Scan barcode
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
lettuce_read's review against another edition
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Gun violence
Moderate: Suicide
dhiyanah's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
A collection of sci-fi short stories that grapple with the question, what would Palestine look like 100 years after the 1948 Nakba? The stories were outwardly dark and some very intriguing, each illustrating challenges that directly ricocheted back to the present while clinging to a past that's desperately trying not to be erased.
Whatever strange concoction or tricky challenges the authors came up with for their characters to endure here felt faint in comparison to the real-life bombardment that Palestinians have endured for nearly 100 years, now. I think that may be the very point of this dystopian collection.
What struck me was an underlying tone of hope that seemed embedded in many of these stories - that even if the imagined or near future were to be full of the same dread, the fight to reclaim one's right to live will also keep going on.
Whatever strange concoction or tricky challenges the authors came up with for their characters to endure here felt faint in comparison to the real-life bombardment that Palestinians have endured for nearly 100 years, now. I think that may be the very point of this dystopian collection.
What struck me was an underlying tone of hope that seemed embedded in many of these stories - that even if the imagined or near future were to be full of the same dread, the fight to reclaim one's right to live will also keep going on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Misogyny, Gun violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Abortion, Sexual assault, Child death, Sexual content, and Racial slurs
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
--
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 against another edition
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
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
poppy31's review
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content
More...