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sonnysonora's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
The imagery and humor are brilliantly woven through this book. The feeling I had as I was reading, was just warmth. Warmth of family, resilience, determination, and hope.
emily_mh's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Most of the narrative in this book takes place over one day, where Hayaat and her friend Samy attempt to travel to her Sitti Zeynab’s village to retrieve some soil for her. This journey fully details the reality of the apartheid state of “Israel” and what life looks like for Palestinians living in the West Bank. Hayaat and Samy are at the mercy of the whims of fully-armed Israeli soldiers throughout their travel; run-down transportation, an arbitrary ID system, and urban planning constructed solely to further separate Palestinians compound their challenge. They are chased, smuggled, and threatened, yet remain steadfast in their mission.
Despite a good chunk of the story taking place in one day, the plot and characters feel grounded, and this is for two reasons: adequate space given for the set-up and resolution, and the use of retrospection. Abdel-Fattah ensures we get to known the characters and their lives before sending them on their journey, and once that journey opens up the plot and character threads, she makes sure she spends enough time at the end resolving these. Furthermore, throughout the story Hayaat, whose first person perspective we are reading from, reflects back on key moments in her life that give more context to the plot and characters.
I enjoyed reading from Hayaat’s POV. I think she was a very realistic 13 year-old. She’s processing a past trauma in this story that left her face scarred and her best friend murdered. Hayaat is haunted by this event, and during the narrative is learning how she can continue to live her life while honouring this trauma and her related emotions. There was some really powerful development here, especially relating to the grief over her loss. Hayaat ends up in a place of hope for her future.
I also really loved Sitti Zeynab’s character. Her story was gut-wrenching, and to see it reflected in Hayaat’s was gut-wrenching, too. I loved the respect and love Hayaat had for Sitti Zeynab, and also the humour Sitti Zeynab brought to the story.
While this book obviously has a focus on the impact of colonisation and apartheid, it also reminded me of the poem “We Teach Life, Sir” by Rafeef Ziadah. Because amongst the traumas they experience, Hayaat and her family exhibit joy and connection. Whether it’s the hospitality Hayaat’s mother shows to guests, strangers getting to know one another for the short time they’ll spend together on the bus, beautiful wedding traditions, or holding each other in their grief and anger, they taught life.
Abdel-Fattah’s writing style in and of itself was really poignant. There are some quotes I want to share as examples of this:
“I want to tear our papers and identity cards into a million tiny pieces and throw them to the wind so that each piece of me can touch my homeland freely, the wind lifting me over checkpoints, bypass roads, settlements and the Wall.”
“‘I realised then that even those capable of love and kindness can be unjust. And even those who are the victims of injustice can be cruel and incapable of love.’”
“‘I’m sorry for what happened to your family and your people, but why must we be punished?’”
“‘They started on the trees,’ her voice became a whisper, ‘and it was the most terrible thing of all.'”
“‘My life has been all politics,’ she whispers as she touches the pile of photographs of my aunts and uncles on her bedside table. ‘I do not watch the television for politics because it is in every breath I take. It is here in this apartment, in the empty chairs that should hold my children who were forced to scatter around the world. It is here in the mint leaves floating in this cup of tea beside my bed. Mint leaves that should have been picked from the garden bed in my home, not bought from Abo Yusuf's store. It is in the olives I eat from somebody else's tree and the patch of sky I am told I must live under.’”
“I am thirteen years old and I know what blood is. I know what loss is. I know the smell of a corpse. I know the sound of people screaming in terror as they run away from a tank. I know the dusty clouds left behind a frenzied bulldozer.”
I just have a couple of final notes! The first is that this is definitely more upper-MG than it is YA - I am saying this to set expectations for future readers. Also, there was some unchallenged fatphobia in this book, which I want prospective readers to be wary of.
Rep: Muslim Palestinian MCs and SCs, Palestinian SCs
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Police brutality, Grief, Colonisation, and Child death
Moderate: Physical abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Drug use
Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexism, Body shaming, Death of parent, Bullying, Confinement, Excrement, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Addiction, Cancer, Car accident, Classism, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Torture, and Vomit
Major: sick loved one, forced displacement, apartheid, loss of a loved one Moderate: imprisonment, forced separation from family Minor: menstruation, disordered eating, climate change, reference to the Holocaustcatamongstthepages's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
melsocool's review against another edition
4.0
I thought the novel was very good for younger audiences (the writing was very basic) and has a great storyline.
marijuanerareads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexism, Homophobia, and Fatphobia
chainingbooks's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
misspalah's review against another edition
4.0
“The nostagia suffocates me. I see my limestone house in the village. I see the radio your grandfather bought when we went to Souk in the old city. We kept the radio in the kitchen. I see the arched windows overlooking the hills, each window like a stone frame. I can smell my jasmine and almond trees and remember the olive trees i harvested. Those memories stow themselves in my windpipe until i dare not conjure another memory or i will scarcely be able to breathe”.
