Every Exit Brings You Home

A Palestinian exile faces the impossibility of the American dream in this melancholy novel from Murr (The Perfect Man). Hailing from Gaza, Jack and his wife, Dimra, live in a shabby condo in 2000s Chicago. Jack serves as the building’s board president, since he’s the only one capable of handling the relentless maintenance problems and the other residents’ demanding personalities, especially Vietnam prison camp survivor May, who levies fines for other residents’ petty infractions while neglecting her troubled son. Dimra, who suffers from endometriosis and sequesters herself in their apartment, wants nothing more than to have a child with Jack, despite multiple miscarriages and failed treatments the couple can ill afford. Meanwhile, Jack, who works as a flight attendant, poses as gay to fend off advances from women colleagues. As Jack deals with the strain of Dimra’s worsening condition and his neighbors’ needs, he reflects on his past in Gaza, contemplating his first sexual experiences with a male cousin, his mother’s struggle for acceptance as a disowned Coptic convert, and the perpetual threat of violence from Israel. Murr’s sharp observational skills and steady hand keep the story flowing. This humanizes the pain of displacement and the trauma of war. (Feb.)