Chasing Shadows

Chasing Shadows, Lebanese-born Leila Yusaf Chung’s debut novel, begins with Lavi, a Polish Jew, confessing to his doctor that not only is his wife infertile but also that he is finding her increasingly unattractive. Surprisingly, his doctor’s advice is to leave the country and find a new, younger wife, so Lavi flees to Palestine and does exactly that. Although the story opens with the comic, just as Lavi begins his new life the State of Israel is born, throwing the country into civil war. Lavi’s family is forced to move to a refugee camp in Lebanon where Keira, his young wife, disappears, leaving four youngsters behind. The children are not told what has happened, and are simply taught not to talk about their mother’s departure. Lavi and Keira’s middle daughter, Ajamia, picks up the story from there.

Chasing Shadows spans two generations and works to bring to light the reality, and longevity, of war. The plot unfolds through the multiple storylines of Lavi, Keira and Ajamia, with each narrative thread centred on loss – everywhere, families lose their homes and loved ones. The backdrop of the story is vivid and culturally diverse; as well as the birth of the State of Israel, the storyline moves through the early years of Beirut’s civil war and Iran’s 1979 revolution. Each clash of culture is a study in the nature of ethnic discrimination, shown through the quick segregation of cultural groups as conflicts begin. Yusaf Chung’s account of this devastation relies on stretches of political information, which at times feel overwhelming as each individual situation is perhaps not given enough depth. This might, however, be the author’s intention; the impression that war is chaotic and consuming is made clear through how despondent each character is to the devastation around them.

Yusaf Chung’s prose is sympathetic but uncomplicated; her style accomplishes an unromantic depiction of war that doesn’t lack in suspense.

Ella Mittas is a freelance reviewer.