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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An interesting book. At times it seemed to be very labored and still a bit trapped in north-American-centrism. But maybe that represented where the characters began because it seemed like maybe the book worked its way out of it to a broader more complex world view. The simple wisdoms of loving people and relationships sat well with the complex political and economic realities. I think it glossed over the reality of poverty and the way real economic suffering is the key to a lot of the politics really.
But as a "coming-of-age" novel it was definitely a cut above the usual. As a book containing romance it was sensitive and beautiful and relatable. The settings were rich and the cultural stuff beautifully represented.
I am glad I read it.
But as a "coming-of-age" novel it was definitely a cut above the usual. As a book containing romance it was sensitive and beautiful and relatable. The settings were rich and the cultural stuff beautifully represented.
I am glad I read it.
The dialogue was a little stilted but I loved the way the descriptions and Liyana's inner thought were written. It was a very profound book with lots of deep observations not just about where she was living, but about life in general.
Beautiful and sweet. It echoed my favorite things about Nye's poetry.
I just remembered this book as I was eating my soft-boiled egg. It's been probably 20 years since I read it last, but I remember really loving it as a wee 10-year-old bean.
Just lovely. I’ve been meaning to read this book for years and I’m so glad I finally got around to it. Obviously, I’m the target demographic as someone with an Arabic heritage and so many Jewish friends...but it’s lovely for everyone. Passing it on to my daughter to read next.
I honestly don't remember much about this story. Another school assignment for the YSU english festival.
4 out of 5
This book is whimsical and full of prose, but not overwhelmingly so. It's serious when it needs to be, and as playful as the voice of a child, the narrator. The premise had me hooked, but what I expected to be a teen romance became more of a growing up and accepting life story.
This book takes place mainly in the POV of Liyana, an American teenager with interracial parents. Her father is from Palestine, and decides to move his family back to his homeland when Liyana is 15 (right after she shares her first kiss). In Palestine she has to overcome the challenges of moving to a country where she cannot speak the language, and learning the customs of this mixed heritage location. She meets a boy, named Omer, and is immediately smitten, but he is Jewish and she's worried about how her family will react because of the Arab-Jew conflict.
This story was not the teen love story I was hoping for and some chapters were unnecessary, but it brought up plenty of issues that kept me entertained. Simple things that Liyana could do in America but couldn't do anymore, like brush her hair on her family's balcony and wear shorts, really made me think of the culture shock Liyana must have experienced.
The family dynamic with Poppy and Sitti were my absolute favorite. I loved the way everyone interacted and how interested Liyana was when she learned something new. I also enjoyed her gradual change from not liking Palestine to finally feeling at home there.
The poems, messages of peace and messages to treat others well were beautifully integrated into the story. It was calm and happy, and you didn't need to take anything from this book but positivity in less positive situations. This isn't a tragedy or a comedy, it's life with flecks of both sprinkled throughout and that's why I enjoyed it.
This book is whimsical and full of prose, but not overwhelmingly so. It's serious when it needs to be, and as playful as the voice of a child, the narrator. The premise had me hooked, but what I expected to be a teen romance became more of a growing up and accepting life story.
This book takes place mainly in the POV of Liyana, an American teenager with interracial parents. Her father is from Palestine, and decides to move his family back to his homeland when Liyana is 15 (right after she shares her first kiss). In Palestine she has to overcome the challenges of moving to a country where she cannot speak the language, and learning the customs of this mixed heritage location. She meets a boy, named Omer, and is immediately smitten, but he is Jewish and she's worried about how her family will react because of the Arab-Jew conflict.
This story was not the teen love story I was hoping for and some chapters were unnecessary, but it brought up plenty of issues that kept me entertained. Simple things that Liyana could do in America but couldn't do anymore, like brush her hair on her family's balcony and wear shorts, really made me think of the culture shock Liyana must have experienced.
The family dynamic with Poppy and Sitti were my absolute favorite. I loved the way everyone interacted and how interested Liyana was when she learned something new. I also enjoyed her gradual change from not liking Palestine to finally feeling at home there.
