Reviews and Praise
Out of It – Novel
Guardian * Economist * Telegraph * Times * Times of Malta* Observer * Independent on Sunday * Egypt Independent * Independent * Full Stop (US) * Jordan Times * Daily Star (Lebanon) *The National (UAE) * Publishers Weekly (US) * Library Journal (US) * Metro * Daily Mirror * Times Literary Supplement * The Dawn (Pakistan) * Kirkus (US) * Tikkun (US) * Ha’aretz (Israel)* Socialist Review *Defragmenting India * Morning Star * Saga * Sugar Street Review (US) * Daily Record (Scotland) * BBC Radio 4 * Wasafiri *Financial Times*
Guardian Books of the Year 2011
‘Driven, fast-paced, edgy … A narrative of Gaza, it brings a very welcome new voice and new consciousness to the Palestinian Story’ Ahdaf Soueif, November 2011
Guardian Books of the Year 2012
‘Selma Dabbagh’s first novel, takes us, observantly and deftly, into the lives and feelings of those who live in Gaza and want ordinary lives,’ Marina Warner, November 2012
The Guardian (Review)
“This is a very successful debut novel … The writing is both literary and accessible, fast-paced, passionate, exuberant and heart-lurching. We’ll be hearing much more from Selma Dabbagh” – Robin Yassin Kussab, The Guardian
Independent on Sunday (UK)
‘Excellent…vivid and moving..compelling,’ November 2011
The Economist
‘Told at an angle, without self-pity… sharp observation …touching’ August 2012
‘Gritty intimacy.. extraordinary.’ July 2015
Publishers’ Weekly (US)
‘Important and captivating debut novel… incidental moments are often the most disarming and exquisite.’ 7 May 2012
Times Literary Supplement (UK)
‘There is a sense of political urgency here, an anger and energy that Dabbagh refuses to temper or shy away from.’ Times Literary Supplement
Daily Mirror (UK)
“Wonderfully perceptive and gripping” – Daily Mirror
The Library Journal (US)
‘Dabbagh reveals a gift for using language to portray deep emotions and to illustrate a story with brilliant imagery… a valiant effort.’ April 2012
Sunday Telegraph (UK)
‘If you want a flavour of day-to-day Palestinian life, the bits the television cameras miss, this vivid first novel, brimming with passion and humour, makes the ideal starting point’ Sally Cousins, August 2012
The Times of Malta
‘Out of It is a great read.. It has the pace in narrative content and sentence structure of a compulsive page-turner and the depth of a contemporary classic feeding from and into a much more complex historical narrative.’ Adrian Grima, August 2012.
Electronic Intifada
‘Out of It is strikingly different from the story which one would expect to be told about Palestine.’ Electronic Intifada
The Times (UK)
‘a punchy first novel… Beautifully observed… the plot races and the voices are strong. The reader follows each person down the chosen path and, crucially, cares what becomes of them’ December 2011
Kirkus (US)
‘.. a finely wrought tale.. Fine work from a gifted writer who has important subject matter to explore.’ Kirkus, 1 August 2012
‘She creates a textured portrait of what is to inherit a conflict. The author also attains that thing to which so many writers aspire: a book that is much more than the sum of its words Niamh Fleming-Farrell, January 2012
Tikkun (US)
‘Out of It, an engrossing, suspenseful debut novel.’ Ashley Bates June 2012
The Observer (UK)
‘Out of It, is a gripping tale of dispossession and belonging, treachery, loyalty and bravery that redefines Palestine and its people,’ April 1 2012
Metro (UK)
‘A breezy, thriller-esque debut from the British-Palestinian author that gets under the skin of the situation in Gaza’ Metro December 2011
The National (United Arab Emirates)
‘A rich and rewarding portrait of Gaza … terrific. Selma Dabbagh has written an accomplished, compelling and enormously readable book. If it is not nominated for, or does not win, several first novel awards then the judging panels will simply not have been looking in the right places’ Sholto Byrnes, March 2012
For Books’ Sake
‘Providing a human and occasionally humorous angle to events, this debut novel sheds light on the world that lies beyond the violence in our newspapers and on our TV screens. Rating 5/5′ Erykah Brakenbury.
Ha’aretz (Israel)
‘Dabbagh writes with empathy, knowledge and a surprising amount of humor, and one never feels that one is reading a political tract, even when some of the characters sound like they are declaiming one.’ David B Green, September 2012.
