having hooked her

operation sounds too elaborate for that. Faraj is following standard operating procedure with Titi: having hooked her, he moves on. Hamida cannot accept this and storms out. Note that she heads not for Alexandria, as she has apparently contemplated, but returns to the tavern where she normally solicits. She sets up Abbas as her avenger with surprising ease, and the process parallels Faraj’s earlier seduction of her. The novel’s climax has been well set up, but the outcome is not yet clearly inevitable.

35

operation sounds too elaborate for that. Faraj is following standard operating procedure with Titi: having hooked her, he moves on. Hamida cannot accept this and storms out. Note that she heads not for Alexandria, as she has apparently contemplated, but returns to the tavern where she normally solicits. She sets up Abbas as her avenger with surprising ease, and the process parallels Faraj’s earlier seduction of her. The novel’s climax has been well set up, but the outcome is not yet clearly inevitable.

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