A Map of Home: Summary and book reviews of A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar, plus links to an excerpt from A Map of Home and a biography of Randa Jarrar.

Nidali, the rebellious daughter of an Egyptian-Greek mother and a Palestinian father, narrates the story of her childhood in Kuwait, her teenage years in Egypt (to where she and her family fled the 1990 Iraqi invasion), and her family’s last flight to Texas. Nidali mixes humor with a sharp, loving portrait of an eccentric middle-class family, and this perspective keeps her buoyant through the hardships she encounters: the humiliation of going through a checkpoint on a visit to her father’s home in the West Bank; the fights with her father, who wants her to become a famous professor and stay away from boys; the end of her childhood as Iraq invades Kuwait on her thirteenth birthday; and the scare she gives her family when she runs away from home. Funny, charming, and heartbreaking, A Map of Home is the kind of book Tristram Shandy or Huck Finn would have narrated had they been born Egyptian-Palestinian and female in the 1970s.

BookBrowse

Coming-of-age themes are common, but the intelligent narration provides more than enough interest to sustain the momentum. Rare is the book that makes one stay up to finish it; this is one of them, simultaneously circling in its family dramas and spiraling outwards in its connections to history and place. Adult and teen readers alike would enjoy Nidali's honest portrayal. She's the Muslim equivalent of J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, tender, caustic and wise in all the right moments.  (Reviewed by Karen Rigby).

Full Review (1059 words).

Media Reviews

Dallas Morning News A Map of Home promises to tell us about Arab culture as we never knew it. And using young Nidali as our guide, it does, giving us a multifaceted portrayal of the Arab world.   The Star-Ledger Jarrar has endowed her narrator with an ear attuned to every note of family farce… Nidali's odyssey is as serious as it is comic and deeply moving. During the Bing Crosby-era, this tale of growing up absurd would have been compared to 'Catcher in the Rye,' and deservedly so. It's as achingly coming-of-age as it gets, as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking — like growing up.   Booklist Jarrar is sophisticated and deft, and her impressive debut is especially intriguing considering her clever use of recent Middle East history.   Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Her exhilarating voice and flawless timing make this a standout   Kirkus Reviews Starred Review. A coming-of-age story that's both singular and universal - an outstanding debut.   Library Journal - Sarah Conrad Weisman This wonderfully engaging work has vivid descriptions of the different places Nidali lives and the culture she grows up in; the only negative is that the novel is perhaps unnecessarily laced with strong language, which may make it less universally appealing. Highly recommended.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Kim
Wonderful comingofage novel
I think finding a well written coming of age novel that features a female protagonist is a rare event. Most of those I've read in this genre have had a sacharine-sweet lack of realism that has left me less than enthusiastic about the story. A...   Read More

Readalikes

If you liked A Map of Home, try these:

---

---

These are 2 of the 7 readalike suggestions for A Map of Home. Members have full access to all readalikes. If you are a member, please login. To find out more about membership, click here.

Books with similar themes

• Novels
  
• Adult-YA Crossover
  
• Asia 
  
• USA 
  
• Southwest 
  
• Texas 
  
• Middle-East (West Asia) 
  
• 1980s & '90s 
  
• 1st Books/1st Novels 
  
• Coming of Age 
  
• Immigrants & Expatriates 
  
• Islam 
  
• Strong Female Leads