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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
This was a very enjoyable book, though I would have preferred more resolution to the plot line. (I do, however, see that it is likely more realistic to have an ambiguous ending. I just like it when art does not imitate life in those ways.)
This is a lovely book about coming of age and being between worlds. You also hear Naomi Shaihab Nye's poetry bleed into her prose. A lovely read.
Not on my top ten list- or on my top fifty, for that matter- but it is a descent book, and it's always nice to try and understand a point of view so different than ours.
I read it in Hebrew, but I can't make heads or tales if it was originaly published in English, or not published in English at all, or published in English after it was published in Hebrew- so I recommend it to anyone who can get their hands on it. Especially Israelies.
I read it in Hebrew, but I can't make heads or tales if it was originaly published in English, or not published in English at all, or published in English after it was published in Hebrew- so I recommend it to anyone who can get their hands on it. Especially Israelies.
What a lovely YA novel from better-known-to-me-as-a-poet Naomi Shihab Nye - Liyana's voice really comes through in this and the strength of this novel is found also in the gently episodic nature of its plot - Liyana's family visits the village where her father grew up! Liyana starts school! Liyana makes a new friend! Liyana bonds with her grandmother! - set against the uneasy backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which reminds you how precious these little discoveries that comes from moving to a new country really are.
This is a semi-autobiographical novel, based on Naomi Shihab Nye's experience of living in Palestine for a year in her teens, so it comes as no surprise that Liyana is a nerdy fourteen year old with a penchant for poetry. Usually that annoys me, when protagonists in YA novels are ALWAYS literary (I'm looking at you, Vicky Austin from Meet the Austins etc), but here it just works incredibly well and I fell in love with Liyana's enquiring, quizzical personality.
This is a semi-autobiographical novel, based on Naomi Shihab Nye's experience of living in Palestine for a year in her teens, so it comes as no surprise that Liyana is a nerdy fourteen year old with a penchant for poetry. Usually that annoys me, when protagonists in YA novels are ALWAYS literary (I'm looking at you, Vicky Austin from Meet the Austins etc), but here it just works incredibly well and I fell in love with Liyana's enquiring, quizzical personality.
I missed out on this when I was a YA, but read this with my tween/teen kids recently. It was a beautifully written, moving book.
a quick read kids book about palestine, good friends-across-boundaries propaganda for the young ones. maybe there's some old ones who could stand to read this too.
I gave this book a 5. I've wanted to read a book for a long time with a book that I would really love. I feel like I've only felt so-so about the books I've read lately.
I am not sure if this is the world's most amazing book, but it's a book I can feel good giving 5 stars.
I liked that this book is from the Arab perspective and not the Jewish. I feel like most books are from the Jewish side.
One point in the book I really liked was about the Jewish treatment to the Arabs. After the things that happened to the Jews in Europe one would think it would help them to be more compassionate. But they are not. Both Jews and Arabs keep retaliating at each other in a horrible cycle.
I am not sure if this is the world's most amazing book, but it's a book I can feel good giving 5 stars.
I liked that this book is from the Arab perspective and not the Jewish. I feel like most books are from the Jewish side.
One point in the book I really liked was about the Jewish treatment to the Arabs. After the things that happened to the Jews in Europe one would think it would help them to be more compassionate. But they are not. Both Jews and Arabs keep retaliating at each other in a horrible cycle.
Great portrayal of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the eyes of an innocent American-Palestinian teen, who can't help herself from falling in love with an Israeli boy.
This book was like a rich meal. To truly be appreciated, it must be consumed in small doses and enjoyed bite for bite. The poet in Nye really shines through this entire work. So many of the passage contain "one-liners" that hold more truth and beauty than some other entire novels that I've read.
The main character, Liyana, is the fictional representation of Nye herself. She is a young, Palestinian-American girl growing up in America, when her father decides to move them back to his home country. Liyana essentially suffers an existential crisis. She is trying to find answers to questions like: Who am I? How do I know who I am? What makes me "Liyana"? She struggles with feeling entirely alone in a land so vastly different from her own. She also starts to find out just how big the world is, and how little her existence can mean sometimes. "She was - incidental - to the planet's actions." Life goes on around her, and even without her, and that is a revelation that is difficult for a 15 year old to comprehend.
It is not until Liyana meets a young man that she starts to truly feel at home in the new country. They seem to share common interests of wandering, thinking, and debating things large and small. One day, Liyana realizes that her new friend is not another Arab as she had first assume, but a Jew. With the tension between the two cultures that was constantly brewing in the nation, Liyana was unsure of how her family would receive her new friend. Luckily, she was strong and adamant, and eventually had the opportunity to introduce Omer to her Sitti, the embodiment of all that is the "old country" in Palestine. Sitti is very of this earth, she will not use elevators, or telephones, and still uses a huge outdoor oven instead of any modern conveniences. While Liyana's father was worried about Sitti's reaction to the Jewish boy, was astonished to find that Sitti believed Omer to be an angel of a man she used to know. And suddenly, there was peace within their diverse family.
This book did a beautiful job of explaining how small steps taken on a personal level can be exactly what an entire nation needs to make it's way toward a larger goal of peace. We can all overcome our prejudices and hatred if only we can see the similarities and love that could bring us together, if only we let it.
The main character, Liyana, is the fictional representation of Nye herself. She is a young, Palestinian-American girl growing up in America, when her father decides to move them back to his home country. Liyana essentially suffers an existential crisis. She is trying to find answers to questions like: Who am I? How do I know who I am? What makes me "Liyana"? She struggles with feeling entirely alone in a land so vastly different from her own. She also starts to find out just how big the world is, and how little her existence can mean sometimes. "She was - incidental - to the planet's actions." Life goes on around her, and even without her, and that is a revelation that is difficult for a 15 year old to comprehend.
It is not until Liyana meets a young man that she starts to truly feel at home in the new country. They seem to share common interests of wandering, thinking, and debating things large and small. One day, Liyana realizes that her new friend is not another Arab as she had first assume, but a Jew. With the tension between the two cultures that was constantly brewing in the nation, Liyana was unsure of how her family would receive her new friend. Luckily, she was strong and adamant, and eventually had the opportunity to introduce Omer to her Sitti, the embodiment of all that is the "old country" in Palestine. Sitti is very of this earth, she will not use elevators, or telephones, and still uses a huge outdoor oven instead of any modern conveniences. While Liyana's father was worried about Sitti's reaction to the Jewish boy, was astonished to find that Sitti believed Omer to be an angel of a man she used to know. And suddenly, there was peace within their diverse family.
This book did a beautiful job of explaining how small steps taken on a personal level can be exactly what an entire nation needs to make it's way toward a larger goal of peace. We can all overcome our prejudices and hatred if only we can see the similarities and love that could bring us together, if only we let it.