What happens when you combine a romantic fiction with a political non-fiction?
The answer is The Parisian by Isabella Hammad. It’s a vivid combination of romantic saga, historical fiction, domestic thriller, and political non-fiction. At times it works, but other times it doesn’t; thus, the author’s seminal work fails to present a cohesive picture.
At the heart of this vast novel lies a failed romance between Midhat Kamal and Jeannette Molineu. The story begins in 1914 at the cusp of WWI, when Midhat travels from a provincial city in Palestine called Nablus to Montpellier in France to study medicine in order to become a doctor.
Arranged by his father on the promise of returning home immediately after completing his studies to serve at the newly opened local hospital, a young Midhat agrees to travel overseas to get a medical education. At Montpellier, he meets Jeannette, who happens to be the daughter of his host, Dr. Molineu. Hosted by the famous professor and charmed by the French culture, Midhat soon finds himself taken by his new surroundings. Soon, he realises that his fondness for his new location is also due to Jeannette.
What started as a casual host-guest relationship turns into a friendship that quickly takes the form of an intense love for each other. Although the world is fast spinning out of control with the outbreak of the Great War, Midhat and Jeannette consider their love as a constant in the midst of it all. After all, their bond is solidified with the shared trauma of losing their respective mothers at a very young age and finding solace in each other, even though they come from vastly different backgrounds.
Once Midhat finds out the real reason behind Dr. Molineu’s hospitality for hosting him at their home, he is almost shattered. Unfortunately, the events unravel in such a fashion that Jeannette distances away from him, and he decides to relocate to Paris to complete his studies.
Indeed, Midhat doesn’t become a doctor as he switches to studying history instead of medicine. Nonetheless, he becomes the Parisian who is fond of finer things in life, like French fashion, literature, and music. He indulges in all the physical pleasures offered in the city of lights during the twenties. These years shape him as a suave and sophisticated gentleman who studies in one of the best universities in Europe and has a taste for the finer things in life. Still, he misses Jeannette with the intensity of a fish missing the water. He tries to write her a letter and express his feelings to put a formal end to their short-lived affair.
And that’s when everything shifts. What his letter puts in motion, Midhat has to suffer the consequences for the rest of his life. He returns to Nablus and is forced to live life on his father’s terms. His broken and bruised heart is temporarily soothed by his wife, Fatima, and his children, but still the hurt remains. Then everything comes crashing down as the biggest betrayal of his life comes to light, and his entire existence comes full circle.
That is the story of Midhat, and it should have been the core of this novel, as he is the one called Parisian by everyone till the very end. However, the central theme of this bulky novel is tracing the socio-political landscape of Palestine. For the first few chapters, the history and historical events are threaded through Midhat’s sensational Paris residency, thus forming a backstory for his exotic foreignness in the Western world. Therefore, it provides a context for where he has come from and might return one day in the overall shifting world narrative.
Having said that, the plot loses its focus altogether by the middle of this book and turns into political fiction rather than historical fiction. Page after page is filled with intriguing characters, details, and incidents that make you question the author’s motive behind writing this entire book. Besides the main characters and their immediate family and friends, there are innumerable characters whose backstories, traits, and happenings are presented in minute detail. Some of these events indeed provide a context to Midhat’s surroundings in and around Nablus, but he is so far removed from the socio-political scene that these cannot provide any weightage to his malady.
That is my biggest grumble about this novel. Indeed, it is filled with superlative language and lyrical prose. For example, Midhat’s return home starts with a last night of freedom spent in the company of Lyla, only for him to become a Majnu in the end for claiming freedom of his mind. Quite a poetic ending for such a refined man!
Ultimately, even though the author’s penmanship shines through the pages, it still gives you a feeling of reading two different novels that have a threadbare connection to each other. Not only does it increase the length of the novel, but it also dilutes the depth of its protagonist’s tragedy. Therefore, I will recommend this for its engaging central story, only if you can ignore the layers of complicated plotlines spread across its width.