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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
Excellent. That’s all I have to say. Absolutely excellent.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have so many thoughts swimming in my head about this story. I loved that it seemed to be a book about many topics - life under occupation, romance, parenthood, estranged families, finding meaning in art, and more - but rather than feeling jumbled or pulled in too many directions, the themes flowed together through Sonia’s story. bonus points for the phenomenal audiobook narrator.
‘I knew that my crack, however unintentional, was making her capitulate under the force of an automatic sympathy. Another part of me, watching myself, asked: or was that crack intentional? Maybe you cracked on purpose? Maybe, you are acting’
‘I rinsed and ran the tap, threw one lock of hair to the side, and entered stage right’
‘If we let disaster stand in our way we will never do anything. Every day here is a disaster’
‘The phrase ‘You looked so wonderful’ was particularly galling. Against my will my heart was responding’
‘I worried that if we spoke too openly on the subject something would disintegrate. Or maybe I was just afraid of upsetting her, and of what she might say to me if I did’
‘I watched Mariam holding her son and, to my confusion, felt an urge to weep myself. I twisted my hands on the counter behind me’
‘A part of me still recoiled at her straightforwardness. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing and why—she had an uncomplicated sense of destiny’
‘When I think of him now I see him reading on our white sofa, freakishly still. I liked looking at him more than he liked to look at me, I think’
‘The solace acs the sadness of a play with a limited run is this, that you can trace the arc of progress in advance. Like entering a love affair you know will end, we recklessly enjoyed the highs while they lasted, and valiantly endured the things that were difficult, for they too would pass’
‘Nothing is more flattering to an artist than the illusion that he is a secret revolutionary’
‘One foreign national with an Arab name, two Palestinian citizens of Israel and one West Bank resident with a temporary permit sit in a car with yellow Israeli plates approaching a checkpoint’
‘I dread chaos. But this did not look like chaos. Here was order, ritual, routine, care. The streets were no longer streets. The streets were a place of worship. The streets were a stage’
‘Maybe on some level I thought that such a fissure of straight-talking had opened between us that I could displace years and years of complicated sediment’
‘In Area C, building any structure required an Israeli permit, which no one ever heard of any Palestinians being granted’
‘Yet he occurred to me in that moment as a kind of useful ghost, a reminder to be gentle with someone else’s feelings. Parting from Harold in the mornings had been like turning from the glow of a fire into the heatless air’
‘Four of the soldiers get closer to the stage. They look young. Two are women’
‘I have heard / that criminals
At this point she actually half-gestured at the soldiers, which made my stomach drop’
‘At the very end, Amin said the final line: Go, bid the soldiers shoot. I looked reflexively at the spot where the military car had been parked’
‘The effect is interesting, actors-as-soldiers on-stage-beside-checkpoint’
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think this is a good book if know little about Palestine. You follow a narrator who is both within and without so you can really understand what oppression and and apartheid system looks like. What Israel is doing is cultural genocide and this is the book to read if you haven't been already convinced of that. It's also a book about families and friends and love. I really loved listening to it on audio.
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No