41 pages • 1 hour read
Yasmina KhadraThe Attack
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaChapters 5-8 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary
Amin finds the front page of a newspaper fastened to the gate of his house, the lead story depicting the destruction caused by the bomb. His house has been turned upside down by the police search, and he barely recognizes his reflection in the mirror. He eats whatever food he can find, drinks two beers, and bathes. Amin is woken by Kim, who finds him still asleep in the bath the next morning. She helps him out of the bath before making him a hot drink. The scalding tisane warms Amin’s shivering body. Kim reveals that the door had been open all night but Amin cannot think of anything to say. Kim has to leave to work and Amin falls back to sleep.
Later, he is awoken by the screeching of his gate. Two teenagers skulk across his lawn, surrounded by pictures from newspapers. Amin shouts at them to leave, chasing them away. A crowd has gathered and they call Amin a “dirty terrorist […] Arab traitor” (38). He suddenly finds himself in the middle of a mob; they spit on Amin and push him. The mob beats Amin to a pulp. Kim finds Amin laying in his driveway, covered in bruises. No one helped him. She puts him in her car and takes him away, fearing for Amin’s life.
First, they go to a hospital to tend to Amin’s wounds. Then, they go to Kim’s house. Kim and Amin used to date, though she and Sihem “got along very well” (40). Amin and his wife would often visit Kim’s home. Kim tells Amin to make himself at home; he finds a newspaper open to a picture of Sihem. Kim quickly disposes of the paper. Later, she cooks dinner. Amin feels the urge to ask Kim about the newspaper article but cannot find the words. They eat silently and, after dinner, they smoke. Amin has not smoked in years. They sit for hours in the dark, not speaking. In the spare bed, Amin feigns unconsciousness when Kim checks on him.
A week later, Amin is still at Kim’s home. He sits inside all day; there is nothing outside for him. Amin meets with Navid to arrange his wife’s funeral. He pays the fine and collects Sihem’s body. He is alone at the cemetery when she is buried. Afterward, he returns to Kim’s home, passing young couples walking along the promenade. Though Kim has guests, he slips in silently. He recognizes Ezra and Navid’s voices, as well as Kim’s brother Benjamin. They are discussing Palestinian fundamentalists and the need to take action. Stepping into the hall, Kim finds Amin listening in on the conversation. He puts his fingers to his lips, asking for her silence, and then leaves.
Chapter 6 Summary
Amin returns to his neighborhood, where he and Sihem were once certain that their home “would be an ineradicable shrine to [their] love for each other” (44). He remembers first moving to the house with Sihem. Now, the streets are empty and the house seems haunted. The house has been desecrated and graffitied. In the mailbox, Amin finds a letter from Sihem. Inside is a short message, in which Sihem notes that Amin wanted children and she wanted to deserve them, saying that “no child is completely safe if it has no country” (46). She ends by asking Amin not to hate her. Amin drops the letter. His worst fears are confirmed, his deepest held convictions are destroyed.
Kim arrives later. Amin has again forgotten to close his front door. His bloodless face makes her worried that he has slit his wrists. As she looks around for pill bottles, Amin tells her about the letter. Kim hugs him and he cries. She stays until morning. Amin looks at Sihem’s photograph and is surprised to feel nothing. Amin is taken by Kim to her grandfather’s seaside home; Kim’s grandfather Yehuda knows nothing about what has happened. Yehuda lives alone in a house he built himself, a home filled with holocaust memorial photographs and books. As they eat lunch in a restaurant, Yehuda asks about Sihem. Amin replies that she is “unavoidably detained” (49) and Yehuda does not pry further. Kim and Amin walk on the beach and watch the sunset. Lying awake that night, Amin tries to understand how Sihem acted as she did. He finds nothing conclusive.
When Amin wakes, he goes to watch the sunrise. Yehuda comes and sits beside him. The old man begins to talk about why he has chosen to die in a house beside the sea; he has spent so long tracking down past suffering, memorializing his experiences as a holocaust survivor, that looking out over the sea allowed him to look forward rather than back. Kim joins them and they sit together on the beach, watching the sun and the sea and thinking about their collective trauma.
