' THE BOOK OF DISAPPEARANCE ' : REVIEW

To begin with the current lighthouse of Palestinian literature, Ibtisam Azem's '' The Book of  Disappearance '' [ 2014 ] teeters between utopia and dystopia.

Translated from the original Arabic by Sinan Antoon last year, the novel presents a speculative narrative where, overnight, all Palestinians in Israel vanish without a trace.

This sudden disappearance plunges Israel society into chaos, prompting introspection about identity, memory and the intricate ties between the two peoples.

The novel, set in the author's hometown of Jaffa, alternates between the perspectives of Alaa, a  Palestinian man, and his Israeli friend Ariel, who discovers Alaa's diary post-disappearance.

Through this imaginative premise married with tight sentences that flow from one to another without beginning or end, Azem challenges readers to contemplate the visibility and erasure of Palestinians existence.

The novel's innovative approach and profound themes led to its longlisting for the International Booker Prize in 2025, with judges lauding it as an ''exceptional exercise in memory-making and psycho-geography.''

To-date Azem has published two novels in Arabic titled. The Sleep Thief [2011] and The Book of Disappearance, of which the latter has also been translated into German and Italian.

And we have reason to hope for more because her first collection of short stories, City of Strangers, is forthcoming in the summer of this year.

This Publishing continues. The World Students Society thanks Zehra Khan.