Goodreads Review of In the Presence of Absence
5 stars
This is the work that Darwish thought would be his last, and it’s a beautiful, long prose-poem. His descriptions of cities, play with language, and painting of soft, intimate moments are beautiful and passionate. The feeling of exile looms large here, as it does with all of his writings. In some ways, it’s a self-elegy, and it’s remarkable.