The poems, messages of peace and messages to treat others well were beautifully integrated into the story. It was calm and happy, and you didn't need to take anything from this book but positivity in less positive situations. This isn't a tragedy or a comedy, it's life with flecks of both sprinkled throughout and that's why I enjoyed it.
I've been called habibti by Arabic speaking friends and find it adorable but somehow, I've only heard habibi be used sarcastically, kind of like the word "buddy" in English. Anyway, recently all I've been reading is young adult or books about Palestine and well, this is both.
I came across a poem about doubt by Naomi Shihab Nye and absolutely wanted to read more of her work. When I opened Goodreads, I was surprised to find that I had already shelved this book years ago.
So I jumped into reading it! Habibi talks about Liyana, an American teen who moves to the West Bank. I was excited for this book because I felt like it had tons of potential. I, too, grew up in the states and moved back to this corner of the world. I think people don't talk about cultural shock enough so I'd hoped this book would expand that. I was excited to see how Liyana's experiences unfold, to see if I would be able to relate to what is essentially the same experience but on "opposite" sides.
However, I think this book was too ambitious and it ended up backfiring. This could have been a book about a Jewish guy and an American-Palestinian girl. It could have been a book about Armenians and studying in an Armenian school as an "outsider". It could have also been a book about the challenges of moving countries or the particular challenges of reconnecting with your parent's culture or a book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the eyes of an American teen. Maybe at the hands of a different author, it could have been all of these.
By attempting to be so many things, this book felt underdeveloped. None of the plot lines that I mentioned were properly developed. When I try to look at it through one of these perspectives, I don't feel like I have a full story.
Instead, this book is just lots of chapters with various emphasis on these plot lines. I'm sure I could easily go chapter by chapter and say, "this part is about Armenians and doesn't ever get spoken about again, this chapter is about her father". In order to blend it all together, the author sticks in a lot of melodrama and cliches. I was unable to stop myself from rolling my eyes every time Liyana gave a "but why can't everyone get along?" type of speech and don't even get me started on the mock poetry, the "I'm so different and thoughtful" notebook entries.
I realize that Liyana is a teen and that the target audience is teens but like, ugh, she was so obnoxious and pretentious. Is this really how we want to teach kids to interact with conflicts? I assume that we would want to teach listening skills and compassion and not arrogance. We need people with open hearts and minds, we don't need more confidence and bluster.
It's just a shame because I can't even criticize the representation of conflict. There was hardly anything here. Nothing of substance, at least. Nonetheless, there were certain elements that felt like a missed opportunity.
I suppose my bone to pick with this is that Liyana seems to think she knows everything there is to know and yet, she never makes an attempt to understand Omer's side. It's funny because I often claim that Palestinians aren't familiar with the Israeli narrative but here, the sheer lack of interest Luyana has in Omer's life is embarrassing. I mean, he goes to her village and attempts to speak Arabic while she ditches his poetry reading (for a good reason but I have to wonder what message was the author trying to send here), doesn't go to West Jerusalem at all and doesn't even attempt to learn Hebrew. He is invested in her world and wants to know more while she doesn't seem to have an active interest in pursuing peace.
Beyond this, she doesn't really bother to take interest in his narrative. She complains about the "chosen people" thing but doesn't care to listen more about what it means. As if Jews thinking they're the chosen people is the cause of the conflict, like come on, that's not even the beginning of the iceberg. She makes assumptions about the conflict without ever questioning them and somehow, her father supports this.
And together, it makes me wonder. Omer knows she isn't Jewish or Israeli from the start and that doesn't stop him from being a good friend to her while she panics when she hears he's Jewish, even if she grew up in America so why would that be such a big deal to her?
