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Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'
Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood by Mark Oppenheimer
2 reviews
rockcommander's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
4.0
this book is engrossing and i was very interested because i live 10 minutes from SH. the history and the neighborhood are fascinating and i think the author overall did a good job. however. his insistence on using gendered pronouns is clunky, strange, and embarassing and comes off as intentionally transphobic. furthermore he features romanticized views of israel and dismisses anti-zionist groups as “extreme” - while israel is not a focus of the book, it comes up in talking about people’s experiences and it’s clear that the author is pro-israel, which is unfortunate, to say the least.
i think he did a good job focusing on the community & survivors & victims families, and including a breadth of experiences and opinions in the community. but his coastal elite white cis man positionality was deeply annoying to me at times. also this book is very sad obviously
i think he did a good job focusing on the community & survivors & victims families, and including a breadth of experiences and opinions in the community. but his coastal elite white cis man positionality was deeply annoying to me at times. also this book is very sad obviously
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Antisemitism
audreylee's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
A mass shooting always garners more attention than the individual tragedies of everyday. Sometimes the articles and books written about these events focus on the diabolical character of the perpetrator, their history and their hatred. Sometimes the reader is forced in a minute by minute account to watch as people are gunned down. Often, those who have been injured or have lost their lives lose their humanity also when we turn them into "angels" and martyrs instead of allowing them to be the people they were--worthy of love and dignity and life despite their flaws.
This book is a dignified look at a neighborhood which has met and overcome many obstacles. The perpetrator isn't given cinematic-type attention. The event is covered in a "just the facts, ma'am" way. The injured, those who died, and those who suffered their loss are treated as real people. They are shown with all of their strengths, weaknesses, ambitions, and pettiness. In other words, they are allowed to retain their individuality and humanity and not just become "victims". The reader is introduced to the diversity of the community, the diversity of the faithful, and the different traditions amongst them in a natural way. The writer effortlessly makes the unfamiliar seem like a distant home and the people, neighbors.
Thank you to Edelweiss and the Publisher for an digital ARC. This book is to be released in early October. Watch for it.
This book is a dignified look at a neighborhood which has met and overcome many obstacles. The perpetrator isn't given cinematic-type attention. The event is covered in a "just the facts, ma'am" way. The injured, those who died, and those who suffered their loss are treated as real people. They are shown with all of their strengths, weaknesses, ambitions, and pettiness. In other words, they are allowed to retain their individuality and humanity and not just become "victims". The reader is introduced to the diversity of the community, the diversity of the faithful, and the different traditions amongst them in a natural way. The writer effortlessly makes the unfamiliar seem like a distant home and the people, neighbors.
Thank you to Edelweiss and the Publisher for an digital ARC. This book is to be released in early October. Watch for it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Antisemitism
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