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4.56 AVERAGE
4.56 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I often think about a line from a review for Framing Britney Spears, that talks about the empathy of telling a story chronologically.
This book conveys incredibly well the growing hopelessness and despair and powerlessness that allowed the Hamas' rise to power. And then this ever extending sense of being in limbo, this unpermanent situation becoming permanent. This old culture, with its long standing tradition and values that becomes something new in exile, almost a shadow version of itself, of longing for how it used to be, something most people have no first hand memories of. And then how do you preserve and pass on those memories? Like, of course some people get radicalised in a powder keg like that!
It can veer into trauma porn territory, but the historical grounding and the way she writes about joy in Palestine, and the sense of community saves it for me.
And although the main character is female, I found the depiction of masculinity incredibly interesting, in a (it seems to me) patriarchal culture, how does that affect men to have so little power, to be systemically subjugated like that.
I've seen some backlash, that the book fails to really tell both sides of the story, of being overly sympathetic to Palestine at the expense of Israel. I think that's what-about-ism; probably a lack of nuance on how we view Israel.
I don't know what empathy for Israel looks like in a book like this; and I don't know if we need all stories to be equally empathetic to both sides.
But yeah, I read this for the first time probably 10 years ago at this point and it has stayed with me since, and I'm really glad I reread it.
This book conveys incredibly well the growing hopelessness and despair and powerlessness that allowed the Hamas' rise to power. And then this ever extending sense of being in limbo, this unpermanent situation becoming permanent. This old culture, with its long standing tradition and values that becomes something new in exile, almost a shadow version of itself, of longing for how it used to be, something most people have no first hand memories of. And then how do you preserve and pass on those memories? Like, of course some people get radicalised in a powder keg like that!
It can veer into trauma porn territory, but the historical grounding and the way she writes about joy in Palestine, and the sense of community saves it for me.
And although the main character is female, I found the depiction of masculinity incredibly interesting, in a (it seems to me) patriarchal culture, how does that affect men to have so little power, to be systemically subjugated like that.
I've seen some backlash, that the book fails to really tell both sides of the story, of being overly sympathetic to Palestine at the expense of Israel. I think that's what-about-ism; probably a lack of nuance on how we view Israel.
I don't know what empathy for Israel looks like in a book like this; and I don't know if we need all stories to be equally empathetic to both sides.
But yeah, I read this for the first time probably 10 years ago at this point and it has stayed with me since, and I'm really glad I reread it.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
An excellent book for our time and sadly even more relevant given what is happening in Gaza now.
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Beautiful but heartbreaking.
I had to hold back my tears in public transport to be reminded again, that the suffering of arabs on this earth, Palestinians in particular, doesn’t waken up heart of filthy ppl on this planet. Full review will come.
I had to hold back my tears in public transport to be reminded again, that the suffering of arabs on this earth, Palestinians in particular, doesn’t waken up heart of filthy ppl on this planet. Full review will come.
Het meest verdrietige en een van de meest mooie boeken die ik ooit heb gelezen
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No