The Woman I Left Behind

Jensen's awkward debut describes the politically and intellectually impassioned love affair between two students at a Southern California university in the 1980s who share a radical politics and love of poetry, but must bridge a wide cultural gulf. Khalid, a Palestinian refugee whose parents were shot by Israeli soldiers, and Irene, an alienated, antiestablishment Gentile from an affluent East Coast family, meet at an antiapartheid rally. From having "no inner resilience" (the result of her empty, materialistic upbringing and a sexual assault), Irene begins to discover purpose and engage with identity politics. Irene and Khalid's initially intense sexual attraction is strained by cultural differences and Khalid's war-bred cynicism, but their tumultuous relationship spans the course of the novel, which lasts to the first Iraq war. The woman of the title refers to the sheltered child-of-privilege Irene was before her radicalization, the beloved aunt Khalid left behind in Palestine, and Bernie, the activist he married for U.S. citizenship and abandoned for Irene. The book suffers from cardboard characters propped up to represent ideas and an oblique structure, which seeks to authenticate the fractured consciousness of victims of personal and political violence, while also encompassing an affected he said/she said approach to narrative. (Apr.)