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sjgrodsky's review against another edition
4.0
Read for the Hadassah book club. And then, the night before the book club meeting on Tuesday, I tripped and injured my left leg and knee. Awful pain Monday night, and still too painful to even think about attending the meeting on Tuesday night. Not even on Zoom.
Very sorry I missed the discussion.
Well written, good concept, but I didn’t find the love interest character, Hilma, attractive. Disorganized, poor planner, and smoked. Yeech! Yes, I know I lived with Don Weeda for almost a year, and that he was a smoker. Somehow, I didn’t mind the smell when I was 21 years old. Can’t understand now how i stood it.
Back to the book. Because I didn’t find Hilma attractive, I couldn’t sympathize fully with the protagonist’s conflict.
Or maybe I’m just too old to understand the passion of love among those of disparate backgrounds. A dog can fall in love with a fish, as Tevye says, but where would they live? Or, in a more literate example, Romeo and Juliet were beautiful together, but they both died in the end.
Finally, I agree with the critic who said that the author took the easy way out when seeking for a resolution. Killing off Hilma saves the protagonist from having to make the tough choices she avoids from page 1. You know the protagonist will grieve for awhile, dream of what might have been. Then she’ll marry another sabra and settle in the Tel Aviv suburbs.
Very sorry I missed the discussion.
Well written, good concept, but I didn’t find the love interest character, Hilma, attractive. Disorganized, poor planner, and smoked. Yeech! Yes, I know I lived with Don Weeda for almost a year, and that he was a smoker. Somehow, I didn’t mind the smell when I was 21 years old. Can’t understand now how i stood it.
Back to the book. Because I didn’t find Hilma attractive, I couldn’t sympathize fully with the protagonist’s conflict.
Or maybe I’m just too old to understand the passion of love among those of disparate backgrounds. A dog can fall in love with a fish, as Tevye says, but where would they live? Or, in a more literate example, Romeo and Juliet were beautiful together, but they both died in the end.
Finally, I agree with the critic who said that the author took the easy way out when seeking for a resolution. Killing off Hilma saves the protagonist from having to make the tough choices she avoids from page 1. You know the protagonist will grieve for awhile, dream of what might have been. Then she’ll marry another sabra and settle in the Tel Aviv suburbs.
dinamakan's review against another edition
2.0
When I see the blurb, I was expecting a tragic love story set in Palestine/Israel, since the main characters are from Israel and Palestine. I was wrong. The story is set in the US in 2003 (I assume it's after 9/11 event), so the prejudice among Arabs/Muslims were bigger than any other races/nationality/religion believers. So, I can say that the challenge is more visible for Hilmi rather than Liat.
The love story is not balanced, since Hilmi introduced Liat to his friends and family, while Liat tries hard to hide their relationship from her family and the Jewish/Israeli community. Secondly, although there are some lines that show the couple grow up with their Middle Eastern environment and culture, I didn't really see it from how they live their love life. They have sex, get drunk, and take weed, like typical "love life" stories.
The love story is not balanced, since Hilmi introduced Liat to his friends and family, while Liat tries hard to hide their relationship from her family and the Jewish/Israeli community. Secondly, although there are some lines that show the couple grow up with their Middle Eastern environment and culture, I didn't really see it from how they live their love life. They have sex, get drunk, and take weed, like typical "love life" stories.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
All the Rivers is the title given to the English translation of a novel by Israeli author Dorit Rabinyan which was banned from Israeli schools. It's the story of a relationship that forms between an Israeli translator working in New York on a temporary basis and a Palestinian artist. The story is interesting, but unremarkable except for their heritages. Liat reacts by hiding the relationship from her family and living under a fear of being seen by someone from back home whenever they are together in public, a fear that extends to being seen by anyone from Israel. Hilmi is unafraid of their relationship and his frustration comes from being sent out of the room when her parents call, even as his insistence in including Liat in an evening meal when his brother visits from Ramallah results in an uncomfortable evening for everyone.
This book did give me an insight into how intractable the division between the Israelis and the Palestinians is, even as Hilmi remains optimistic about the future. They both live with the damage the long conflict has done to them, creating areas where they can't communicate. This isn't a trite story of love conquering all, and even when they are together in New York, their relationship is a very real one. In the end, Rabinyan fails to stick the landing, writing an ending that carefully skirts around any hard decisions on the part of Hilmi and Liat, and one that also avoids making any sort of meaningful comment on Israeli-Palestinian relations. I'm left wondering if this careful circling around of the issues still resulted in All the Rivers being viewed as controversial, what would have happened had Rabinyan refused to allow her characters an easy way out?