- Where the streets had name by Randa Abdel-Fatteh
.
.
In the alternate universe, maybe this story will be just about 2 mischievous teenagers named Hayaat and Samy embarking a road trip to the unknown place which Hayaat’s grandmother used to live. Instead of scaling the wall to enter the place illegally, the worst obstacle they faced is just the place no longer exist and being replaced by the shopping mall building not being taken over illegally by Zionist Occupation. In the alternate universe, Hayaat Grandmother may lose her house due to the financial constraint instead of being forced to fled by the Israel force. But we are not talking about the alternate universe, Arent we? Be it in the book or what happened right now, illegal occupation is still going on and people are being evicted from their land and home by Israel. I can see that this book is somewhat a tribute to Author’s grandma that wanted to touch the soil of their homeland but couldnt do so. We always take granted of what we have such as traveling 10 km from our home does not mean anything to us. However, for Hayaat and Samy, it is not that easy, checkpoint upon checkpoint, insults and unfair treatment by Israelis Officers and they can easily being forced to leave their bus if these zionists felt they are up to no good. Overall, this book provided great insights of what it felt being a teenagers in Palestine. They saw the despair of their parents and grandparents losing their homeland but that does not stop them to still enjoy life has to offer. Hayat and Samy friendship is adorable, as hayat is optimist and self aware but Samy is pessimist and nihilist which causing them to always bicker and argue over small things. However, they are fiercely loyal to each other. Along their unplanned journey to collect the soil for Hayaat’s grandma, they have met many people along the way, Naseem (a refugee boy), David and Mali (An israeli activists) and also Kareem’s family who were forced out of bus even they did nothing wrong. This is fast-paced novel with a brief history commentary especially Palestine and Israel Conflict. If you wanted to read a young adult novel about Palestine, this has it all. A highly recommended reading.
- Where the streets had name by Randa Abdel-Fatteh
.
.
In the alternate universe, maybe this story will be just about 2 mischievous teenagers named Hayaat and Samy embarking a road trip to the unknown place which Hayaat’s grandmother used to live. Instead of scaling the wall to enter the place illegally, the worst obstacle they faced is just the place no longer exist and being replaced by the shopping mall building not being taken over illegally by Zionist Occupation. In the alternate universe, Hayaat Grandmother may lose her house due to the financial constraint instead of being forced to fled by the Israel force. But we are not talking about the alternate universe, Arent we? Be it in the book or what happened right now, illegal occupation is still going on and people are being evicted from their land and home by Israel. I can see that this book is somewhat a tribute to Author’s grandma that wanted to touch the soil of their homeland but couldnt do so. We always take granted of what we have such as traveling 10 km from our home does not mean anything to us. However, for Hayaat and Samy, it is not that easy, checkpoint upon checkpoint, insults and unfair treatment by Israelis Officers and they can easily being forced to leave their bus if these zionists felt they are up to no good. Overall, this book provided great insights of what it felt being a teenagers in Palestine. They saw the despair of their parents and grandparents losing their homeland but that does not stop them to still enjoy life has to offer. Hayat and Samy friendship is adorable, as hayat is optimist and self aware but Samy is pessimist and nihilist which causing them to always bicker and argue over small things. However, they are fiercely loyal to each other. Along their unplanned journey to collect the soil for Hayaat’s grandma, they have met many people along the way, Naseem (a refugee boy), David and Mali (An israeli activists) and also Kareem’s family who were forced out of bus even they did nothing wrong. This is fast-paced novel with a brief history commentary especially Palestine and Israel Conflict. If you wanted to read a young adult novel about Palestine, this has it all. A highly recommended reading.
solaria's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Grief, and Police brutality
ari_reading_'s review against another edition
4.0
It was great to have a Middle Eastern setting, it was really interesting.
0ssamaak0's review against another edition
3.0
رائعة جدا ومسلية بلا شك ، والترجمة متقنة جدا مما جعلني أشك في كون الرواية مترجمة أصلا خصوصا وأن المؤلفة عربية .
ثمة أفكار تحاول الكاتبة التركيز عليها ، مما أثر بلا شك على مستوى الرواية .
لكنها في نهاية الأمر كرواية وكقصة حققت هدفها المطلوب وهو الإمتاع :)
أعتقد أنها لن تكون آخر تجاربي مع الكاتبة
ثمة أفكار تحاول الكاتبة التركيز عليها ، مما أثر بلا شك على مستوى الرواية .
لكنها في نهاية الأمر كرواية وكقصة حققت هدفها المطلوب وهو الإمتاع :)
أعتقد أنها لن تكون آخر تجاربي مع الكاتبة