Her parents were yet another missed opportunity. Her mother is American and her father is Palestinian. There could have been more room for her mother's perspective, to understand what it's like for an American to suddenly move to a foreign country, to be submerged in her husband's culture. That's not easy and yet, her mother doesn't have much of a role here. I would assume that especially in the moments when they get involved with the stickier parts of the conflict, her mother would be a pivotal voice but nope. Liyana idolizes her father but even there, the entire relationship lacks complexity. When a crisis happens, it gets solved immediately and with more idealism thrown her father's way.
The army is also an interesting point here. Soldiers are portrayed as violent and mindless, destructing everything without even any type of thought. I'm not going to defend the army because heck, the army can defend itself but I do want to say that I found it to be lazy story telling. I mean, there's a scene where one of her relatives tells Omer to remember their meal together when he joins the army. And that's it. There's no real conversation about what the army means and who exactly joins and why it looks the way it does.
I suppose that the author was basing this (partly) on her own experiences but this was just such a messy book. I find it hard to see a central message here. I have no idea what she was trying to accomplish here or what message was she trying to express, other than "I lived in the West Bank for a while and wow, some Jews are okay but I'm not going to engage with them beyond the one Jew that I like and there are Armenians living in Jerusalem but let's not dig deep into their story and hey, the Old City is beautiful and there are stores there".
Even though I didn't like it that much, [b:All the Rivers|31159192|All the Rivers|Dorit Rabinyan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1478027693l/31159192._SY75_.jpg|41923214] was better in the sense that it was more cohesive, diverse, complex (and depressing). I feel tempted to edit this book and turn it into something better because right now, it's a wasted opportunity. If you want to read about an Israeli-Palestinian romance, All the Rivers is the book to read (and then read my review because I don't feel like I can recommend that book wholeheartedly either).
What I'm Taking with Me:
-Her father doesn't seem to be very friendly to Jews either, despite all the preaching. Really, the brother is the only what that seems like, okay.
-The conversation about religion is a little lame as well, let's not pretend organized religion is the (only) problem.
-The scenes that could have talked about cultural differences were lacking and don't even get me started on the grandmother and the way she was portrayed.
I came across a poem about doubt by Naomi Shihab Nye and absolutely wanted to read more of her work. When I opened Goodreads, I was surprised to find that I had already shelved this book years ago.
So I jumped into reading it! Habibi talks about Liyana, an American teen who moves to the West Bank. I was excited for this book because I felt like it had tons of potential. I, too, grew up in the states and moved back to this corner of the world. I think people don't talk about cultural shock enough so I'd hoped this book would expand that. I was excited to see how Liyana's experiences unfold, to see if I would be able to relate to what is essentially the same experience but on "opposite" sides.
However, I think this book was too ambitious and it ended up backfiring. This could have been a book about a Jewish guy and an American-Palestinian girl. It could have been a book about Armenians and studying in an Armenian school as an "outsider". It could have also been a book about the challenges of moving countries or the particular challenges of reconnecting with your parent's culture or a book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the eyes of an American teen. Maybe at the hands of a different author, it could have been all of these.
By attempting to be so many things, this book felt underdeveloped. None of the plot lines that I mentioned were properly developed. When I try to look at it through one of these perspectives, I don't feel like I have a full story.
Instead, this book is just lots of chapters with various emphasis on these plot lines. I'm sure I could easily go chapter by chapter and say, "this part is about Armenians and doesn't ever get spoken about again, this chapter is about her father". In order to blend it all together, the author sticks in a lot of melodrama and cliches. I was unable to stop myself from rolling my eyes every time Liyana gave a "but why can't everyone get along?" type of speech and don't even get me started on the mock poetry, the "I'm so different and thoughtful" notebook entries.
I realize that Liyana is a teen and that the target audience is teens but like, ugh, she was so obnoxious and pretentious. Is this really how we want to teach kids to interact with conflicts? I assume that we would want to teach listening skills and compassion and not arrogance. We need people with open hearts and minds, we don't need more confidence and bluster.
It's just a shame because I can't even criticize the representation of conflict. There was hardly anything here. Nothing of substance, at least. Nonetheless, there were certain elements that felt like a missed opportunity.
