As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow: Chapters 1–3

by Zoulfa Katouh
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
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. fateful
    having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences
    When the aisles prove to be truly empty, I trudge to the counter to pay for the lemons and bread with Baba’s savings. From whatever he was able to withdraw before that fateful day.
  2. desolate
    crushed by grief
    Outside the supermarket a desolate picture greets me. I don’t recoil, used to the horror, but it amplifies the anguish in my heart.
  3. elements
    violent or severe weather
    Cracked road, the asphalt reduced to rubble. Gray buildings hollowed and decaying as the elements try to finish what the military’s bombs started.
  4. thwart
    hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire
    Misery reigns strong in the dead, heavy branches and rubble, thwarted only by the hope in people’s hearts.
  5. gaunt
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    Several men stand outside the supermarket, their faces gaunt and marked with malnourishment but their eyes sparkling with light.
  6. succumb
    be fatally overwhelmed
    And I know we’ll all succumb to a fate worse than death if the Free Syrian Army isn’t able to stop the military’s advances on Old Homs.
  7. oscillate
    move or swing from side to side regularly
    And today, the echo of the oscillating saw from the amputation Dr. Ziad made me stand in for is stuck in my mind on a loop.
  8. cultivate
    foster the growth of
    For seventeen years, Homs raised me and cultivated my dreams: Graduate from university with a high GPA, secure a great position at the Zaytouna Hospital as their pharmacist, and finally be able to travel outside of Syria and see the world.
  9. seasoned
    rendered competent through trial and experience
    Having spent one year at pharmacy school, I was the equivalent of a seasoned doctor, and after their last pharmacist was buried under the rubble of his home, there was no other choice.
  10. perforated
    having a number or series of holes
    The rest of the way back home reminds me of the black-and-white pictures my history textbooks showed of Germany and London after World War II. Flattened homes spilling their interior wood and concrete like a perforated intestine.
  11. affront
    treat, mention, or speak to rudely
    “It could happen. Don’t be so pessimistic.”
    I laugh at her affronted expression.
  12. formidable
    extremely impressive in strength or excellence
    Our spirits are defiant, and our history is glorious.
    And our martyrs' souls are formidable guardians.
  13. ablution
    the act of washing oneself, as for ritual purposes
    Luckily it rained last week, so Layla and I put out buckets to collect the water. I use a small handful for ablution and pray.
  14. falter
    be or become weak, unsteady, or uncertain
    Whatever control I exude during the day falters when the sun sets.
  15. bestow
    impart a quality to
    My terror has mutated in my mind, bestowed with a life and a voice that never fail to show up each night.
  16. subside
    wear off or die down
    Even when the pain subsided, and my ribs healed, and my hands scarred, he didn’t leave.
  17. snide
    expressive of contempt
    That’s how it started with him: a snide remark here and there, nudging my thoughts toward leaving Syria, until one day he decided I should ask Am for a boat.
  18. conjure
    summon into action or bring into existence
    Sometimes I wonder how my brain could conjure someone like him.
  19. atrophied
    diminished in size or strength from disease or injury
    So I take it you want to be crushed under this house. Alive and broken and bleeding. No one coming to save you because how could they? Muscles as atrophied by malnourishment as yours are can barely lift bodies, let alone concrete.
  20. threshold
    the entrance for passing through a room or building
    Then he crosses the threshold and stands in front of me.
  21. residency
    a period of specialized training in medicine
    He had just turned twenty-two, freshly graduated from medical school, and had applied for a residency at Zaytouna Hospital.
  22. conscience
    conformity to one's own sense of right conduct
    “I can’t go out there in good conscience without knowing for sure. I need to hear those words.”
  23. raze
    tear down so as to make flat with the ground
    The aftershock doesn’t blow me away. It razes the building to the ground, and I’m standing over Mama’s mutilated body.
  24. obstinate
    refusing to change one's mind or ways; difficult to convince
    “That will be Layla if you continue to be obstinate.”
  25. carnage
    the savage and excessive killing of many people
    The carnage in front of me has been seen in so many cities throughout the years. The same story but a different location. I’m sure the martyrs’ ghosts roam the abandoned homes and streets, their fingers running across the flags of the revolution painted on the walls.
  26. marred
    blemished by injury or rough wear
    The dirt underneath my old sneakers is marred with blood of the wounded carried in day after day.
  27. placebo
    an innocuous or inert medication
    Surgery equipment and medications are at an all-time low, and I can see the effect of it on the sunken faces lying on the beds all around me. Lately I’ve begun using saline and telling the patients it’s an anesthetic, hoping they believe it enough that it’ll work as a placebo.
  28. jurisdiction
    the territory within which power can be exercised
    Despite all our lacking resources, our hospital fares far better under the Free Syrian Army’s jurisdiction than ones in the regions controlled by the military.
  29. sustain
    undergo, as of injuries and illnesses
    We’ve heard stories of those captured by the military. The patients in the hospitals are dying not from the injuries they sustained during the protests but from what is inflicted on them inside the hospital.
  30. disheveled
    in disarray; extremely disorderly
    His salt-and-pepper hair is disheveled, the wrinkles around his brown eyes more pronounced.
  31. casualty
    someone injured or killed in a military engagement
    “Incoming. Reports of a bomb hitting Al-Ghouta. Twenty casualties. The seventeen injured are being brought here,” he says.
  32. mangle
    destroy or injure severely
    He knows that my fear of Layla’s becoming the next mangled body I bury will wither my resolve to stay.
  33. loll
    hang loosely or laxly
    The girl’s head has lolled to the side, and blood drips from her shirt onto the floor.
  34. adamant
    impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason
    He’s adamant about my leaving Syria and would do anything to make that happen.
  35. chastise
    scold or criticize severely
    “I—uh...I was wondering about—” I stutter and chastise myself. I should have thought of what to say.
  36. bile
    a digestive juice secreted by the liver
    A whole lot can happen in ten minutes. A sudden respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, another patient vomiting blood and bile.
  37. apprehension
    fearful expectation or anticipation
    But still my stomach gnaws with apprehension at what horrors await me at his hands.
  38. flimsy
    lacking solidity or strength
    He wades his way through the sea of bodies until he reaches me by a half-broken window that’s covered with a flimsy sheet.
  39. impassive
    having or revealing little emotion or sensibility
    He nods, but his expression is impassive. It’s not out of the ordinary now to be a family of one.
  40. germinate
    come into being and develop
    Indecision is a poison germinating in my blood vessels.
Created on Wed Jan 03 17:22:12 EST 2024 (updated Thu Jan 04 11:52:14 EST 2024)

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