Reviews

Palestine +100 by Basma Ghalayini

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ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition

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

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

“We’re only aware of the very end of its tail but its smooth slippery body stretches under our clothes and its head bites our children with poisonous memories, with images we spent a war and a lifetime trying to bury. I've done all I can to get away from the war, from the sediment it left inside me, but it keeps resurfacing. Not even our children's innocence can wash it away. N's innocence—even if it brings back memories of your voice, the warmth of your hands and your opinions on Herman Hesse—can't overcome the taste of gunpowder dust in my throat, dust transmitted from the throat of one generation to the next.” — from “N” by Majd Kayyal, translated by Thoraya El-Rayyes

TITLE—PαlesᎿᎥne +100: Stories from a Century After the Nακbα

AUTHOR—Basma Ghalayini

PUBLISHED—2019

PUBLISHER—Comma Press

GENRE—speculative fiction & literary sci-fi short stories

SETTING—PαlesᎿᎥne, 2048 CE

MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—RᎥghᎿ οf ᎡeᎿυrη, Free PαlesᎿᎥne, PαlesᎿᎥnᎥαn culture & history, digital occupation & the technology of oppression, intergenerational & inherited trauma, active vs passive complicity, hope as resistance & vice-versa, No justice—No peace, ghosts, dreams, AI & VR as facilitators of better-realities imagination & digital revolution

“Four generations on, any PαlesᎿᎥnᎥαn child can tell you all about their great-grandfather's back garden in Haifa, Yaffa or Majdal. They can tell you about their great-grandmother's kitchen, the patterns on her plates, and the colours of the embroidery on her pillows. They can tell you about their great-grandparents' neighbours, the musky smell of the local shop and all the handmade goods it sold. This child has never been to any of those places, of course, but so long as they keep the memory of them alive, then, should they ever get to go back, it would be as if they had never left; they could pick up exactly where their great-grandparents left off. Indeed, wherever PαlesᎿᎥnᎥαn refugees are in the world, one thing unites them: their undoubted belief in their right to return.” — from the INTRODUCTION by Basma Ghalayini

Summary:

“PαlesᎿᎥne + 100 poses a question to twelve PαlesᎿᎥnᎥαn writers: what might your country look like in the year 2048–a century after the tragedies and trauma of what has come to be called the Nακbα?… Covering a range of approaches—from SF noir, to nightmarish dystopia, to high-tech farce—these stories use the blank canvas of the future to reimagine the PαlesᎿᎥnᎥαn experience today.” — from the back cover

“…even the most extraordinary future technology can do little more than mirror or reframe the current, real-world impasse. But that's what science fiction does; it uses the future as a blank canvas on which to project concerns that occupy society right now. The real future—the actual future—is unknowable. But for SF writers, the mere idea of 'things to come' is licence to re-imagine, re-configure, and re-interrogate the present.” — from the INTRODUCTION by Basma Ghalayini

My thoughts:

I don’t usually gel well with most sci-fi but these stories leaned more towards the literary and spec fic side of the genre. What I especially loved about them—which is also why I still come back to sci-fi again and again despite my difficulties with it—is how profoundly philosophical each story was and how expressive the perspectives and experiences of all of the characters were. The complexities and vulnerabilities of each character were all expertly rendered—being familiar and resonant without being stereotypical or one-dimensional.

I think the most powerful thing for me about this collection was the constant subversion and renewal of a lot of different concepts and language that I’ve encountered before in many different scenarios, but, in the contexts of these stories specifically, these simple lines and phrases take on a meaning even more poignant and devastating than usual. I’m thinking specifically of many lines from “SONG OF THE BIRDS”, but especially: “‘…but the stones are too heavy’” and “If the whole thing was just a dream, it felt more real than life,” as well as “Even now it seems crazy, but people can get used to anything,” from “N”, “'It's time to come home’” from “DIGITAL NATION”, and “…no one has the right to forget the past” from “THE ASSOCIATION.” You’ll have to read the collection yourself to find out what exactly I mean by that (bc no spoilers here 😅) but once you do I’m sure you’ll find it as moving as I did.

