"The Attack" opens with Amin Jaafari, an Israeli surgeon of Palestinian origin, trying to save the casualties of a suicide bombing. A day after the deadly attack, an Israeli police officer informs Jaafari that the suicide bomber was his wife, Sihem. Believing her to be on an overnight trip, he completely refuses to accept the accusation. They were leading an ideal life in Tel Aviv, moving among both Arab and Israeli society with ease, or so Jaafari thought. But then he receives a posthumous message from Sihem confirming the worst. Desperate to understand how he missed even the slightest clue, Jaafari leaves the relative security of Israel and enters the Palestinian territories to find the fanatics who recruited her. In search of the truth, he confronts a reality that he had refused to see.
This book was first published as the French novel "L'Attentat" by Yasmina Khadra in 2005. One year later, "L'Attentat" was translated into English as "The Attack" and it garnered international praise:
"A fierce rendering of geopolitical tensions and a plea for peace" ("The New York Times"); "Audaciously conceived, courageously important [and] urgently humane" ("The Los Angeles Times"). It was translated into more than 20 languages and sold over 600,000 copies. Then in 2012, the original French book went into graphic form with the release in 2012 of "L'Attentat" by Loic Dauvillier and Glen Chaprion. This has now been translated into English by Ivanka Hahnenberger -- the book featured here. "The Attack" is a poignant tragedy that mixes the intimacy of grief and betrayal with the futility of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It makes no judgment and takes no side. Chapron's masterful illustrations and astute text are wrought with the despair and hope of Jaafari's search. The raw humanity of the story raises more questions than can be answered. Timely and affecting, "The Attack" is an essential purchase.
About the Authors
Loic Dauvillier is a writer and illustrator of graphic novels for children and adults. His previous books include Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust and Oliver Twist. He lives in France.
Glen Chapron is a graduate of l'Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Strasbourg, France. He is the author-illustrator of more than 20 fiction and non-fiction graphic novels for children.
Yasmina Khadra is the pen name of former Algerian army officer Mohammed Moulessehoul. He is the author of six other books published in English, including The Swallows of Kabul. He lives in France.
Ivanka Hahnenberger is a busy translator and agent in the world of graphic novels.
Industry Reviews
(An) extraordinary graphic novel version of Yasmina Kadra's The Attack.... The genius of The Attack is that while you are led, Odysseus-like, through the back streets and alleys of Bethlehem and Jenin, meeting radicals and thugs, families who have turned violent out of deep resentment and frustration, people whose homes are bulldozed by Israeli soldiers, you are following Amin's inner journey in real time... There is no grand finale, no morality play, no lessons learned on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in these pages. There is, in fact, no judgment of who is wrong and who is right. There is just the deep sense of loss, horror, bereavement and finally, shock... The Attack ultimately, is a story of lost innocence.--Janine Di Giovanni"The New York Times" (02/08/2017)
