Yes, the book fits on the “multicultural” shelf, but that’s because that’s just Nidali’s life, not because of any concerted effort by the author.īelievable too are the characters. The mix of cultures and locations is believable, because Randa Jarrar, who herself grew up in Kuwait and based the book partly on her own life, seamlessly weaves into the story references to language, music, food, history, and politics. The family moves from Egypt to the United States when Nidali is in high school. It’s a family in which everyone has a different passport, birthplace, and idea of home. Nidali is raised in Kuwait until her family has to flee to Egypt during the war, so her childhood takes place entirely in the Middle East, although she and her Palestinian father and Greek-Egyptian mother do speak English as well. Nidali is born in the United States, but this isn’t a Muslim American, second-generation immigrant story - at least not the way you’d expect. Nidali’s father doesn’t bother to confirm that she’s a boy, and proceeds to name her Nidal for “struggle,” until he realizes and corrects his mistake with an “i,” and he and her mother have a loud and expletive-filled argument of how, her mother wants to know, he could have given her daughter such a terrible name as “struggle.” From the beginning of the novel, with the tale of the protagonist’s birth, A Map of Home is filled with vibrant, believable characters.
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