Shake Off (23 page)

1. “No suffering is unique,” Abu Leila tells Michel early on in the events of
Shake Off
. What does Michel’s mentor mean by this assertion? Do you agree with him, and if so how is Michel’s suffering like that of another person? How does or should one apply this maxim to daily life? In what way can this phrase be applied to the aims or effects of literature as a whole?

2. Much of the character dramas that unfold in Mischa Hiller’s
Shake Off
take place within the limited space uncommon to most U.S. living arrangements—the shared facilities of a bed-sit with one washroom per floor, each used by multiple tenants. What was your reaction reading these sections—did they seem particularly exciting or radical, given how infrequent this setup is in America? Looking back on the novel, how central is this living arrangement to the events of
Shake Off
—do you think the same plot could unfold in the U.S., without the same amount of shared living space?

3. What did you think of Abu Leila’s mentoring of Michel in the novel’s opening chapters? Of Abu Leila in general? Did you foresee any of the later reversals that occur as the story develops? How do you reconcile the ways in which Abu Leila alternately saves and misleads Michel—is he more benefactor, enemy, or both in equal measure?

4. The tradecraft in
Shake Off
provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of clandestine operations. What is the most interesting piece of how spies operate you learned in reading
Shake Off
? Do you think Michel’s knowledge of the tricks of the trade, and complicated double life, ultimately doom or redeem him?

5. Michel is not the first literary spy to struggle with substance-abuse issues, though his addiction to codeine is particularly well-drawn. What is it about dependency that makes addiction good fodder for crime fiction, spy thrillers in particular? What do you think Hiller is attempting to demonstrate about Michel by saddling him with a drug problem—and how, if at all, does this aspect of Michel’s character color your feelings toward
Shake Off
’s protagonist as a whole?

6. Abu Leila’s training for Michel includes more than just lessons in professional spy tactics—he also encourages Michel to read widely. What purpose would you say Michel’s literary education serves? Do later events influence your understanding of Abu Leila’s motives in encouraging Michel’s reading? Or do you think Abu Leila encourages Michel’s literary pursuits for reasons separate from his political agenda?

7. Set around a pivotal moment in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
Shake Off
eschews a directly polemical approach for a well-told story peopled with complex characters. Did reading
Shake Off
cause you to think of this conflict in different terms? Or did it enrich your understanding of the conflict or the Palestinian perspective in matters large or small?

8. Helen, Michel’s flatmate, plays a principal role in the events of
Shake Off
,
and Hiller takes care to show how she is unlike any other woman to Michel’s eyes. What did you think of Helen? Does she make a good match for Michel? In what ways does she complement Michel and demonstrate the workings of a good literary romance? What, if anything, do you foresee happening between Michel and Helen beyond the novel’s final pages?

Of English and Palestinian descent, Mischa Hiller was born in England in 1962 and grew up in London, Beirut, and Dar es Salaam. He was a semifinalist in the
2007 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting and winner of the 2009 European Independent Film Festival script competition for his adaptation of his first novel,
Sabra Zoo
.
Sabra Zoo
was the winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ 2011 First Book prize (Europe and South Asia region). Hiller was also a runner-up in the 2006 Bridport short story competition. He lives in Cambridge, England, with his wife and children.

“
Shake Off
absolutely blew me away. Hiller’s novel has the benefit of mining every trope of the thriller genre while being absolutely original at the same time. I will read anything by Hiller from now on.”

—Malcolm Gladwell,
The New Yorker
(Best Books of 2012)

“A contemplative espionage novel that uses the imminent demise of the Soviet Union as a backdrop….Consistently intriguing.”

—Adam Woog,
Seattle Times

“Both poignant and human…A unique and engaging voice….Hiller’s writing style is sparse but evocative; the hero’s bare room and the loneliness of exile deftly drawn. Words are used sparingly and effectively….Powerful and thought-provoking, this is a book that stays with the reader.
Shake Off
is hard to shake off.”

—Adam LeBor,
The Economist

“A spy thriller of the highest class.”

—Charles Cumming,
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Trinity Six
and
A Foreign Country

“A beautifully written novel that chronicles the education of a spy….Sensitive and realistic.”

