Reviews tagging 'Violence'

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

48 reviews

mirandaleighhhh's review

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

5.0

Incredibly painful to read - in part because everything worsened after this was published, and because Ahed was arbitrarily arrested AGAIN in 2023 - but vital. I really recommend this as a comprehensive starting point to the Palestinian struggle. 

I've seen a handful of reviews calling this propaganda, and I have to assume that they are either zionists, or unfamiliar with the multilayered yet extremely simple issue. From the bottom of my heart, I hope people get a grip on both reality and their humanity. Ahed's story (as she herself points out many times) echoes the stories of countless Palestinians, and you can look up every event mentioned in the book and find ample resources going back to 1948. 

Free Palestine.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, War, Grief, Violence, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Genocide

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

---

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

alizardbreath716's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Cursing, War, Colonisation, and Death

eclecticallyreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book was heartbreaking, informative, well written, and easy to read. Following Ahed as she grows up in a world under constant threat of violence and danger due to the Israeli occupation, all the way through her experiences in prison and beyond, it is a tale of Palestinian resistance by a child who was far too young to have had to experience anything in the book, but as she clearly points out she is not the only one this has happened to. A critical story to have in the world today, it had me laughing and crying (sometimes at the same time) throughout the book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, War, Death, and Violence

leweylibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

It took me a long time because of work to feel like I was in a place mentally where I could handle this book, and I'm glad I waited. There were some things I knew, but so many things that I learned reading this book. I really appreciated the pov of someone who is Palestinian and lived there their whole life and is such an activist. I saw so much of our students in her and her story and the way she talks about this conflict, even before it ramped up in 2023. I think it would be very hard for anyone to read this book and be pro-Israel still. Part of me feels a little bit like something about the voice felt off, but I know that's just because the journalist wrote the story (and narrated the audiobook) with Ahed and translation was necessary, so it's fair. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Murder, Gun violence, Grief, War, Death, Violence, Genocide, Torture, and Police brutality

Moderate: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, and Gore

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!

---

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

umm_igor's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.25

Accessible introduction to contemporary Palestinian resistance and the events surrounding Ahed Tamimi's incarceration as a teenager.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, and Violence

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

onlyonebookshelf's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Violence, War, and Gun violence

jouljet's review

challenging emotional informative fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

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