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Reviews tagging 'Death'
People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn
8 reviews
earthie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
I truly found this book both enlightening and sobering at once. It made me feel more connected to my feelings of today, as well as my relationship with my past - my intergenerational past filled with heartbreaking tragedy and resilient community.
This book put words to the things that I have been feeling and trying to not feel all at once. It made me feel a far-distant home and as I finish this book in the evening of Seattle, I wonder about those across the world waking as I say the evening shema.
This is a book I would recommend to everyone with the dad awareness that those whom most need to read it never will.
The audiobook I found to be phenomenal, but I could see how it would be difficult to physically read as I found myself drifting off at times in my own thoughts, including investigating name changes in my own family history.
I think the reviews that accuse the author of her bias and not understanding the placement of Jews from an intersectional perspective are being overly critical of a piece of literature in a way that, ironically, would not (and has not) been done by writers of other identities. See, Barbara Smith literally stating that she is an antisemite in "Yours in Struggle" (though then going on to praise Jewish feminism's position: supporting Israel & criticizing it's government publicly and loudly). Horn does, in fact, ignore some aspects of intersectionality -- but this is a book of short essays, not a place where one can have nuance for every single point of argument. To address every single potential point or counter-argument would result not in a book of short essays, but a Talmudic conversation of conversations -- perhaps one we should have, but with respect for one another and a base understanding that no one is supportive of killing children (which Horn also addresses this point, in how she must caveat anything she says to ensure folk do not assume her evil while others are given the benefit of the doubt in not being evil).
The argument that whiteness is ignored, I would partially agree on -- in the sense that Horn does not go out of her way to discuss race (even when talking about Chinese Jews). She focuses more on the religious aspect of Judaism and physical markers of the religion, rather than physically unchangeable markers of Judaism - what some of the critics would consider as a stereotypical Long Island Jew who benefits from certain privileges based on being white-passing, versus the Ethiopian Jews and other MENA Jews that the author talks about, who I would guess would not benefit from that same white privilege the critics so gracefully blanket all Jews with. And lastly, if your critique of this book includes your inability to even finish a book (or get more than a chapter in) before leaving a review calling the author a dirty Zionist, you might want to take a look at a mirror about your own antisemitic beliefs and try to comprehend the views and points of others without aligning every piece of media you read with whatever single hot-button issue it is that today is disturbing.
I went to the comments section filled with dread and was met with sorrow from both those failing to see the point and from those seeing the point and feeling the same communal sadness.
This book put words to the things that I have been feeling and trying to not feel all at once. It made me feel a far-distant home and as I finish this book in the evening of Seattle, I wonder about those across the world waking as I say the evening shema.
This is a book I would recommend to everyone with the dad awareness that those whom most need to read it never will.
The audiobook I found to be phenomenal, but I could see how it would be difficult to physically read as I found myself drifting off at times in my own thoughts, including investigating name changes in my own family history.
I think the reviews that accuse the author of her bias and not understanding the placement of Jews from an intersectional perspective are being overly critical of a piece of literature in a way that, ironically, would not (and has not) been done by writers of other identities. See, Barbara Smith literally stating that she is an antisemite in "Yours in Struggle" (though then going on to praise Jewish feminism's position: supporting Israel & criticizing it's government publicly and loudly). Horn does, in fact, ignore some aspects of intersectionality -- but this is a book of short essays, not a place where one can have nuance for every single point of argument. To address every single potential point or counter-argument would result not in a book of short essays, but a Talmudic conversation of conversations -- perhaps one we should have, but with respect for one another and a base understanding that no one is supportive of killing children (which Horn also addresses this point, in how she must caveat anything she says to ensure folk do not assume her evil while others are given the benefit of the doubt in not being evil).
The argument that whiteness is ignored, I would partially agree on -- in the sense that Horn does not go out of her way to discuss race (even when talking about Chinese Jews). She focuses more on the religious aspect of Judaism and physical markers of the religion, rather than physically unchangeable markers of Judaism - what some of the critics would consider as a stereotypical Long Island Jew who benefits from certain privileges based on being white-passing, versus the Ethiopian Jews and other MENA Jews that the author talks about, who I would guess would not benefit from that same white privilege the critics so gracefully blanket all Jews with. And lastly, if your critique of this book includes your inability to even finish a book (or get more than a chapter in) before leaving a review calling the author a dirty Zionist, you might want to take a look at a mirror about your own antisemitic beliefs and try to comprehend the views and points of others without aligning every piece of media you read with whatever single hot-button issue it is that today is disturbing.