There wasn’t a weak one among them but my especial favorite stories were: “N” by Majd Kayyal, translated by Thoraya El-Rayyes, “THE KEY” by Anwar Hamed, translated by Andrew Leber, “DIGITAL NATION” by Emad EI-Din Aysha, and “THE CURSE OF THE MUD BALL KID” by Mazen Maarouf, translated by Jonathan Wright. This last story was the most speculative and strange of the stories, I thought, and even reminded me a little bit of Helen Oyeyemi’s (my all-time fave) or Kristín Ómarsdóttir’s writing.

I would recommend this book to readers who love their sci-fi with some literary and philosophical weight. This book is best read alongside LIGHT IN GAZA—many of these stories pair really well with the essays in that collection.

Final note: I am now officially addicted to PαlesᎿᎥnᎥαn writers.

“Those who keep resisting are seen as insane by those who cannot see the prison walls… What is it that is driving her actions, she wonders? Is it a cynicism borne out of loss and betrayal, a cynicism so deep it courses in her veins? Or is it something else—a yearning to be free that exists like an itchiness under her skin?” — from SONG OF THE BIRDS by Saleem Haddad

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

CW // genocide, state-sanctioned & settler-colonial violence, martyrdom, sexual content, some ableist language (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

Season: Spring

Further Reading—

LIGHT IN GΛΖΛ edited by Jehad Abusalim; especially “Gαzα 2050: Three Scenarios” by Basman Aldirawi
TAAQTUMI edited by Neil Christopher
NEVER WHISTLE AT NIGHT edited by Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
HOW LONG TIL BLACK FUTURE MONTH by NK Jemisin
“Vituperator” by Helen Oyeyemi in FURIES: STORIES OF THE WICKED, WILD AND UNTAMED (Virago, 2023)
SWANFOLK by Kristín Ómarsdóttir
THE LESSON by Cadwell Turnbull

melsmagicalreads's review against another edition

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dark informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

katrin_loves_books's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

4.0

zahrareads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

dhiyanah's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

adastraperlibros's review against another edition

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3.0

Palestine +100, edited by Basma Ghalayini, is an anthology of twelve speculative fiction short stories by Palestinian authors who were asked to imagine what Palestine would look like in 2048, 100 years after the Nakba.

My optimistic ass went into this collection expecting something far more hopeful than what it is. I expected stories that subvert the "technology bad" themes that are so often present in sci-fi, and imagine worlds where technology can be a tool of liberation, justice, and peace. Instead what I got was more akin to a bunch of Black Mirror episodes. This does make sense. So often Palestinian literature uses the past as a lens through which to understand the present. This collection effectively does the opposite, twisting and warping the present into an imagined future, that in turn also helps us understand the present. It's an interesting project, to be sure, but not what I'd wanted out of this book.

Also like a bunch of Black Mirror episodes, there's a pretty wide range in quality from story to story. Each belongs to its own subgenre, there's murder mystery, dystopia, farce, and more. I really appreciated the variety in that respect, and the use of historical events both real and imagined to flesh out the worlds and place them in their own contexts. However some stories were, frankly, boring to read, though there were standouts. 'Song of the Birds' (Palestine is free, but are things too good to be true?), 'N' (a parallel Israel and Palestine control the same land in alternate realities), and 'The Key' (Israelis are haunted by the ghosts of expelled Palestinians trying to re-enter their homes) were particular favorites.

Despite the darkness, most stories contain a nugget of hope at their core, an ever-present resilience and fighting spirit. Despite the darkness, what a luxury, what a gift, to imagine Palestinian futures.

enfiles's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

4.5

kelseak96's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

danareadsthings's review against another edition

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3.5

I’ve been slowing picking away at these short stories for the past year or so. Science fiction isn’t my favourite genre but I was intrigued by the premise of this book. I’m glad that I picked it up, definitely an interesting one and provided much to think about.

azrah786's review against another edition

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3.5

CW: violence, gun violence, blood, injury, body horror, murder, death, child death, war, suicide, genocide, grief, colonisation, confinement
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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

Content Warnings

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