I have actually finished this book already so I think I'm a little ahead of schedule but I got so into it that I had to continue! Plus I was on a long plane ride over break so that also factored into my decision. :)
The first part of the book introduces Wafaa Bilal and his art project, Domestic Tension. He decided to live in a room of an art gallery for one month, with a paintball gun aimed at him, that people could fire through a website. His installation was meant to bring attention to the war in Iraq and to make people think about what it means for soldiers and members of the U.S. military to be able drop bombs on other countries while sitting safely here in the U.S., often not really seeing their target. He also had more personal motivations for the project, in that his brother and father had recently died back home in Iraq and he wanted to channel his sadness about their deaths and his self-consciousness about living comfortably in the U.S. into a thought-provoking, somewhat controversial installation piece.
The book continues in an alternating sort of way, switching between narratives about his experiences during the month-long installation and narratives telling bits and pieces of his experience growing up in Iraq. His family life was characterized by almost constant tension exuded by his father, a man depressed and frustrated with his lot in life. Wafaa's parents separated several times and so life at home was somewhat unpredictable. Interspersed with this dialogue, he also talks about the beginnings of his project and people that he met to help him construct the gun, program and website. The first day that Domestic Tension opened, the atmosphere was somewhat awkward as people did not really know how to respond and Wafaa felt somewhat separate from the people in the gallery but still tried to interact with them. The beginnings of his project were a little unremarkable otherwise. The gun would not go off that frequently and so living in the gallery room was pretty bearable.
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