Longing to Belong: The Quest for Home in Suzan Abulhawa's The Blue Between Sky and Water (2015)

This paper examines the quest for home and belonging of Palestinians and their descendants in various spatialities and the issue of in-between-ness as it is depicted in Susan Abulhawa’s The Blue Between Sky and Water (2015). Via adopting a geocritical spatial theoretical framework, this article sheds light on how Arab-Americans, namely Palestinian immigrants, realize their identity in diaspora and manage to establish their unique homes despite the senses of non-belonging and homelessness. The paper investigates some of the novel’s characters, particularly Nur, and her journey of self-discovery and belonging. In the novel, Nur is relentlessly out of place as she is caught between the binaries of the East and the West amidst a topophobic/philic reality. Thus, this paper illustrates how Abulhawa displays the struggle of finding home and belonging for Palestinians and their offspring outside of the homeland.