http://www.amazon.de/Unverbl%C3%BCmt-Roman-Alicia-Erian/dp/3630621643/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250770334&sr=8-1Pressestimmen"Es ist Jasiras ehrliche und direkte Stimme, die die Stärke dieser ebenso herzzerreißenden wie beindruckenden Geschichte ausmacht." (Booklist)
KurzbeschreibungSex, Scham und Kribbeln im Bauch
Die junge Jasira weiß nicht, wie ihr geschieht, als sie von ihrer Mutter in New York in den Bus nach Texas verfrachtet wird, wo sie bei ihrem libanesischen Vater leben soll. Und tatsächlich gestaltet sich das Leben für die 13-Jährige in dem beschaulichen Vorort von Houston alles andere als einfach. Die Nachbarschaft beäugt sie und ihren strengen Vater mit Argwohn, und in der Schule wird sie als Araberin verspottet. Doch am beunruhigendsten erscheinen Jasira ihre eigenen Gefühle: ihr plötzliches Gefallen an Playboy-Heften, die erotische Anziehungskraft, die ihr Nachbar, ein gestandener Familienvater, auf sie ausübt, und schließlich die eindeutig sexuellen Angebote ihres Mitschülers ...
Für Hollywood verfilmt von Regisseur Alan Ball ("American Beauty", "Six Feet Under") mit Toni Colette ("Litte Miss Sunshine") und Aaron Eckhart ("The Dark Knight"). (amazon.de)
In Towelhead, Alicia Erian's debut novel, readers are offered a view of what it might be like to grow up a child of two parents of different cultures. We may not leave with any more idea about that than we had coming into the novel but we will get a glimpse of a whole lot more than we probably bargained for.
Thirteen year old Jasira, the main character of the novel, is at once notably naive and sophisticated as she determines the best way to walk across the thin ice of her parents' making. Her mother, a controlling, self-centered, unloving school teacher won't show Jasira how to shave her bikini line so that Jasira may feel comfortable at the swimming pool. For some unknown reason, Jasira's mother is uncomfortable with Jasira's developing body. Her mother's boyfriend steps in and does the shaving, swimsuit on, and when her mother finds out, Jasira is sent away to live with her father.
If the reader is looking for some relief for Jasira in the home of her father, they will be disappointed because Daddy turns out to be even more uncomfortable than her mother with not only Jasira's body, but the very idea of her existence. Not only are Daddy's rules unreasonable but they are unpredictable and Jasira has to second guess everything that comes out of her mouth.
Next door lives a pedophile who throughout the book seems to be the one abuser of the three (mother, father, neighbor) that holds any amount of conflicting feelings and guilt regarding his actions whereas the mother and father remain oblivious to their offenses.
Added to the mix are the politics of war (although Erian does not dig all that deep in this area); adolescent sexuality; and racial issues (again not a lot of depth to the issue of racial differences).
Jasira is lucky to find an advocate in another neighbor: a pregnant newlywed with more of a world view than others around Jasira, who ultimately rescues her from both of her parents and the pedophile.
Among the criticism Towelhead has received, what stood out to me was the complaint the narrator sounds younger than her thirteen years. Initially I thought the same thing. The first sentence: "My mother's boyfriend got a crush on me, so she sent me to live with Daddy," sounds as if it came from a girl a couple of years younger than Jasira's thirteen. It's only after reading further that I was able to gain some insight as to why Jasira's mental and emotional health may have seemed arrested at times. Under the constant emotional and physical abuse of her parents it would have been more unbelievable if she had come across as mentally, emotionally, and spiritually together.
This is a book that is not easy to read-Erian's straight storytelling does not make the abuse Jasira endures more comfortable for the reader. For that reason among many others, I recommend you do read it. (Katrina Denza "KatDenza, amazon.com)
Bombenbuch um das sexuelle Erwachen einer libanesischen Jugendlichen in den USA. Mit einem strengen Vater, bei dem sie seit der Scheidung ihrer Eltern lebt; Rassismus, mit dem sie tagtäglich leben muss; und einem Army-Typ-Nachbarn, in dem pädophile Gefühle erwachen...alles im Kontext mit dem Beginn des Irakkriegs und der Thematik Saddam Hussein Anfang der 1990er Jahre.
Dicke Empfehlung.
Unangenehme Stellen gibt es zuhauf, und nicht selten wird man dabei an den nicht minder kontroversen MYSTERIOUS SKIN erinnert.
Mittlerweile von Alan Ball (Drehbuchautor von AMERICAN BEAUTY) unter dem Titel
Nothing is Private verfilmt.
Trailer: