Jokha AlHarthi; translated from the Arabic by Marilyn Booth
Silken Gazelles by Jokha AlHarthi, translated from the Arabic by Marilyn Booth, explores the lives of three Omani women whose lives intersect.
The novel opens with a young mother who accidentally drops her infant upon hearing the news of her father’s death. Ghazaala, the infant, is caught by a neighbor who then nurses her with her own daughter Asiya. Ghazaala and Asiya grow up as milk-sisters until tragedy strikes Asiya’s household and Asiya leaves the village without a trace. Ghazaala marries a violin player, gets a university degree, has twin boys, and is abandoned to raise the boys on her own when her husband disappears. While in university, she befriends Harir whose path had also crossed with Asiya even though neither she nor Ghazaala know they had a friend in common.
The non-linear time line adds layer upon layer of detail concerning Ghazaala’s and Harir’s lives, their families, marriages, and children. The characters are haunted by past relationships that bleed into their daily existence. Although Alharthi captures their sense of loss and loneliness, the characters are poorly developed and uninteresting. The narrative flounders. Its episodic, anecdotal nature and disjointed time line lack a cohesive structure and overarching theme. The episodes follow one another in a bewildering fashion with no apparent rhyme or reason.
A disappointing read and certainly not up to the quality of Alharthi’s Celestial Bodies.