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bashsbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
I wish I had a whole discussion group, full of individuals of wide backgrounds, to engage with about I Saw Ramallah. I must confess upfront that I definitely did not understand all of it - my knowledge of Palestine and its history is woefully limited, and I'm still trying to fill in those gaps. That said, what I did understand was beautifully written and agonizingly heartbreaking in content. To be ripped from your homeland, from your family, to be painted as the agressor, to lose your loved ones thousands of miles from yourself - I cannot imagine any of these horrors, but Barghouti gives raw and gutting approximation in how he writes. I need my own copy of this - there are too many poignant passages for me to quote one or two here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Death, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Colonisation, Deportation, and Grief
Moderate: Gun violence and War
Minor: Pregnancy, Hate crime, and Miscarriage
haileyjay's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Beautifully written. The author is a poet and you can definitely tell through his writing in this book. You feel for his, and many Palestinian's, displacement and experience in exile. How this forces them to live with a unique way of life, lacking attachment to material things and missing out on so many memories that could have been. This truly gives you a sense of what many had to to suffer through after the Nakba of 1948 and the six day war in 1967. And also how many still live to this day.
jayphen's review against another edition
5.0
Heartbreaking, hopeful, warm and joyful at times and filled with loss. Barghouti’s poetic autobiography is at times hard to follow as it meanders through his memories of Palestine as it was, intertwined with his experience of Palestine as it is, and sundered by feelings of uncertainty, isolation, and tragedy. “O our beautiful martyr!”.
Before reading this book, it is worthwhile to read about some of the pivotal events in the region, especially the catastrophe of ‘48 and the 6-day war of ‘67. Barghouti describes his thoughts and feelings rather than the events themselves, and some contextual understanding is necessary.
At times in this book I was overwhelmed by the transition from past to present, as well as the seemingly hundreds of names that filled Barghouti’s life and mind. However my overall impression is that it did not distract from the experience of reading his story and perhaps is an important part of it.
The Palestinian longing for a place and a life that they will never again have or experience, especially after recent events, comes through strongly in this book. It is a must read.
On her last day
Death sat in her arms.
She was tender to him and pampered him
And told him a story,
And they fell asleep together.
Before reading this book, it is worthwhile to read about some of the pivotal events in the region, especially the catastrophe of ‘48 and the 6-day war of ‘67. Barghouti describes his thoughts and feelings rather than the events themselves, and some contextual understanding is necessary.
At times in this book I was overwhelmed by the transition from past to present, as well as the seemingly hundreds of names that filled Barghouti’s life and mind. However my overall impression is that it did not distract from the experience of reading his story and perhaps is an important part of it.
The Palestinian longing for a place and a life that they will never again have or experience, especially after recent events, comes through strongly in this book. It is a must read.
On her last day
Death sat in her arms.
She was tender to him and pampered him
And told him a story,
And they fell asleep together.
scarlettlarry's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Full of beautiful moments and ideas.
tintom's review against another edition
4.5
Feels peculiar that a book that reads so gently and lyrically can make me feel so sick and angry too, this was beautiful.
imanqblake's review against another edition
slow-paced
5.0
Reading this after Rashid Khalidi's book was such a change of pace for me, and it was an amazing one. Of course, the translations might not hit the same as it is in Arabic, but each sentence was so carefully crafted and felt heavy with grief, frustration, and just the weight of the emotions portrayed paired with the exquisite choice of words made me love this book. It read as a scattered recollection of memories from the author's time in Ramallah, but it didn't feel abrupt or overly slow, the pace was nice to take your time with and digest his perspective on his experiences. I really do recommend reading this book after Khalidi's because it gives a more human/emotional perspective to the harsh realities Palestinians faced since a century ago. I would definitely love to read this again.