WORD LISTS

"As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow" by Zoulfa Katouh, Chapter 30–Epilogue

Wed Jan 03 17:23:08 EST 2024
By Vocabulary.com (NY)Visual Thesaurus Moderator
When war breaks out in Syria, eighteen-year-old pharmacy student Salama Kassab finds herself in a hospital tending to the wounded and struggling with visions of a life that might have been.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–10, Chapters 11–17, Chapters 18–29, Chapter 30–Epilogue
cornea
I don’t turn on the lights, instead letting my corneas and lenses adapt to the darkness.
opaque
The white tube flickers, becoming almost translucent before going back to opaque.
elate
I know he won’t always be in my life. But hearing him say it both saddens and elates me.
furtively
I furtively steal glances at him.
tendril
My heart is hotter than the sun, its fiery tendrils spreading along my vascular system.
reverence
“Beautiful,” he murmurs. There’s reverence and awe in his tone.
heady
I cup his face and his stubble pricks my palms, but I hardly feel it with the heady effect his kiss has on me.
supplication
“It means we need to pray. The FSA is doing everything they can, but we have no one but God now.”
I close my eyes, my lips mouthing a supplication.
invoke
“What if the military breaches before the twenty-fifth?” I ask in a low voice lest I invoke the breach myself.
clamber
I clamber to my feet, heart in my throat, and Kenan wakes with a gasp.
macabre
The patients behind us watch the macabre spectacle unfold with terrified eyes, not one of them daring to move.
forsake
Every ounce of energy forsakes me. I can’t think or move, and I’m too scared Kenan will be shot if I try anything.
seethe
But once it steadies, I see the soldier is seething, all hints of his humor gone.
welt
An angry welt swells on his forehead.
drawl
His voice is urgent, very different from his usual drawl.
breach
“If five soldiers from the military were able to breach the Free Syrian Army’s defenses, what does that say?”
ashen
The other replays Samar’s ashen, bloodless face as I held her life hostage.
muddle
“I should have known something wasn’t right when my calls to the FSA weren’t going through, but my mind was muddled after yesterday’s attack.”
resilience
“Other cities, like Ghouta, are setting up underground hospitals. We’ll build tunnels and mazes deep in the ground. They can bomb us all they want—we’ll never bow down.”
His resilience humbles me.
titter
Lama titters and Yusuf can’t fight the smile on his lips.
limbo
Usually my neighborhood exists in a repetitive limbo.
despondent
The wind carries the children’s tentative laughter and cries through the despondent ruins.
muster
Kenan tilts his head, trying to muster any ounce of pride.
billow
Am steps on the gas and the tires screech, dust billowing behind as we race off.
leer
The soldier leers and Kenan’s face turns as white as a sheet.
deftly
He whips around and throws my life jacket at me. I catch it deftly.
discreet
I quickly go through my bag and take out one tablet, pass it to him discreetly.
relent
I relent. He really is just tired.
angst
Since the beginning of time, I have awoken in people’s hearts. I’ve been given many names in countless languages. In yours, I’m Khawf. In English, Fear. In German, Angst.
heed
Humans have listened to my whispers, heeded my council, and tasted my power.
humble
You’ve overcome so many struggles and I’m humbled by them.
monochrome
Syria was gray. The destroyed buildings and roads. The ashy faces of the starving. Sometimes the skies. Our life literally became monochrome, alternating with a harsh red.
stupor
A scream pierces the air, and it wakes me from my stupor.
trachea
My heart seizes, my trachea constricts, and my extremities are so cold they burn.
minaret
The athan rings loud from the minarets and people gather for prayer in the spacious, intricately designed mosques that have been standing there for centuries.
splay
“You’re so beautiful,” I coo at a baby daisy shyly splaying out her petals against the scars on my hands.
diaspora
Families with no relatives living in diaspora are usually torn apart, scattered over a few countries depending on which accepts them.
scour
Daily, I scour Facebook and Twitter pages that post regular updates on the prisoners in the Syrian detention facilities that have been released, as well as those that have information on prisoners still inside.
garner
After arriving in Berlin, Kenan picked up where he left off with his activism and, after a few more videos, he began to garner the world’s attention.
croon
An English song I don’t know croons out.

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