The Hookah Girl

When I was growing up, in Los Angeles, we had many refugees come to our city, and our schools. I was friends with kids that escaped, with their families, from Lebenon, from Cambodia, from Iran. Kids talking to each other can find that they have a lot in common, if the parents and adults don't get in the way.

This memorie is of a girl whose family has escaped from Palestine, or what is now the Palestinian Territories. She talks about how because she doesn't look like what Americans think Arab people look like, they think she is white, and she often hears racist "jokes". The name of the book is taken from a cultural festival that she would go to, every year as a kid, where people would rent hookahs, and wander around with them at the festival.

The author had to self publish, at first, to get this book out, because people shied away from stories about Palestinians. She said when she took her book to comic book shows, people would pick up the book, thinking it was about hookahs, and then try to find a nice way to put the book down when they discovered what it really was.

Well written, gives a view of a world that most white people in America are unaware of.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started to read The Hookah Girl but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It touches on Palestinian politics and covers a lot of personal issues the author faced (for instance, her father deterred her from many activities simply because she was a girl) but there are also many humorous moments so the collection doesn't feel too heavy overall. I really liked the artist's use of panels on different backgrounds and borders; this was unexpected and they were beautifully drawn.

I particularly enjoyed the story about grape leaves with illustrations inspired by board games and "Should/Am" with its' clever use of paper dolls.

The Hookah Girl is a short but important work that is quite successful in subverting essentialist notions about identity.

A lovely little memoir told in graphic stories. An interesting and informative look at life as an Palestinian-American. The artwork was at its best when it was telling a story in itself (paperdolls, board game art), but was missed in the sections that were text-heavy. The cover art and title did not really reflect the tone or subject matter and I was a little confused at the outset.

I really liked this book -- it was clever and entertaining, but I really enjoyed reading the point of view of the author. It is always good to view things from someone so different. Especially since it is so popular to pretend that Arabs, and especially Palestinians, are not real humans. As the author points out, the history is so complex and difficult to grapple with.