freedom sometimes overwhelm me. I walk at a slow, unhurried pace, and for a few moments absolute weightlessness envelops me: I am this nobody, a stranger, a transient on an anonymous path no one knows a thing about.” Sitting in his ninety-ninth-floor New York City office, Majd reflects on his present -day life and somber childhood at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp, where 3,500 civilians were massacred in 1982 by a Lebanese Christian militia. Hindered by the remnants of the war, his paranoia and inner conflicts begin to surface while contemplating his lost Palestinian identity alongside his romance with Hilda; a romance that blossomed under a toxic cloud, partly due to them once standing on opposing politico-religious sides of the civil war. Elhassan’s narrative alternates between the two lovers, offering a panoramic view of an unorthodox relationship. We also meet Majd’s mate, Mohsan, or Mike as he prefers in the US; a lecherous Lebanese lad who revels in Western liberties. Through Majd, Hilda, and Mike, Elhassan traverses the complex and often-clashing Lebanese/Palestinian generations, cultures, and religions. Detachment/displacement from homeland and the pressure this puts on Arab identity take center stage in the novel. To a degree, Elhassan follows suit with themes explored in Hoda Barakat’s The Stone of Laughter, Ghada Samman’s Beirut ’75, and Rabih Alameddine’s I, the Divine: A Novel in First Chapters, but at times the overly sentimental language smothers the story’s potential. Paul Robert Magocsi & Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern Jews and Ukrainians: A Millennium of Co-Existence University of Toronto Press Through a variety of different media, Jews and Ukrainians explores the political, societal, and economic arms within the coexisting but rarely converging Eastern European Jewish and Ukrainian communities. Embedded within various detailed chapters on a range of cultural topics, Jews and Ukrainians holds a wealth of knowledge that transcends academic writing to engage the audience. Baret Magarian The Fabrications Pleasure Boat Studio The Fabrications explores one writer’s ability to spin fiction into reality as...