Absent: Betool Khedairi's Coming-of-Age Novel

Introduction to Betool Khedairi and Absent

Betool Khedairi, born in 1965 to an Iraqi father and a Scottish mother, is the author of Absent: A Novel. She received her B.A. in French literature from the University of Mustansiriya and traveled to different countries throughout her life. She wrote her first novel, A Sky So Close, in Arabic during the 1990s. The novel was later translated into English, Italian, French, and Dutch, reaching an international audience.

A Sky So Close tells the story of a young girl named Dalal, who lives with her uncle and aunt because her parents are no longer alive. The narrative unfolds during the difficult period when the United States attacked Baghdad. The novel is a beautiful story full of wit and black humor, narrated from Dalal's point of view. Her name embodies the novel's central theme: the title "Absent" represents the loss of Dalal's parents, the loss of her aunt and uncle's unborn child, the loss of her childhood and innocence, and the loss of her trust in people who betrayed her.

The novel is classified as a coming-of-age story in literary criticism. It is set during a profoundly complicated historical era: the period of United Nations sanctions against Iraq following the Gulf War. The narrative encompasses suicide bombings, the collapse of governmental authority, millions of refugees moving through the city, and millions of deaths—both Iraqi and American soldiers.

Setting and Historical Context

Within this chaotic backdrop, the story follows Dalal's struggle to find her self-image at a young age. While many girls her age follow movie stars and fashion trends, Dalal navigates life with her aunt and uncle, whose marriage is troubled. They share their home with a fortune teller named Mazin, a gay male hairdresser named Saad, and Ilham, a postcolonial nurse with vague half-Western roots. These diverse residents form a community bound by gossip and chitchat, each processing the war and its consequences through their own struggles. The novel portrays both their individual pain and their attempts to maintain a sense of normalcy amid national chaos.

The opening chapters establish Dalal's relationships with her uncle, aunt, and the building's other residents. Khedairi presents a contrasting view of her uncle and aunt's predicament: their inability to understand each other, and the aunt's repeated references to their "days of plenty"—a past marked by greater wealth and stability.

Dalal's Early Life and Family Dynamics

Dalal faces multiple hardships in her early life. She struggles with a physical disability—facial paralysis—that she finds difficult to accept throughout the novel. Her family lacks the financial resources for surgery that could cure her condition, forcing her to live with a permanent marker of her difference. Her feelings of anger toward her circumstances, toward her uncle and aunt, and her sense of profound loss because her mother abandoned her to face the world's hardships alone are gradually revealed through the narrative.

Her uncle becomes a beekeeper to earn extra money, selling honey and enlisting Dalal's help in caring for the highly strung creatures. This work introduces her to her first romantic experience—falling "heads over heels" for someone—though this moment is quickly followed by a series of betrayals, surprises, and the shattering of social bonds that turn people against one another.

Despite learning that she will never be able to have corrective surgery, Dalal demonstrates remarkable courage and positivity by focusing on moving forward. However, she cannot forget her facial palsy, and it remains a persistent part of her self-perception. Even as the Iraqi community around her shows little change and turmoil persists, the people within her immediate circle begin to establish greater independence and stability.

Dalal is eventually accepted to university, where she balances her studies with helping her uncle and Saad the hairdresser. During this period, she is increasingly seen as her own person—someone who has learned to accept the chaos around her. When she discovers that Ilham and her boyfriend have sold human organs, she registers it merely as another unavoidable event, a sign of her growing emotional maturity and pragmatism.

Coming-of-Age Through Betrayal and Loss

Her relationship with Saad evolves into a deep friendship wherein she can confide her deepest thoughts. She also develops romantic interest in Adel, Saad's friend, and they share a romantic liaison during a night when the three of them become intoxicated. This moment signals Dalal's emerging romantic and sensual side.

As the narrative progresses, Dalal observes her aunt and uncle's deteriorating relationship with growing concern. She understands her uncle's position but becomes irritated by her aunt's constant reminders of past prosperity and her resentment toward her uncle's business relationship with a woman named Miss Randa. Her aunt accuses her uncle of "representing everything she was not." Dalal confides these observations to Saad, who becomes her emotional anchor during this turbulent period.

The turning point comes when Dalal investigates a mysterious problem with her uncle's bees at the tennis court. When she arrives at night, she discovers the court filled with corpses—victims of a missile attack who could not be buried in the morgues. The bees have been feeding on the blood of these bodies. This horrifying discovery triggers a chain of devastating events.

Because of the contamination, Dalal's uncle is arrested. She later learns that Adel, the man with whom she shared a romantic moment, is actually a secret service assistant who had been given information by Saad—who, it turns out, has been spying on Iraqi citizens for the police in exchange for his own protection. Dalal is devastated by these revelations. Adel does not acknowledge her after his arrest of her uncle, and she accuses Saad of cowardice for his disloyalty.

This chapter exposes the tragic innocence of both Dalal and her uncle: they have done nothing wrong, yet her uncle is accused of treachery without opportunity for explanation or defense. Dalal's belief in the people she trusted most is shattered. When Saad asks for forgiveness, she finds she cannot grant it; her trust in him is irrevocably broken. Her faith in people deteriorates profoundly in the aftermath of this betrayal.

Dalal's Transformation Into Adulthood

Following her uncle's arrest, Dalal abandons her education before graduation and begins working at a recycling plant. Her aunt cannot support them both, so Dalal becomes the sole breadwinner for her family. This circumstance reveals her deep sense of responsibility: she refuses to abandon her aunt, and her conscience would not permit her to pursue her own education while her aunt suffered hardship.

The end of the novel marks the beginning of another phase of Dalal's life. Her misplaced trust in the wrong people and unmanageable circumstances have brought her to this threshold of adulthood. The final scene is particularly symbolic: Dalal is smoking a cigarette—something she never did before—signaling the murder of her innocence and naiveté. She observes a "Lab for Analysis of Viral Specimens" being visited by a UN team searching for weapons of mass destruction.

In this moment, she encounters a young boy who should be in school but is instead delivering newspapers. When he explains that he has left school, Dalal takes action: she compels him to allow her to teach him, and she promises to pay him double his delivery wages each day. This gesture reveals her commitment to preventing others from experiencing the deprivation and loss of opportunity that she has endured.