No One Knows Their Blood Type

Unlike most Palestinian fiction, No One Knows Their Blood Type (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2024) does not prioritise the Palestinian anti-colonial resistance or portray its protagonists as central to the Palestinian struggle. The reader is introduced to relatable characters with relatable traits, and the promise of enough intrigue to keep reading about this dysfunctional family dynamic that is told through the viewpoint of several narrators but mostly by Jumana, the protagonist in the novel. 

This is not to say that the Palestinian context is irrelevant – indeed some situations are shaped by absence caused by political obligations. The book is also steeped in the colonial violence and limitations imposed by Israel upon the Palestinian people. However, the author introduces the reader to the more mundane albeit dramatic situations that are largely overlooked in literature that amplifies the Palestinian resistance. In Maya Abu al-Hayyat’s novel, the characters are relating to their immediate narratives, their immediate surroundings and complications. There are no references of magnitude of Palestinian resistance; instead, daily life and personal narratives bring forth and shape Jumana’s story, who discovers that is she is likely not the daughter of the man she was brought up to think was her father. 

The book opens with hospital scenes as Jumana’s father dies and his death certificate reveals an O positive bloody type, while Jumana is AB positive. Her soon to be husband Suheil points out the discrepancy but is not concerned. Jumana, on the other hand, is faced with the possibility of a scientific confirmation possibly upending what she believed to be true of her family life, even though through her narrations, we see several ambiguities emerging.Based upon recollections, descriptions and anecdotes, the book does not follow a chronological order. Jumana and her sister Yara were born in Beirut. Their early childhood is swathed in rumours and at a very young age, they are sent off to live with their aunt in Amman. Jumana and Yara’s father is a PLO officer whose presence is very sporadic as he lives in Spain, leaving his sister to provide for his daughters. It is mostly through the aunt’s indignation at caring for the two girls that the PLO occasionally features in context, due to several visits to the office in Amman asking for financial help in the girls’ upbringing.