The Socialist Review (UK)
‘Selma Dabbagh has managed to produce one of the best books I have read on the Israel-Palestine conflict … It is one of the most honest and riveting tales of life under occupation I have read’ Socialist Review
BBC Radio 4 (UK)
‘Incendiary’, Mariella Frostrup, Open Book, December 2011
The Daily Mirror (UK)
‘Making sense of Palestine and its relentlessly repressed people is never going to be easy, but Dabbagh has crafted wonderfully perceptive and gripping novel surrounding three siblings and their Palestinian roots’ Henry Sutton, December 2011
The Independent (UK)
‘her talent for nailing detail is evident … rich narrative treatment takes this novel beyond mere agitprop. The author’s assured command of her material means she can switch registers with ease, interweaving escalating tension and welcome humour – Dabbagh herself scores highly with her debut novel’ January 2012
Saga (UK)
‘an original, engaging voice, and this is a mesmerising story … uncompromising and witty, this novel is a window into another world’ Saga, Kate Saunders, January 2012
Wasafiri (UK)
‘Selma Dabbagh’s pacy, beautifully written first novel.. Don’t miss it’ Maggie Gee, January 2012
Adelaide Advertiser (Australia)
‘Selma Dabbagh offers a fresh view on Palestinian people … Out of It is a well-crafted tale that ponders the question of how to constructively bring about change’ Adelaide Advertiser (Australia) January 2012
The London Progressive Journal
‘.. it is Dabbagh’s debut novel and what a debut it is..Dabbagh’s language is sculpted and sharp, at times poetic, always laconic and often with a light touch of irony.’ John Green, December 2012.
Largehearted Boy (US)
‘Selma Dabbagh’s debut novel Out of It is a vivid and thoughtful exploration of the Palestinian situation and its effects on the people of Gaza as well as those who choose to leave.’ Largeheartedboy (US)
Daily Record (Scotland)
‘Timely … Her characters reflect the younger, educated Arab generation fighting for their democratic rights’ Annie Brown, Daily Record, 11 March 2012 (Scotland)
The Jordan Times (Jordan)
‘.. remarkable in many ways, not least because it seems so real. The sense of reality is partly created by remoulding actual events and known Palestinian personages in novelistic form, and partly by Dabbagh’s hard-hitting and versatile writing style …. Now the new generation is making their voices heard. In Dabbagh’s case, the result is both shocking and reassuring’ Sally Bland, February 2012.
The Morning Star (UK)
‘Heartrending … The author creates flesh-and-blood characters, not merely virtuous ciphers … she allows the reader to appreciate the family as ordinary people trapped in previous and present-day extraordinary situations.’ Paul Simon.
Voyager (UK)
‘It’s a wise, wary but also humorous meditation on factionalism within families’ Voyager (BMI Inflight Magazine) 1st, December 2011
Defragmenting India (India)
‘nothing short of ingenious.. That tragedy of the Palestinian is what this novel paints in nuanced, muted, subtle shades.’ Harish Nambar, July 2013
The Dawn (Pakistan)
‘brave.. Dabbagh has cleverly crafted her characters and even the minor ones have very strong back stories,’ Anam Haq, November 2012.
Sugar Street Review (US)
‘this is a stunning debut. Compelling and evocative, it’s the book’s humanity that will truly touch readers,’ Charlotte Bailey, May 2012
Egypt Independent / Arablit (Egypt)
‘this is a different sort of Palestinian story: engaging, fast-paced, funny and often fun,’ Marcia Lynx Qualey, January 2012
The Plain Dealer, Cleveland (US)
“Out of It” is ideal for newcomers curious about how life looks to Palestinians from the inside out…. this compelling story invites us in.’ Philip Metres, November 2012
Ahdaf Soueif, author of Booker Shortlisted Map of Love
‘An original and vivid voice. Full of energy, this is a new and welcome take on the Palestinian story.’
Maggie Gee, author of Orange Prize Shortlisted The White Family
‘This brave, important new writer draws us right into the beating heart of contemporary Arab life in all its vigour and complexity.’
Francisco Goldman, author of Say Her Name.
‘Out of It offers a wrenching depiction of a brutally oppressive war, of cynical politics and impossible choices, yet as I read, I kept asking myself why the novel is also so beguiling. Selma Dabbagh is so good at evoking, amidst the brutality, the ordinary minutiae of life. That is what gives this bewitching and moving novel such integrity, and makes you believe it.’
Karma Nabulsi (Oxford University)
‘Extraordinary,’ PalFest, March, 2012.