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Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'
Palestine + 100: Stories from a Century after the Nakba by Basma Ghalayini
4 reviews
tahsintries's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, Abortion, Addiction, Genocide, Medical trauma, Blood, Confinement, Murder, Mental illness, and Colonisation
azrah786's review against another edition
3.5
CW: violence, gun violence, blood, injury, body horror, murder, death, child death, war, suicide, genocide, grief, colonisation, confinement
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As soon as I became aware that this was a sci-fi anthology I immediately added it to my tbr and I’ve finally got around to reading it.
Palestine +100 is a short story collection where twelve writers were asked to reimagine Palestine in 2048, a century after the Nakba. A few of the stories are translated and they range in subgenre, though there a significant inclusion of technology in each narrative.
Basma Ghalayini, the editor points out how Palestinian authors predominantly “write about their past through their present, knowingly or unknowingly” and I found this collection to be in the same vein with the writers expressing the present in their imagination of the future, making it just as valuable to learn from.
Some stories explore what a free Palestine would look like and what “free” actually means. Others touch on Palestinian resilience and resistance as well as themes of security and mental health under occupation, expanding on them under a sci-fi lens. As with any such collection it is a mixed bag and there were definitely some stories that I enjoyed more and resonated more with than others. Though despite being speculative each and every one of them has something that will really get you thinking and further put into perspective the Orwellian nature of things we’re witnessing here and now.
Which brings me to the story that will stick with me the most - Song of the Birds by Saleem Haddad. A poignant and phenomenal pie and I’d rather not give too much about it away. It’s subtle on the futuristic elements making the setting, which is Gaza, close to indistinguishable from present day.
What was absolutely jarring was reading the quote (here it is out of context)
--
As soon as I became aware that this was a sci-fi anthology I immediately added it to my tbr and I’ve finally got around to reading it.
Palestine +100 is a short story collection where twelve writers were asked to reimagine Palestine in 2048, a century after the Nakba. A few of the stories are translated and they range in subgenre, though there a significant inclusion of technology in each narrative.
Basma Ghalayini, the editor points out how Palestinian authors predominantly “write about their past through their present, knowingly or unknowingly” and I found this collection to be in the same vein with the writers expressing the present in their imagination of the future, making it just as valuable to learn from.
Some stories explore what a free Palestine would look like and what “free” actually means. Others touch on Palestinian resilience and resistance as well as themes of security and mental health under occupation, expanding on them under a sci-fi lens. As with any such collection it is a mixed bag and there were definitely some stories that I enjoyed more and resonated more with than others. Though despite being speculative each and every one of them has something that will really get you thinking and further put into perspective the Orwellian nature of things we’re witnessing here and now.
Which brings me to the story that will stick with me the most - Song of the Birds by Saleem Haddad. A poignant and phenomenal pie and I’d rather not give too much about it away. It’s subtle on the futuristic elements making the setting, which is Gaza, close to indistinguishable from present day.
What was absolutely jarring was reading the quote (here it is out of context)
“I’m thinking that you’re telling me the only way I can be free is to die”
all the while scrolling on social media to see people in Gaza proclaiming that those who had died early on in the “war” were the lucky ones, that they’d escaped the worst of the suffering, that at least they’d had people there to bury them and know to remember them..
Final Rating – 3.5/5 Stars
Final Rating – 3.5/5 Stars
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Blood, Confinement, Child death, Grief, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Violence, Gun violence, Body horror, Death, War, and Suicide
laurareads87's review
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Palestine +100 is a collection of short stories and one novella, each by a different Palestinian author and each envisioning 2048 Palestine. Urgent, gut-wrenching, and wide-ranging; this is difficult reading, but there is some humour in some places too. Inevitably, as this is an anthology, some stories stood out more than others. Ghalayini's introduction is vital reading for context.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Grief, Child death, War, Death, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Suicide
samalsha's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Blood, Death, Violence, Colonisation, Gun violence, Grief, and War
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