Description
In a war-torn Iraq where death is both constant and contested, this novel follows Jawad as his family’s desperate livelihood is tied to the mghaysil, the ritual space where the dead are washed before burial. As violence tightens its grip on everyday life, Jawad is pulled into a struggle that is at once intimate and historical—one shaped by grief, faith, and the fragile rules that keep a community human. Sinan Antoon’s lyrical, humane storytelling descends into the moral and emotional costs of conflict, revealing how ordinary people endure when institutions fail and survival demands impossible choices. Through the lens of a single family, the book explores themes of mourning, dignity, religious duty, and the ways war reshapes identity and memory.
Available Editions
paperback
Yale University Press
Published Jan 1, 2013
200 pages
ISBN: 9780300195057
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Details
First Published
2013
Language
eng
Content Warnings
Content and trigger warnings for The Corpse Washer by Sinan Antoon.