CULTURE EDITION
Enter Ghost
ISABELLA HAMMAD In the wake of a tumultuous affair with a much older and married director, Dutch- born Palestinian actress Sonia Nasir leaves London to visit her sister Haneen in the city of Haifa to reconnect with herself and what remains of her ancestry. Finding herself uprooted and adrift in what should be her homeland, she becomes involved in an Arabic production of Hamlet due to take place in the West Bank, starring a famous pop star alongside other dedicated amateur actors with varying levels of talent. The small yet determined troupe battle external forces – random arrests, withdrawal of funding, checkpoint skirmishes – as well as the usual love affairs, jealousies and competitive streaks which often spark when actors work together. The immediacy of Hammad’s writing is extraordinary; the reader is dropped right into the weary grind of day-to-day life while simply trying to exist across borders. Couple this with the almost-unbearable background radiation of tension caused by the region’s instability: the knowledge that devastating, life- altering events could occur at any moment. Hammad deftly uses a script format in places to tell both scenes from Hamlet and the book’s action itself, placing the reader at a disassociated distance, back in the audience. Then, you’re standing with the actors on the play’s opening night, reaching for their hands while armed Israeli soldiers move through the crowd, toward the stage. Everyone knows how Hamlet ends – but what will happen to this production, to these players? Devastatingly vital, intelligent and brutally impactful, this is a must-read.
NATALIE SUE Jolene, a 33-year-old Iranian Canadian, is an admin assistant at Supershops, Inc, a dead-end office job which has been slowly killing her from the inside out for the past eight years. She manages her growing frustrations with her fellow employees by telling them exactly what she thinks of them at the end of each email – but changes the text colour to white to render her thoughts invisible, hiding them in plain sight. This tactic works until it doesn’t, and Jolene is hauled up in front of HR to complete sensitivity training and face restrictions on her email access. But in the course of having the limits applied, an IT mix-up gives her complete access to everyone else’s emails and DMs. Overwhelmed by her new power, Jolene quickly decides to use her exciting advantage to secure her uncertain position at the company, solving one problem in her life – and discover a little more about her annoying co-workers along the way. But how long can her access remain undetected? This is a great example of the workplace comedy genre, with a central premise that is bundles of fun to think about if applied to your own situation. There’s much to admire for fans of The Office or 2024’s Green Dot , but it’s the scenes with Jolene’s over-involved Iranian mother and her auntie network that are particularly well drawn. This is an enjoyable summer read ideal for anyone escaping an office for a few weeks. I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK JULY 2024 23
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