I suppose my bone to pick with this is that Liyana seems to think she knows everything there is to know and yet, she never makes an attempt to understand Omer's side. It's funny because I often claim that Palestinians aren't familiar with the Israeli narrative but here, the sheer lack of interest Luyana has in Omer's life is embarrassing. I mean, he goes to her village and attempts to speak Arabic while she ditches his poetry reading (for a good reason but I have to wonder what message was the author trying to send here), doesn't go to West Jerusalem at all and doesn't even attempt to learn Hebrew. He is invested in her world and wants to know more while she doesn't seem to have an active interest in pursuing peace.
Beyond this, she doesn't really bother to take interest in his narrative. She complains about the "chosen people" thing but doesn't care to listen more about what it means. As if Jews thinking they're the chosen people is the cause of the conflict, like come on, that's not even the beginning of the iceberg. She makes assumptions about the conflict without ever questioning them and somehow, her father supports this.
And together, it makes me wonder. Omer knows she isn't Jewish or Israeli from the start and that doesn't stop him from being a good friend to her while she panics when she hears he's Jewish, even if she grew up in America so why would that be such a big deal to her?
Her parents were yet another missed opportunity. Her mother is American and her father is Palestinian. There could have been more room for her mother's perspective, to understand what it's like for an American to suddenly move to a foreign country, to be submerged in her husband's culture. That's not easy and yet, her mother doesn't have much of a role here. I would assume that especially in the moments when they get involved with the stickier parts of the conflict, her mother would be a pivotal voice but nope. Liyana idolizes her father but even there, the entire relationship lacks complexity. When a crisis happens, it gets solved immediately and with more idealism thrown her father's way.
The army is also an interesting point here. Soldiers are portrayed as violent and mindless, destructing everything without even any type of thought. I'm not going to defend the army because heck, the army can defend itself but I do want to say that I found it to be lazy story telling. I mean, there's a scene where one of her relatives tells Omer to remember their meal together when he joins the army. And that's it. There's no real conversation about what the army means and who exactly joins and why it looks the way it does.
I suppose that the author was basing this (partly) on her own experiences but this was just such a messy book. I find it hard to see a central message here. I have no idea what she was trying to accomplish here or what message was she trying to express, other than "I lived in the West Bank for a while and wow, some Jews are okay but I'm not going to engage with them beyond the one Jew that I like and there are Armenians living in Jerusalem but let's not dig deep into their story and hey, the Old City is beautiful and there are stores there".
Even though I didn't like it that much, [b:All the Rivers|31159192|All the Rivers|Dorit Rabinyan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1478027693l/31159192._SY75_.jpg|41923214] was better in the sense that it was more cohesive, diverse, complex (and depressing). I feel tempted to edit this book and turn it into something better because right now, it's a wasted opportunity. If you want to read about an Israeli-Palestinian romance, All the Rivers is the book to read (and then read my review because I don't feel like I can recommend that book wholeheartedly either).
What I'm Taking with Me:
-Her father doesn't seem to be very friendly to Jews either, despite all the preaching. Really, the brother is the only what that seems like, okay.
-The conversation about religion is a little lame as well, let's not pretend organized religion is the (only) problem.
-The scenes that could have talked about cultural differences were lacking and don't even get me started on the grandmother and the way she was portrayed.
Lovely prose, wonderful main character with an amazing family (Rafik was hilarious...), adorable and awkward romance (amazing how mature Omer is, even at age 15-16. He's more mature than most of my peers), and beautiful development. Each chapter varies in length, and functions as a sort of snapshot in Liyana's life. Many parts of this book made me miss my homeland and my childhood. It was really refreshing to read from Liyana's perspective, and the fact that a) she is mixed-blood, b) she loves to write, c) she struggles to fit into both sides of her cultural heritage, d) she has a younger brother she loves to annoy, and e) she doesn't know one of her parents' mother tongues and is working hard to learn made me connect to her and love her even more.