Black Foam

Jabir’s English-language debut traces the circuitous path of a man searching for identity and belonging, shamed by his past and hoping to find acceptance through constantly reinvented personas. Dawoud, who began life as Adal and then took on the names David and Dawit, depending on the circumstances, flees Eritrea for the Gondar refugee camp and later travels to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Throughout his journey, he takes on new names, clothing, mannerisms, and religious affiliations, and most importantly, rewrites stories of past relationships in a desperate attempt to find acceptance. With a gravelly voice, narrator Youssif Kamal fully inhabits the character of Dawoud, conveying his gnawing worries and stress, and also his satisfaction and relief when his stories are taken at face value. Kamal’s unmediated, authentic presentation captures the complexity of a person trapped in terrible circumstances—always waiting to be caught out, yet hopeful that he might find a place to call home.