1. The Locust and the Bird: My Mothers
Story by Hanan Al-Shaykh
Excellent Book.
Amazon Exclusive: Marjane Satrapi Reviews The Locust and the Bird
Marjane Satrapi was born in Iran and now lives in Paris, where she is a
regular contributor to magazines and newspapers throughout the world,
including The New Yorker and The New York Times. She is the author of
the internationally bestselling and award-winning Persepolis and
Persepolis 2. She co-wrote and directed the Academy Award-nominated
animated film version of Persepolis. Read Satrapis exclusive Amazon
guest review of The Locust and the Bird: While I was reading
Hanan Al Shaykh’s new book, The Locust and the Bird, my regret as an
author was not to have known Kamila, Hanan’s mother, the extravagant
narrator of this book. What a woman! What a storyteller! She reminds me
of my beloved grandmother (who is in many of my books), and many other
women of her generation that I knew, who were manipulative in order to
survive, who lied in order to establish the truth, and, most of all, so full of
life and passion. When I finished the book I had one major thought: this

2. book needs to be made into a movie, but this is the kind of story one needs
to be a real Lebanese in order to turn it into a movie. That was my other
regret as a movie maker. But most of all I felt extremely lucky to spend
time with someone so intelligent, full of humor and love. --Marjane Satrapi
(Photo © Maria Ortiz)
Amazon Exclusive: Hanan al-Shaykh on The Locust and the Bird
My mother was a phenomenon to all those who knew her. She
lived her hard life in a peculiar comic way. My mother lied, stole, betrayed,
abandoned her children. Loved, hated and said no to her family, to her
society. She was also beaten, cursed, starved and adored. She lived in
Beirut. Her flat was like a hotel lobby, a psychiatrist’s couch, a stage.
Young and old gathered around her as if they were in the presence of a
comic guru. She took anti-depressants: the only way to cope with her
popularity, she told me once. I knew that she first took them to help ease
her guilt for abandoning my sister and me. Though I never blamed her
for leaving me at the age of 6, and for not being interested in me,
nonetheless, I found myself building a wall between us. Throughout the
years she never stopped explaining to me the reason for leaving my father
to marry her lover. When I eventually listened to her story I found myself,
as a novelist, face to face with a treasure wrapped in a tissue paper. --
Hanan Al-Shaykh
(Photo © Hanan al-Shaykh)
Personal Review: The Locust and the Bird: My Mothers Story by
Hanan Al-Shaykh
I could barely put the book down and I am pretty hard to please when it
comes to books - I don't just read the latest "top seller". It was extremely
well written with an interesting plot and to top it off, it is a true story. I liked
the references to the government and Lebanese culture, as well, which
was educational. I want to now read other books by Hanan, even though
she primarily writes novels. I would highly recommend this book and look
forward to reading some of her other books - I hope they can live up to this
one.
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