The girl is curious and seeks for her own explanation of everything. Nidali is always full of positive energy, confidence and love. It is worth mentioning that not falling in love with the main character of the book is impossible. She compares her mother’s hair with the balloon of thoughts and her father with the running moustache which turns the story into a cartoon in the reader’s mind (A Map of Home). Everything the girl sees, hears, experiences, feels and thinks about is depicted through her vision of the world, so the reader might feel as if s/he lives the life along with Nidali. The book contains numerous episodes which could make anybody laugh. The narrative is told in a light and very cheerful manner. It is easy to notice how the little girl’s thoughts in the beginning of the book differ from the young charming lady’s ones in the end of the story (A Map of Home). The life of the teenage girl and her vision of the world are the main components of the storyline. However, the story is not focused on the tragic events and how they influence people. The author herself had to go through the hardships of leaving home because of war (Randa Jarrar). The novel obviously has autobiographical elements. Nidali takes all hardships on her way as normal things, and is full of loving to her parents although she often does not understand them (A Map of Home). As a result, the man wants his daughter to follow his own dreams, at the same time not letting her study far from home (A Map of Home).ĭespite all the negative events in the life of the main character, her story is told in purely cheerful manner. But he did not manage to achieve his goal because of the war.

Waheed (the head of the family) wanted to become a prominent professor someday. Apart from that, the main character soon starts to have conflicts with her father herself. The girl’s parents often have loud and ugly fights using poor language in front of their children. But this does not much change the family’s life to the best. Due to the Gulf War, Nidali’s family is forced to move to Egypt and then to Texas. The main character’s name seems to doom the girl, since her life is indeed full of struggles. ‘A Map of Home’ is a story of an Arab teenage girl Nidali, whose name means ‘struggle’. Randa Jarrar was recognized to be one of the most talented writers of Arab origin under the age of forty in 2010 (Randa Jarrar).

The writer’s next book, ‘Him, Me, Muhammad Ali’ is to be released this year. It was published in five languages and won several awards (Arab-American Book Award, Hopwood Award). ‘A Map of Home’ was first book by Randa Jarrar. However, the family had to move to the USA after the first Gulf War. The author is a famous essayist, novelist, translator and short story writer. ‘A Map of Home’ is a popular novel written by the author with Arab background Randa Jarrar.

A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar