The months of a surrogate pregnancy with the surrogate being an Ontario mother, arranged by this Palestinian New Yorker psychologist, provides the loose framework for this mémoire. This is after her frustrating struggles with infertility and multiple miscarriages, due to anatomic anomalies. But the symbolism extends to other surrogacy as well, with, for example, the lyrebird’s many mimicries seemingly symbolizing the lack of any sense of a permanent home for the many displaced and itinerant Palestinians. As the surrogacy proceeds, she relates hundreds of schizoid nonsequeters in no particular order as she muses endlessly about her travels, her alcoholism, her failed AA program, her drug abuse, her love affairs, her dreams, and her marriage. I found this to be very disjointed with neither a consistent time line nor any geographic location, as she and her relatives move through different countries.
As an example of this nonsensical musing: “There is a coding term Johnny once told me about. It allows other signifiers to collapse into it, like a closet or a suitcase. The coding means both itself and these other things. A woman can mean both a woman and a country. A spectator can be both a spectator and a mother.”
Althogh the author claims to be a Muslim, it is hard to accept that she is a devout one, given the lifestyle that she relates.
Once again, a book that expert reviewers highly praise, but that I found to be very disappointing.
2/5
Thanks, The New Yorker.
