Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
This soul-stirring novel about the Abbouds, an Arab American family, puts faces and names to the victims of violence and persecution in Jerusalem today. Believing the unstable situation in that conflict-ridden city has improved, 14-year-old Liyana's family moves from St. Louis, Mo., to her father's homeland. However, from the moment the Abbouds are stopped by Jewish customs agents at the airport, they face racial prejudice and discord. Initially, Nye Never in a Hurry focuses on the Abbouds' handling of conflicting cultural norms between American and Arab values as they settle into their new home e.g., Liyana's father, Poppy, while forbidding her to wear "short" shorts, reacts in anger toward a relative who asks for Liyana's hand in marriage. Then Liyana tests her family's alleged unprejudiced beliefs when she befriends Omer, a Jewish boy. She wants to introduce him to her father who taught her, "Does it make sense that any God would choose some people and leave the others out?... God's bigger than that!", but finds she must first remind him of his own words. Nye expertly combines the Abbouds' gradual acceptance of Omer with a number of heart-wrenching episodes of persecution by the different warring factions against her friends and family to convey the extent to which the Arab-Israeli conflict infiltrates every aspect of their lives. Nye's climactic ending will leave readers pondering, long after the last page is turned, why Arabs, Jews, Greeks and Armenians can no longer live in harmony the way they once did. Ages 10-up. Oct.
Children's Literature
- Marilyn Courtot
Talk about culture shock: fourteen-year-old Liyana is not too pleased about leaving St. Louis to live in her Arab father's homeland, taking up residence in Jerusalem. Her new life has restrictions as she faces the traditions and prohibitions of her extended Palestinian family. To further complicate matters, Liyana has a Jewish boyfriend. In this first novel by poet Naomi Shihab Nye, the conflict between Arabs and Jews is vividly depicted through characters whom readers will admire and come to care about.
Children's Literature
- Michelle H. Martin
Habibi is a book in the midst of an identity crisis. It can't decide if it wants to be a political novel about Arab/Israeli conflicts, a teen romance, a series of vignettes on loosely related events in one character's life, or a book of poetry that incidentally contains a novel as well. Because the text is, unfortunately, all of the above, its entertainment value is severely limited. Fifteen-year-old Liyana Abboud, her brother Rafik, and her American mother move from St. Louis to her Arab father's home in Jerusalem just after Liyana receives her first kiss. While the novel contains many interesting episodes about Liyana's life among her Arab relatives and Israeli friends, the novel's primary conflict does not surface until more than half way through the plot. Its climax is weak, and too little tension is maintained throughout to keep readers involved. Since the end of the book feels no different from its rambling chapters, the last page takes readers by surprise and leaves them wondering about the book's purpose. The wonderful, poetic introductions to each chapter may be the novel's only redeeming feature.
VOYA
- Marcia Mann
Liyanna Abboud is fourteen when her parents announce that the family is moving from St. Louis, the only home Liyanna has ever known, to Jerusalem, her father's birthplace. The Abbouds are welcomed by her father's sprawling extended Arab family in their West Bank village. New family, country, languages, and customs do not seem to faze Liyana nor her brother, Rafik, much. It is the lack of peace and the lack of empathy between the Jews and Arabs that are the main sources of angst for Liyanna and her family and friends. This story is told mainly from sensitive, introspective Liyanna's point of view, with a few disrupting shifts to those of her parents, Rafik, and her grandmother. This shifting viewpoint is a sign of the obtrusiveness of the author's agenda, as the question of just who has the "right" god is pondered. Although this heavy-handed approach might not be obvious to younger teens, a less didactic tone and more well-rounded characters would improve both the quality of the book and the reader's ability to enjoy it. However, glimpses of everyday life in a holy city and of how Arabs live in present-day Israel provide an interesting backdrop, and Liyana's vaguely mystical Arab grandmother is simply charming. Habibi is an Arabic word meaning "darling" and the oft-used term of endearment Liyanna and Rafik's parents use for their children. VOYA Codes: 3Q 3P M J (Readable without serious defects, Will appeal with pushing, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8 and Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9).
School Library Journal
Gr 5-9An important first novel from a distinguished anthologist and poet. When Liyana's doctor father, a native Palestinian, decides to move his contemporary Arab-American family back to Jerusalem from St. Louis, 14-year-old Liyana is unenthusiastic. Arriving in Jerusalem, the girl and her family are gathered in by their colorful, warmhearted Palestinian relatives and immersed in a culture where only tourists wear shorts and there is a prohibition against boy/girl relationships. When Liyana falls in love with Omer, a Jewish boy, she challenges family, culture, and tradition, but her homesickness fades. Constantly lurking in the background of the novel is violence between Palestinian and Jew. It builds from minor bureaucratic annoyances and humiliations, to the surprisingly shocking destruction of grandmother's bathroom by Israeli soldiers, to a bomb set off in a Jewish marketplace by Palestinians. It exacts a reprisal in which Liyana's friend is shot and her father jailed. Nye introduces readers to unforgettable characters. The setting is both sensory and tangible: from the grandmother's village to a Bedouin camp. Above all, there is Jerusalem itself, where ancient tensions seep out of cracks and Liyana explores the streets practicing her Arabic vocabulary. Though the story begins at a leisurely pace, readers will be engaged by the characters, the romance, and the foreshadowed danger. Poetically imaged and leavened with humor, the story renders layered and complex history understandable through character and incident. Habibi succeeds in making the hope for peace compellingly personal and concrete...as long as individual citizens like Liyana's grandmother Sitti can say, "I never lost my peace inside."Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT
Kirkus Reviews
Liyana Abboud, 14, and her family make a tremendous adjustment when they move to Jerusalem from St. Louis. All she and her younger brother, Rafik, know of their Palestinian father's culture come from his reminiscences of growing up and the fighting they see on television. In Jerusalem, she is the only "outsider" at an Armenian school; her easygoing father, Poppy, finds himself having to remind her—often against his own common sense—of rules for "appropriate" behavior; and snug shops replace supermarket shopping—the malls of her upbringing are unheard of. Worst of all, Poppy is jailed for getting in the middle of a dispute between Israeli soldiers and a teenage refugee. In her first novel, Nye (with Paul Janeczko, I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You, 1996, etc.) shows all of the charms and flaws of the old city through unique, short-story-like chapters and poetic language. The sights, sounds, and smells of Jerusalem drift through the pages and readers glean a sense of current Palestinian-Israeli relations and the region's troubled history. In the process, some of the passages become quite ponderous while the human story—Liyana's emotional adjustments in the later chapters and her American mother's reactions overall—fall away from the plot. However, Liyana's romance with an Israeli boy develops warmly, and readers are left with hope for change and peace as Liyana makes the city her very own.
