This is a book club episode. In it, Travis and Amanda will discuss and analyze the first half of FENCING WITH THE KING by Diana Abu-Jaber. You should expect full “spoilers,” discussions of rhetorical elements, and celebrations / critiques of style and substance.
From the cover: “The King of Jordan is turning sixty! How better to celebrate than with his favorite pasttime - fencing - and with his old sparring partner, American emigre Gabriel Hamdan. Gabe’s past is a mystery to his daughter, Amani - even more so since she found a poem on blue airmail paper written by his mother, a Palestinian refugee who arrived in Jordan during World War I. The poem hints at a long-kept family secret, carefully guarded by Uncle Hafez, an advisor to the King.”