Remaining photos

The novel "Remnants of Pictures" by the Syrian novelist Hanna Mina is a life story that chronicles a single very bleak image, which is the image of injustice in all its forms. The novel talks about poverty and hunger, fear and winter, maternal affection in its most beautiful forms, the lustfulness and indifference of the father, the harshness of the elders and landowners, the solidarity of the farmers, departure and travel, where there is no escape from this difficult life except through stories. The novel is beautiful, the flow of events is very smooth, its language is beautiful and simple, not devoid of poeticism. Also, what is beautiful about the novel is that it begins with a short critical reading of Hanna Mina's entire works, including "Remnants of Pictures" by critic Najwa Al-Attar... A passage from the novel: "Here, there is no season or field, not even a house whose door we close to protect ourselves from fear or seek shelter, waiting for relief with the summer, entertained by the stories of the mother, warmed by the mutual emotions of the family, which has not yet fallen apart, where the two sisters are now servants in two families in the city, and we know nothing about them. The mother fell ill, and we failed to find a home to shelter us. Our father left under this cursed tree on the side of the road, and fear grew and was coupled with humiliation until we had to resort, as soon as the sun sets, to the mother's bed, hiding behind her and surrendering to tortured feelings expressed by her weak arms trying to hold us close."