I went to the comments section filled with dread and was met with sorrow from both those failing to see the point and from those seeing the point and feeling the same communal sadness.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Murder, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, Trafficking, Child death, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Deportation, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, War, Slavery, and Violence
Minor: Suicide and Excrement
dominic_t's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
2.0
Dara Horn's prose is beautiful, but I really don't feel like I can recommend this book. There are individual essays that I think are worth reading, but I really disagree with her Zionist stance. She writes with the assumption that anti-Zionism is always antisemitic, and she doesn't even bother providing evidence to support that. She supports Israel, and the underlying assumption of the book is that anyone who doesn't support Israel is just antisemitic. Some of her statements against the anti-Zionist movement are downright offensive. At one point, she described an Auschwitz exhibit and related some of the antisemitic propaganda from Nazi Germany to the current experiences of Jewish people in the US. She said, "There are photos of signs reading KAUFT NICHT BEI JUDEN (Don't buy from Jews), a sentiment familiar today to anyone who has been Jewish on a college campus with a boycott-Israel campaign" (page 186). This is so incredibly offensive. Boycotting Israel is not the same as boycotting all Jewish people. Equating "Israel" with "all Jewish people" is itself antisemitic. A lot of Jewish people don't support Israel and don't feel like Israel represents them. We are not a monolith.
Her chapter "Dead Jews of the Desert" is very informative, but it feels like half the story. She talks how Jewish people have been pushed out of their communities around the Middle East and interviews historians who are trying to preserve that history. It's really important to discuss this history of Jewish communities in the Middle East outside Israel because it often gets erased. Understanding this history provides a lot of context for Middle Eastern Jewish people's mass migration to Israel. Many countries in the Middle East ethnically cleansed their Jewish communities. But now Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their land. She quotes someone saying that the Middle East is becoming more homogenous, but so is Israel. Israel is making laws defining itself as a Jewish state and razing Palestinian villages to the ground. The underlying implication of the chapter is "this is why Israel needs to exist," but there is no acknowledgement that Israel is doing the exact same thing.
I did like her chapter on Anne Frank called "Everyone's (Second) Favorite Dead Jew." I think it's a very insightful look into why gentiles are so captivated by Anne Frank and view her diary as the quintessential first person account of the Holocaust while ignoring other accounts of the Holocaust that detail the atrocities and express anger towards the societies that committed this genocide. This chapter is the entire reason why this book is 2 stars instead of 1. I wholeheartedly recommend that chapter, just not the rest of the book.
Her chapter "Dead Jews of the Desert" is very informative, but it feels like half the story. She talks how Jewish people have been pushed out of their communities around the Middle East and interviews historians who are trying to preserve that history. It's really important to discuss this history of Jewish communities in the Middle East outside Israel because it often gets erased. Understanding this history provides a lot of context for Middle Eastern Jewish people's mass migration to Israel. Many countries in the Middle East ethnically cleansed their Jewish communities. But now Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their land. She quotes someone saying that the Middle East is becoming more homogenous, but so is Israel. Israel is making laws defining itself as a Jewish state and razing Palestinian villages to the ground. The underlying implication of the chapter is "this is why Israel needs to exist," but there is no acknowledgement that Israel is doing the exact same thing.
I did like her chapter on Anne Frank called "Everyone's (Second) Favorite Dead Jew." I think it's a very insightful look into why gentiles are so captivated by Anne Frank and view her diary as the quintessential first person account of the Holocaust while ignoring other accounts of the Holocaust that detail the atrocities and express anger towards the societies that committed this genocide. This chapter is the entire reason why this book is 2 stars instead of 1. I wholeheartedly recommend that chapter, just not the rest of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide and Death
leslie_overbookedsocialworker's review
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Genocide, Violence, Death, Hate crime, Deportation, Gaslighting, and Grief
kayladaila's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Antisemitism, Death, and Genocide
sjanke2's review
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Racism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, and Mass/school shootings
belle2008's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, and War
1414's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, and Genocide
clarabooksit's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
-Supremely well-written: the combination of research, journalism and personal narrative is stunning, compelling and persuasive.
-It gutted my understanding of what anti-semitism really is and how it functions in society by highlighting just how insidious and pervasive it is.
-I was breathless, heartbroken and enraged while reading this.
-Horn’s persistent hope, compassion and humor are inspiring.
-I couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks.
-It gutted my understanding of what anti-semitism really is and how it functions in society by highlighting just how insidious and pervasive it is.
-I was breathless, heartbroken and enraged while reading this.
-Horn’s persistent hope, compassion and humor are inspiring.
-I couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Death, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Xenophobia
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