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Overview
It is August 1990. Saddam Hussein has just invaded Kuwait, and Jasira's mother has bought her daughter a one-way ticket to Texas to live with her strict Lebanese father. Living in a neat model home in Charming Gates, just outside of Houston, Jasira struggles with her father's rigid lifestyle and the racism of her classmates, who call her "towelhead." For the first time, the painful truth hits her: she's an Arab. Her aching loneliness and growing frustration with her parents' conflicting rules drive her to rebel in very dangerous ways. Most disturbingly, she becomes sexually obsessed with the bigoted army reservist next door, who alternately cares for, excites, and exploits her.
Synopsis
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM WARNER INDEPENDENT PICTURES WRITTEN FOR THE SCREEN AND DIRECTED BY ALAN BALL (SIX FEET UNDER, AMERICAN BEAUTY, TRUE BLOOD) AND STARRING AARON ECKHART, TONI COLLETTE, MARIA BELLO, PETER MACDISSI, AND SUMMER BISHIL
IT IS AUGUST 1990. Saddam Hussein has just invaded Kuwait, and Jasira's mother has bought her daughter a one-way ticket to texas to live with her strict Lebanese father. Living in a neat model home in Charming Gates, just outside Houston, Jasira struggles with her father's rigid lifestyle and the racism of her classmates, who call her "towelhead." For the first time, the painful truth hits her: she's an Arab. Her aching loneliness and growing frustration with her parents' conflicting rules drive her to rebel in very dangerous ways. Most disturbingly, she becomes sexually obsessed with the bigoted army reservist next door, who alternately cares for, excites, and exploits her.
"Erain's gift for conjuring characters is so strong; she has a sophisticated take on people and charts with real precision how and why the human comedy becomes seriously unfunny." JEFF GILES, The New York Times Book Review
"War, statutory rape, child abuse, and racism are hardly the stuff of comedy, but in Towelhead, Alicia Erain succeeds in blending this weird and sometimes shocking mix of elements in a funny, poignant, and utterly readable first novel." SUSAN COIL, The Washington Post
ALICIA ERAIN's work has appeared in Playboy, Zoetrope, Nerve, The Iowa Review, The New York Times Magazine, Penthouse, and other publications. She is the author of The Brutal Language of Love, a short story collection. This is her first novel.
The New York Times - Janet Maslin
Towelhead is the kind of book that attaches unusual reflectiveness to that particular echo of war. Jasira is old enough to know that women sometimes have sex with departing soldiers because these men may never return. But she's too young to know whether, since Mr. Vuoso will not have a combat assignment, he ought to qualify. Ms. Erian gives this gutsy book its full share of such unthinkable questions.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New WritersExperienced in ways she shouldn't be, 13-year-old Jasira secretly craves protection from her abusive father and a lecherous neighbor in this disturbing first novel by Erian. The novel opens as Jasira's mother, jealous of her boyfriend's interest in her daughter, sends the girl to Houston to live with her father. Though eager to please him, Jasira finds her father cold, short-tempered, and occasionally violent. Starved for attention and love, she reaches out to others -- a neighbor who hires her as a babysitter, and a boy at school -- who exploit her neediness to satisfy their own perversity. Jasira's only hope is a young couple who live down the street. But are they even aware of her issues -- and brave enough to step in?
Though the book is understated and a quick read, the themes explored in Towelhead are deadly serious. Against the backdrop of the first Gulf War, Erian explores sexual and emotional abuse, as well as racism, with a writing style that's all the more powerful because it's so light-handed. Her narrator, Jasira, is a thoroughly credible teenager, confused and evasive, so that readers are forced to read carefully to determine what's really going on. As contemporary as they come, Towelhead is shocking work of fiction that will have readers scrutinizing the ordinary teenagers they know, to make sure they're really as okay as they seem. (Summer 2005 Selection)
Janet Maslin
Towelhead is the kind of book that attaches unusual reflectiveness to that particular echo of war. Jasira is old enough to know that women sometimes have sex with departing soldiers because these men may never return. But she's too young to know whether, since Mr. Vuoso will not have a combat assignment, he ought to qualify. Ms. Erian gives this gutsy book its full share of such unthinkable questions.— The New York Times