The novella that gives the title to the book is one of the most devastating things I have ever read. In a raw, dry style, it narrates the journey of undertaken by three Palestinian men seeking to reach Kuwait in search of work and a better life. The narrative is imbued with symbolism (desert rats eating smaller rats, black birds crossing the sky), never crossing the line into romanticism or kitch. The story has a clear political message, an indictment of the way Arab countries abandoned Palestinians to their faith, but also a more general significance, sadly reminiscent of today's journeys across the channel, the Mediterranean or the Mexico desert. I found the other short stories that make up the book slightly less mind-blowing. A letter from Gaza punched me in the guts because it could have been written last year.

This book does not pass the Bechdel Test.