balcony of shame

Author's name: Ibrahim Nasrallah

This is the third novel in the novel project "Balconies," which includes several novels, each completely independent of the others. As usual, Ibrahim Nasrallah remains the best at expressing the contradictions of social life, the best critic, and the best at conveying its images with extreme and rare boldness, breaking with the traditional novelistic form. He now tackles a current, highly sensitive and disturbing issue: "honor crimes," whose victims are women who have been wronged by both their families and society, helpless in the face of the cruelty of society, its customs, traditions, and canned cultural frameworks that seek to create a girl like a moving doll in the family home and the marital home simultaneously. These are balconies from which the novelist wanted to glimpse the reality of the situation experienced by Arab women, especially those in the middle and poor classes, by placing all his aesthetic, cognitive, and creative experience in the character of "Manal," whose father insisted on her education and provided her with the necessary support until she graduated and took up a job as a social supervisor. She then found that the world, for her, had suddenly expanded. But? Suddenly, her life changes and the worst happens! "Suddenly, Younis opened the car door from the outside, and in less than a second, Manal felt the coldness of the dagger's blade against her neck. 'I will slaughter you if you breathe!' (...) In front of the door of that small room, he stood for a moment, then pushed the door open with his right foot. They entered. He closed the door with his foot, and in a quick movement, he lifted the dagger from her neck. He pinned her back to the door, put the dagger back in its place, and with his free hand, turned the key. At that moment, he was certain that his prey had lost all her strength, as well as her voice. Her hands fell to her sides like two worn pieces of cloth on a clothesline. He dragged her towards the bed, turned on that small red light, which he seemed to have prepared especially for that moment, and under its heavy light, she could see the human face transform into the face of a monster." So what happened next? This is what we will discover together when we read this purposeful novel, which its author intended to be a resounding cry in the face of all those who deprive women of their humanity and their right to life, to choose, and to defend themselves. How long will society and men continue to view women as prey to be hunted whenever they want, and whose shame can only be washed away with blood? Is the man's concern in traditional societies to defend the family's honor a concern for himself, or a concern for the woman he considers eternal property? His concern for her is beyond debate as an act of chivalry. Is it so? A novel that includes a courageous defense of a woman's right to protect her life and humanity, a right bestowed upon her by God before humanity.