Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Elegant, surprising stories about Palestinian immigrants in Canada navigating their identities in circumstances that push them to the emotional brink.

Saeed Teebi’s intense, engrossing stories plunge into the lives of characters grappling with their experiences as Palestinian immigrants to Canada. A doctor teaches his girlfriend about his country, only for her to fall into a consuming obsession with the Middle East conflict. A math professor risks his family’s destruction by slandering the king of a despotic, oil-rich country. A university student invents an imaginary girlfriend to fit in with his callous, womanizing roommates. A lawyer takes on the impossible mission of becoming a body smuggler. A lonely widower travels to Russia in search of a movie starlet he met in his youth in historical Jaffa. A refugee who escaped violent circumstances rebels against the kindness of his sponsor. These taut and compelling stories engage the immigrant experience and reflect the Palestinian diaspora with grace and insight.

Review:

I didn't know what to expect when I started reading Her First Palestinian, by Saeed Teebi.  I often find the short story format to be less than satisfying.  Just as you start to know who the characters are, the story is finished.  But I found this collection of short stories immediately compelling.  Each story is complete and satisfying to the reader. I could see this as a movie.

What I liked:

Format/Setting:

I am usually not a fan of the short story format.  But this device is used to great effect by the author in this book.  Instead of looking at how they came to be in Canada, the stories focus on the immediate issues at hand: relationships with non-Palestinians, fitting in with other Canadians, and guilt for leaving family behind.  

I have lived in other countries, and I can tell you that it is a challenge to find ways to fit in.  Often, expats gravitate towards other expats for the comfort and familiarity of speaking their  native language.  It takes a lot to integrate into another society, and I have tremendous respect for people who do that.  This book grapples with that challenge to figure out social norms, while still retaining your own sense of self.

Characters:

There is so much variation to the different characters.  The reader will feel empathy with some, but not all, of them.  This is smart.  Not every immigrant will be a good person.  I'm thinking of one story in particular.  This person is a stalker!  But his being a creep is not because he is from Palestine, it's because he is just a bad person.  Every society has them (sadly).  I appreciated that the author shows the good, and the bad, of human nature.

But most of the characters have dilemmas that are extremely relatable.  The moral choices we make at work when we realize our company is doing something repugnant.  The feelings of being used by another in a relationship.  The guilt we have if we've been successful while others in our family are struggling.  The particular situations in this book may be unique to Palestinian immigrants, but the underlying emotions are universal.

Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Release Date:  August 2nd, 2022

Author:  Saeed Teebi

Publisher:  Astoria Books

Genre: Contemporary Short Stories

Page Length:  256 Pages

Format:  E-Book

Source: Edelweiss

Recommendation: This is a very worthwhile reading experience.  Although each situation is unique to Palestinians, I could empathize with most of the characters. Showing immigrants as people may seem obvious, but it is still needed in today's society.  Read this enriching book.