THE ATTACK

by Yasmina Khadra




After spending his shift at a Tel Aviv hospital working on the human carnage caused by the latest suicide bombing, Arab-Israeli citizen and celebrated surgeon Amin Jaafari is shocked to be told his wife was the bomber.

While I didn't find The Attack to be as mesmerizing as The Swallows of Kabul, it is still a deeply thought-provoking story. I expected to be brought into the mind of a suicide bomber, to see what turns a person to that kind of act of violence. But The Attack focuses more on the other people whose lives are affected by the actions of the bomber -- the husband, the friends, the family -- who may or may not have been aware of the devastating plans. I felt Jaafari's helplessness as he searched for the motivation that caused his beloved, kind wife to engage in seemingly senseless violence that perpetrated only more senseless violence until the final, horrific end.

Perhaps the whole world would be a better place if we all thought long and hard about the words Dr. Jaafari's father told him as a child:

If you start from the principle that your worst enemy is the very person who tries to sow hatred in your heart, you're halfway to happiness.

Lezlie

The books in Khadra's trilogy:

Book One: The Swallows of Kabul (My Review)
Book Two: The Attack
Book Three: The Sirens of Baghdad (My Review)