Facing Prejudice and Solving Mysteries

By KATHY BLOOMFIELD

THE ENEMY HAS A FACE
By Gloria D. Miklowitz.
140 pages. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. $16.
Ages 12 and up.

Given the confusing ways in which they are stereotyped, how do young people from the Middle East view themselves and others? This is the central question posed by The Enemy has a Face, a suspenseful, provocative, and disturbing novel for young adults.

The Hofman family has recently moved from Israel to suburban Los Angeles, where Dr. Hofman develops satellite systems for the US government. Narrated by Netta Hoffman, a 13-year-old eighth grader, the book opens with the discovery that her brother, 17-year-old Adam, has not come home from a dinner appointment he had the night before. Mrs. Hofman is frantic and Dr. Hofman calls the police. Netta, despite her protests, is shuffled off to school.

Although the police department and a private detective are investigating Adam's disappearance, Netta begins to search for clues on her own. Her investigation quickly turns up a girl her brother was communicating with via the Internet and some enemies her well-liked brother made at an Arab-Israeli discussion group at his high school. At the same time, Netta forms a tentative friendship with a Palestinian classmate, Laith, who agrees, at great risk to himself, to help her find out if Adam could have been abducted by a possible Palestinian terrorist cell working in the area.

Throughout the story, Netta and those she encounters are forced to confront their stereotypes and prejudices about each other. "An enemy is one whose story we have not heard" is the motto of a peace camp whose brochure Netta finds on her brother's desk. Netta shares with Laith what it is like to live in Israel under the constant threat of terrorism ("If you'd quit the violence, stop sending suicide bombers in to kill innocent people...") while Laith describes to Netta his experience of life in the Palestinian territories under Israeli control ("Your soldiers put up road blocks so our people can't go out or come in to our own towns—even to work.") Netta and Laith learn to listen to each other, start to see each other's point of view, and a friendship begins to develop. We come to understand that while the differences between their two cultures are large and seemingly insurmountable, with time, effort, communication, and understanding, the situation might change. Despite their often angry discussions, they continue to remain focused and work together on finding Netta's brother.

Every possible theory for Adam's mysterious disappearance is considered. Has he been injured and can't get to a phone? Has he committed suicide? Has he run off with a girl he met? Has he been kidnapped and is being held for ransom? Is terrorism to blame, as revenge for his father's work? As each possibility is reviewed and analyzed, the story's characters develop ideas about who is involved and what has actually happened. Reading the book, one can't help but speculate about Adam's fate. For both the characters in the book and the readers of the story, impartiality is difficult, if not impossible. As we get closer and closer to the truth of Adam's disappearance, we find a need to place blame, to find a rational, reasonable explanation for the trauma this family is enduring. And therein lies the true power of this novel.

The mystery of Adam's disappearance—which is not resolved until the last pages of the book—makes for suspenseful and entertaining reading. The prejudices and preconceived notions assembled as the tale unfolds finally crumble with the discovery of who is actually responsible for Adam's disappearance, in a conclusion that is both genuinely surprising and deeply disturbing.

As in all good fiction for young adults, no pat moral lurks in the book's conclusion. While Miklowitz presents contentious and difficult questions about the Middle East in stark black and white, she does not favor black over white or vice versa. The reader, whether teenager or adult, is ultimately left to deal with her own prejudices—even some she may not have known she had.

I highly recommend this book for teens trying to understand the issues in the Middle East from the perspective of young people their own age who have lived there. This is an ideal selection or a Parent-Child Book Group or a classroom reading circle, because the issues it presents will spark discussions as timely as today's headlines.