—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“
Shake Off
is the gripping tale of a foot-soldier operative, forever passing on coded messages and delivering packages….Hiller recalls the cool detachment and compelling eye for the ordinary detail that characterized the early thrillers of Graham Greene.”

—Sholto Byrnes,
Independent on Sunday
(UK)

“Excellent….Woven into this tense and tightly knit narrative, and embedded in frank, confessional prose, Hiller provides an education in spycraft….Hiller, whose work has long been admired in Israel and Europe, is a confident storyteller, as skillfully restrained in exposition as in dialogue. His novel is sparsely populated, but the few characters he offers us are so fully formed they fill up the pages and threaten to spill over….You can train your way to competency as a spy, but all the training and all the spy novels in the world, including this one, can’t prepare you for what it means to be a human in the fuzzy ethical world of the twenty-first century. And Hiller makes certain that irony, like a pesky shadow, is something we can’t cleanly shake off.”

—Jason Allen Ashlock, TheRogueReader.com

“
Shake Off
carries the conviction of authentic espionage tradecraft on every page. Imagine John le Carré combined with Ken Follett. Smart and tense and real enough to be scary.”

—David Morrell,
New York Times
bestselling author of
First Blood
and
Creepers

“In the best le Carré tradition….Hiller brings to his works not only a craftsman’s skill but also a compassion for his characters that proves infectious.”

—
Haaretz
(Israel)

“Successfully mixes the suspense and fast pace of a spy story with a set of complex, compelling characters and unexpected situations.”

—
Jordan Times
(Jordan)

“
Shake Off
is ingeniously plotted and skillfully paced, and interlaces compelling human stories with political espionage. The suspense builds until the very end.”

—
Saudi Gazette
(Saudi Arabia)

“Hiller’s fiction joins great Arabic novels such as
Love in Exile
by Bahaa Taher, Egyptian winner of the inaugural ‘Arabic Booker’ prize in 2008, and Elias Khoury’s
Gate of the Sun
. His own strengths are understated humor and an eye for irony.”

—Maya Jaggi,
The Guardian
(UK)

“Hiller tackles complex issues with sensitivity, and his portrait of a traumatized survivor is also deeply affecting….A clever thriller…this British-Palestinian writer is an upcoming talent to watch.”

—Lucy Popescu,
The Independent
(UK)

“Melancholy and dreamlike, Hiller’s neat upending of conventions movingly captures the realpolitik of a conflict perpetuated by the shared interests of enemies.”

—
The Telegraph
(UK)

“Excellent…A fast-moving, literate thriller.”

—
Sydney Morning Herald
(Australia)

“Impossible to put down….
Shake Off
is all the things it’s billed as—infectious, thought-provoking, and entertaining—because Michel is a character who exposes the dark complexities of being human. Intense and complicated. Hiller succeeds in a significant way.”

—William Boyle,
Grift

“Le Carré said we live in ‘coded times,’ and
Shake Off
is a book that takes that idea to hypnotizing levels. A novel about identity and sadness and love, it is also a hellaciously entertaining chase thriller. But the achievement of the novel rests in its orphan main character; Michel is a great character, one of the finest heroes I’ve seen in the spy genre simply because he is like so many of us, desperately searching for who he is and where he came from. This is a novel that is as much about personhood as it is tradecraft, and it succeeds on both counts. My highest recommendation.”

—Will Lavender,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Obedience
and
Dominance

“In a life driven by deceit, [protagonist] Khoury’s motives, decisions, and reactions can be traced to the massacre that cost him his family. Khoury’s initial human contact is the superbly written Abu Leila, but Hiller opens the narrative by introducing Helen, a beautiful and free-spirited English anthropology doctoral candidate….The author writes believably of the world of undercover spies, both about the practicalities—picking locks, coding messages, using false identities—and the atmosphere of constant paranoia, continual double-dealing, and amorality. An entertainingly complex, quick-moving psychological thriller.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

Sabra Zoo

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Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Epigraph
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty-Six
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Forty-Nine
Fifty
Acknowledgments
Reading Group Guide
   An interview with Mischa Hiller
   Questions and topics for discussion
About the Author
Extraordinary acclaim for Mischa Hiller's
Shake Off
Also by Mischa Hiller
Newsletters
Table of Contents
Copyright