Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl's Fight for Freedom by Dena Takruri, Ahed Tamimi

22 reviews

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Colonisation, Police brutality, Confinement, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Genocide, Child death, Torture, Mental illness, and Grief

Minor: Sexism and Sexual harassment

aliireads's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Great book! Well-written and very relevant and informative. Ahed tells her story and the story of her family/people. The book is sad and hard to read at times, but also inspiring with the stories of resistance and resilience. I would recommend this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Confinement, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Child death, Grief, Hate crime, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, and War

ninakeller's review

informative fast-paced

5.0

Ahed Tamimi comes from a long line of steadfast freedom fighters who assert their humanity in the face of Israeli occupation of their home. At just 23 years old, she tells the story of her childhood challenges of frequent raids on her home, enduring unpredictable checkpoints, being restricted from the sea, seeing her family members brutalized and even killed.

Of course, she details the infamous slap which, at age 16, resulted in interrogation and imprisonment that has been condemned by Amnesty International.

While imprisoned, she learned about international law and international humanitarian law, and became committed to studying and practicing law for the purpose of combatting Israeli apartheid. Underlying her fight for Palestinian liberation, she consistently reiterates that people are people, and how much she appreciates foreigners and Israelis and Jews who join her people in solidarity and struggle. She speaks of the pity she feels for Zionists who have been sold propaganda and stripped of their humanity. In the context of brutal acceleration of US-supported, Israeli government aggression that has escalated to indiscriminate carpet bombing and genocide, reading her right now sort of helps, as we all watch the horrifying events unfolding in Gaza. 

In the book she appeals to the reader to take action by spreading awareness, further educating yourself, and standing in solidarity for people combatting oppression. All this, BEFORE the retaliation of October 7 horrors and subsequent ICJ ruling and UN appeals.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Torture, Confinement, Colonisation, and Violence

jouljet's review

challenging emotional informative fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Torture, Body horror, Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, War, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Colonisation, and Death

brynalexa's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Palestine will be free. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Colonisation, Police brutality, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, War, Violence, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual harassment

kimreads14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad

Tamimi's story is one of thousands that you will hear if you take the time to listen to Palestinian voices. Her recounting of what she went through during her teenage years inside Israeli prison system. 

Ahed is truly a freedom fighter and the fact that she willingly shared her traumatic experience is incredible. She is inspiring and I truly hope that anyone who reads or listens to this book will realize what Palestinian children have to endure daily. 🍉 🫒

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, and Hate crime

Moderate: Sexism, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Torture

amandalorianxo's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

A powerful and vulnerable look into what Palestinaian's have gone through in history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Colonisation, and Genocide

Moderate: Islamophobia

Minor: Violence and Death

cleot's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Excellent mix of personal and cultural history. Evocative and devastating. Highly recommend for people looking to enrich their knowledge of the Palestinian struggle. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Violence, Confinement, Death, Police brutality, Colonisation, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Genocide

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Ahed Tamimi's memoir is a must-read for anyone committed to learning more about those advocating for Palestinian freedom. They Called Me a Lioness recounts the traumatic experiences of her childhood growing up under Israeli military occupation and witnessing the abuse, torture and murder of various family members as a young kid and then teen. As Ahed begins participating in protest marches and demonstrations organized by her parents, she becomes a visible figure in the Palestinian resistance movement for her continued presence and activism. She ultimately serves more than eight months in Israeli prison at 16 and 17 years old on charges of *assaulting an Israeli soldier (*slapping an armed soldier who had - the same day - shot her cousin in the face).  

The portions of her memoir that recount her time in prison, detailing the day-to-day life of women and children in Israeli prison for various political crimes (including many who are under "administrative detention" with no charges), are compelling reminders that Ahed is a child in prison. She's a teenager attempting to finish high school, reading romance novels to her cellmates as they make up their faces with the colored pencils provided to them by The Red Cross, laughing over toothpaste pranks and silly seances. She's a child, so feared by the Israeli government that they interrogate her multiple times and imprison her family members in attempts to compel her cooperation.

Ahed's memoir ends in hopeful advocacy and reflections on the globalization of the Palestinian cause. It's this hope and belief in a future free of apartheid that is most devastating for today's reader witnessing the atrocities in Gaza. As a pacifist Quaker, I believe Ahed's reflections on resistance are vital to all of those who stand against apartheid and state violence, and for all of those who ask themselves, as Ahed does, how we can resist violent systems of oppression.

I highly recommend the audiobook, narrated by co-author Dena Takruri.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, and Grief

Moderate: War, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Child death

aquakirst's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Torture, Racism, Murder, Gun violence, War, Violence, Genocide, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Police brutality, and Physical abuse