Chapter 7 Summary
Collecting Amin’s car from the hospital, Kim reveals that he is now considered persona non grata. Ilan Ros has united “the majority of the medical personnel” (54) against Amin. This does not surprise Amin; Ros lost his brother in an attack in Lebanon and has always viewed Amin with suspicion due to his Arab heritage. Ros is also jealous of Amin’s success. Amin begins to break free from his reflective trance, actually noticing Kim’s presence. She comforts him, taking him back to the clinic for another check up on his wounds. Navid meets them outside; Amin is surprised to find his own reaction to Navid’s presence boorish and aggressive but he is not apologetic.
Navid becomes annoyed, asking what he has done to infuriate Amin. Nothing, Amin tells him. They agree to go for a drink and Amin reflects on his desire to be rude to a friend. As they sit and drink, Amin can tell that Kim is annoyed with him. After small talk, Amin bluntly asks Navid about the investigation and tells Navid that he now accepts that Sihem was involved. Navid reveals that the investigation has come to a standstill. Amin, however, is no longer a suspect. Like Amin, Navid does not know what could have compelled Sihem to do what she did. They stay at the bar until it is late, reconciling and reflecting. Kim takes Amin home and, just before he falls asleep, she asks him why he did not mention the letter to Navid. Amin has no idea.
Chapter 8 Summary
Kim reveals that Amin’s former patients have written to the government in his defense. The hospital has ceded judgment on Amin’s further employment to the Ministry of Health. Whatever their decision, Amin does not want to return. He has long attempted to hide his religious heritage but others cannot look past the racist stereotypes that precede Amin. He “lugged the caricature of [his Bedouin] ancestry around with [him] like a convict’s ball and chain” (63). His grandfather had been a poor tribal leader, his father an artist. They fought often. Amin’s father dreamed of his son becoming a doctor and worked hard to make it a reality. Coupled with the interaction with Navid, these memories help Amin rebuild his life. He spends his days sitting in cafes, smoking and drinking coffee. He no longer has to avoid all news reports. Ezra visits. Kim and Amin go out and get drunk.
One day, Amin announces that he has to go to Bethlehem. Sihem’s letter had been postmarked in Bethlehem and he wants to know why she was there. Kim thinks he is joking and reminds him that he is “a surgeon, not a cop” (66). Amin has a foster sister in Bethlehem, he says, and does not care about the danger posed by terrorists. That evening, Kim and Amin visit a restaurant. Kim seems to know that she cannot dissuade Amin from his plan. Amin partly blames himself for Sihem’s actions, having failed to notice the change that must have come over her. He believes that there must have been a sign or a moment when Sihem signaled to him her need for help and he did not realize it. Kim cries, knowing that she cannot stop Amin. He thanks her.
Chapters 5-8 Analysis
After the initial rush of the opening chapters and the Introduction, the novel settles into a more ruminative pace. Amin is forced to confront what his wife has done and reexamine how this affects his feelings toward her. Up until the day of the attack, he had felt nothing but love and affection toward Sihem. To him, their marriage was perfect. Though they might not quite fit into either Israeli or Arab worlds, they were wealthy, sociable, and traveled all around the world. He had even begun to pester her about children, perhaps prompting her to move even closer to her radicalized position. Issues such as this plague Amin: He wonders how much his behavior radicalized his wife; how she could possibly have killed women and children; and how she could ever become such a believer in extreme ideologies. Amin, with his entire life discombobulated, takes to smoking and drinking. His behavior becomes more extreme, and he comes to grips with what his wife has done. He blames himself and he blames others. This self-loathing leads to self-destructive behavior, from smoking and drinking to deciding to pursue the investigation himself. It is in these chapters that the audience sees this self-destructive streak take hold as Amin’s life is swallowed up in self-reflecting guilt and loathing.
Kim plays an important role in furthering Amin’s drive toward self-destructive behavior. While other characters—such as Ilan Ros—are explicitly prejudiced against Amin, it is Kim who does more damage. While Navid tries to put his foot down and Ezra provides emotional support, it is Kim who enables Amin’s worst ideas. She gives him his first cigarette, she takes him out drinking with her, and she agrees to take him out of Tel Aviv to begin investigating his wife. Kim does not do this for negative reasons; she is desperate to help her friend and is frequently worried that he will commit suicide. She is the only person who is constantly in touch with Amin and who seeks to make sure that he is not in danger of harming himself. Kim’s decision to leave Tel Aviv with Amin enables the decisions that will eventually lead to Amin being kidnapped and beaten. Though Kim means well, she allows Amin to set himself along a negative path. In doing so, it demonstrates one of the key issues within the novel: There are no good or bad characters, simply those who are doing what they believe to be right.
