Discipline (Randa Abdel-Fattah, UQP)

Discipline asks urgent questions about who gets to speak, who stays silent and what we owe our communities. Randa Abdel-Fattah (Does My Head Look Big in This?) chronicles the experiences of a Western Sydney community in 2021 during the intensifying Israel-Palestine conflict, reflecting patterns of grief and solidarity familiar to many diasporic communities. The novel is told through the dual perspectives of Ashraf, a jaded academic clinging to status, and Hannah, a journalist and new mother trying to do right by her community. The two are connected through Jamal – Hannah’s husband and Ashraf’s PhD candidate. Despite this link, Ashraf and Hannah are fundamentally different in how they navigate a world demanding their labour while questioning their belonging. All three are morally tested by two cataclysmic events: Israel’s attacks on Gaza and the trial of a high school boy facing terrorism charges for protesting the war. Abdel-Fattah’s writing is razor-sharp but never cold. It invites reflection, not just about what’s happening ‘over there’ – a phrase that too often distances us – but about how we can show up in our communities. For this reader, Discipline is a novel that made me feel seen and one I will carry with me for some time. It speaks to the current moment and belongs in the archives of history, reminding us that silence is easy while speaking up is hard but necessary. For readers of Sara M Saleh (The Flirtation of Girls/Ghazal el-Banat) and Susan Abulhawa (Against the Loveless World). 

Books+Publishing reviewer: Eman Mourad is an Australian-Egyptian emerging writer based on Gadigal land. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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