Review: Discipline by Randa Abdel-Fattah

The question of who shapes the narrative of the stories that are told in the media and in wider Australia is at the heart of Discipline the latest novel (and first adult novel) by former lawyer Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah. Set in Sydney in May 2021, it tells the story of two very different people who find themselves changed by the same incident. A year twelve student from a local Islamic college has been arrested for protesting a university's links to an Israeli weapons factory. Hannah, a young journalist of Palestinian heritage, who was raised in Australia and now married to a Palestinian man, is keen to cover the story, but soon finds herself fighting all kinds of battles in the newsroom. Meanwhile, Ashraf, an academic whose personal life has come undone, finds in it an opportunity to revive his professional career ... but at what cost?

This was an interesting read. It forced me to take a very different look at the Australia that I thought I knew, one where people feel silenced for having views that may different to those held by an academic institution or a media outlet, the impact of that silence and the cost of protest. Around the final quarter of the book, I began to feel hopeful that Hannah's colleague may have reached a place of understanding, only to have those hopes dashed and to be left with a sense of anger and injustice. Neither Ashraf, nor Hannah are terribly likable characters--one is far too complicit, the other in a near constant state of anger, however, that is also a part of the point. Both have been shaped by an ongoing conflict that is not of their making and one that is misunderstood by many around them. And both have choices to make regarding what they are going to do about it and how they are going to move forward and create change.

Thought provoking.

Recommended.

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