Separation

Book title: The Separation Author: Sylvia Arraizadar Publisher: Masaa for Publishing and Distribution Category: Novels Number of pages: 160 About the book: The novel begins with a sentence indicating a decisive, pivotal, and destructive event in the relationship between a man and a woman spoken by the heroine, Luthia: "I am looking at a sleeping man beside me, who from tomorrow and forever will become my ex-husband, and he probably will not sleep beside me again." And so, from the beginning, the reader faces the bitterness of the transformation that occurs in one of the strongest human relationships between two people, to discover from the first chapter that despite its enduring nature, it has a different, more fragile, and quickly fading face. The events include fragments of Luthia's childhood, her relationship with her mother and father, and it does not take much effort to discover how connected the heroine is to her father of Arab origins, and how complicated her relationship with her mother, Paula, is: It begins with admiration for her beauty and deep culture, "integrating into circles of artists, poets, and painters to the extent of memorizing Lorca's poems by heart." It reaches a point of hatred to the extent of humiliation in the hospital scene when the nurse handed her the diaper to care for her sick husband. And it does not stop there, as Luthia fears that her daughter will become like her grandmother or that she will become like her mother when she begins to criticize her daughter's behavior.