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iridescentjemz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
A short story collection based around where Palestine will be 100 years after the Nakba (which is only 24 years away from now). They are mainly sci-fi and dystopian with a bit of everything in between, even some ghostly moments and just plain weird moments (which I loved).
It covers topics including parallel worlds, AI, VR, hackers and of course various iterations of what Palestine might look like in 2048.
I loved all of these stories, they were so well written and absorbing even for someone like me that doesn’t always gel with sci-fi. There are some very interesting ideas in these stories and some very poignant moments. I definitely think this will be a book I’ll revisit in the future and I’d like to explore more works by the authors who contributed works to this collection.
It’s hard to imagine what the world will be like in 2048, but I still have hope in my heart that I’ll see a free Palestine in my lifetime.
It covers topics including parallel worlds, AI, VR, hackers and of course various iterations of what Palestine might look like in 2048.
I loved all of these stories, they were so well written and absorbing even for someone like me that doesn’t always gel with sci-fi. There are some very interesting ideas in these stories and some very poignant moments. I definitely think this will be a book I’ll revisit in the future and I’d like to explore more works by the authors who contributed works to this collection.
It’s hard to imagine what the world will be like in 2048, but I still have hope in my heart that I’ll see a free Palestine in my lifetime.
amyjo25's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
zamziva's review against another edition
5.0
A beautiful and brutal collection of sci-fi short stories by Palestinian writers imagining palestin 100 years after the Nakba. I kept being reminded that 2048 is only 24 years away. And the truth behind so many of these stories is that the dystopia they invent are not far from the truth.
My favourites of the collection were:
Song of the Birds by Saleem Haddad
(Is a simulated reality a better option than one in which you struggle against your oppressors?)
Sleep It Off, Dr Schott by Selma Dabbagh (explores surveillance within occupied Palestine in a complex and intimate way. Did not care for Dr Schott at all though haha)
N by Majd Kayyal (there's an inertia, an underlying sense of grief and distance, a hollow feeling to this story and yet there are glimmers of hope. Reckoning with what peace actually means and what is compromised in the process)
Application 39 by Ahmed Masoud (feels a bit kooky and playful in the beginning but grounds to a visceral and urgent tone at the end - marvellous)
The Association by Samir El-Yousef (almost Pynchian in its web of conspiracies and mystery - the historian as an insurgent...)
The Curse of the Mud Ball Kid by Mazen Maarouf (a strange, bewildering surreal sci-fi tale - dark and heavy and rebellious - Palestine will live for ever!)
Free Palestine 🇵🇸
My favourites of the collection were:
Song of the Birds by Saleem Haddad
(Is a simulated reality a better option than one in which you struggle against your oppressors?)
Sleep It Off, Dr Schott by Selma Dabbagh (explores surveillance within occupied Palestine in a complex and intimate way. Did not care for Dr Schott at all though haha)
N by Majd Kayyal (there's an inertia, an underlying sense of grief and distance, a hollow feeling to this story and yet there are glimmers of hope. Reckoning with what peace actually means and what is compromised in the process)
Application 39 by Ahmed Masoud (feels a bit kooky and playful in the beginning but grounds to a visceral and urgent tone at the end - marvellous)
The Association by Samir El-Yousef (almost Pynchian in its web of conspiracies and mystery - the historian as an insurgent...)
The Curse of the Mud Ball Kid by Mazen Maarouf (a strange, bewildering surreal sci-fi tale - dark and heavy and rebellious - Palestine will live for ever!)
Free Palestine 🇵🇸
shraiya's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
gtea_reader's review against another edition
dark
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
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
transguyrudy's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Some of the most gut wrenching sci-fi I've ever read. Usually there's some weaker stories in collections like these but every single one was a hit to the gut. Really recommend to everyone who wants to learn more about the suffering that Palestinians have been facing for the last 76 years, and the way this suffering has impacted their culture and community.
wchereads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
Palestine +100 is a collection of science fiction short stories set a hundred years after 1948 - in the year (or sometimes the decade or so leading up to) 2048. The book itself was published in 2019, and it felt especially grim to read a setting like how a major invasion took place in 2025 and changed Palestine forever. While we are collectively living through a livestreamed genocide in 2024 and people with the financial and/or military power to make actual changes cheer it on. The editor wrote, in an absolutely brilliant foreword:
The genre of science fiction has never been particularly popular among Palestinian authors; it is a luxury, to which Palestinians haven't felt they can afford to escape. The cruel present (and the traumatic past) have too firm a grip on Palestinian writers' imaginations for fanciful ventures into possible futures.
It makes sense that a fair number of stories in the collection have a plot and/or ending that reads unsatisfying incomplete or almost pointlessly tragic. They may very well be accurately reflecting the equally if not more absurd and tragic real life under occupation that Palestinians residing in ocupied Palestine go through daily.
Among the stories, N is my favourite with Song of the Birds being a close second. N imagines a future where Israel and Palestine exist on the same land in parallel universes, and only people born after such setup was created are allowed to travel back and forth; it is beautifully written, poignant and heartbreaking.
cw: suicide mention
Song of the Bird, being the first in the collection, was incredibly dark with it blurring the lines between suicide and breaking out of a life built on lies, and absolutely shocked me to my core.
The last in the collection, The Curse of the Mud Ball Kid, is one I understood the least but left the biggest impression on me. It is a messy, absurd and satirical tale that paints layers of tragedies with brutal honesty and an unsettling lightheartedness and tells of the fruitless efforts of the settlers to erase Palestine and Palestinian steadfastness in a darkly humourous way.
Palestine +100 reminded me of the appeal of science fiction and the power of using imagination to look at the present with a new perspective. I am grateful to the translators for allowing us to read some amazing stories I won't be able to comprehend otherwise, and I hope to be able to find more translated work from some of the writers here (especially Majd Kayyal and Mazen Maarouf, because WOW their minds).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Child death
Minor: Sexual content
emilychau's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75