This book did give me an insight into how intractable the division between the Israelis and the Palestinians is, even as Hilmi remains optimistic about the future. They both live with the damage the long conflict has done to them, creating areas where they can't communicate. This isn't a trite story of love conquering all, and even when they are together in New York, their relationship is a very real one. In the end, Rabinyan fails to stick the landing, writing an ending that carefully skirts around any hard decisions on the part of Hilmi and Liat, and one that also avoids making any sort of meaningful comment on Israeli-Palestinian relations. I'm left wondering if this careful circling around of the issues still resulted in All the Rivers being viewed as controversial, what would have happened had Rabinyan refused to allow her characters an easy way out?
whatxesaid's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.25
lizaroo71's review against another edition
Soooooo, I read about 172 pages of this book and couldn't see the end in sight. The premise of the story intrigued me: two people meet in New York and are swept into a whirlwind romance. But, the problem is the two young lovers are from Israel (Liat) and Palestine (Hilmi). The relationship is doomed from the beginning and yet, the two proceed to stay in one another's lives. Liat is certain that she can never truly be devoted to Hilmi. She makes sure that he is aware that they can never have a future together. Ever. And, yet, they stay in a relationship!
There are many aspects of the story that I liked, but I felt the story dragged on too long. I finally skipped to the final page to determine what happened to the lovers (I don't think it would have been worth the journey). Some great writing here, but the plot definitely needed some cleaning up.
There are many aspects of the story that I liked, but I felt the story dragged on too long. I finally skipped to the final page to determine what happened to the lovers (I don't think it would have been worth the journey). Some great writing here, but the plot definitely needed some cleaning up.
terese_utan_h's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
itzreibrary's review against another edition
1.0
All The Rivers by Dorit Rabinyan.
Award-winning and banned, what more can you expect from a book?
Apparently, too much. I was expecting a beautiful love story as written on the cover, 'are there borders love cannot cross?', in where the love is so strong and passionate it blurred all the differences and, well, borders.
It started when Liat, an Israeli girl, met Hilmi, a Palestinian, in New York. They quickly fell in love, but Liat cannot get over the fact that Hilmi was Palestinian, hence grew up with the opposite point of view and absolutely a man her family will never accept. So she built a wall, on a higher ground I might point out, where she emphatically stated that their relationships was just temporary since she would have to go back to Tel Aviv in six months. Though admitted her love for Hilmi, Liat also treated him like he was some kind of inconvenience that she cannot wait to finally get rid of. Began with a quite beautiful narrative about how they started falling for each other, the story quickly went downhill to the point where, unfortunately, showed how Liat was only a ‘spoiled, narcissistic, stubborn and in love with her national victim identity just as all Israelis were’ girl.
It was hard for me to be unbiased while reading this book, especially whenever Liat pointed to Palestine as ‘their enemy.’ I will end my review here so I don’t have to say more about what I think about those Liats out there and their ‘national victim identities', and how they kept confused the definitions of 'victim' and 'enemy'.
Award-winning and banned, what more can you expect from a book?
Apparently, too much. I was expecting a beautiful love story as written on the cover, 'are there borders love cannot cross?', in where the love is so strong and passionate it blurred all the differences and, well, borders.
It started when Liat, an Israeli girl, met Hilmi, a Palestinian, in New York. They quickly fell in love, but Liat cannot get over the fact that Hilmi was Palestinian, hence grew up with the opposite point of view and absolutely a man her family will never accept. So she built a wall, on a higher ground I might point out, where she emphatically stated that their relationships was just temporary since she would have to go back to Tel Aviv in six months. Though admitted her love for Hilmi, Liat also treated him like he was some kind of inconvenience that she cannot wait to finally get rid of. Began with a quite beautiful narrative about how they started falling for each other, the story quickly went downhill to the point where, unfortunately, showed how Liat was only a ‘spoiled, narcissistic, stubborn and in love with her national victim identity just as all Israelis were’ girl.
It was hard for me to be unbiased while reading this book, especially whenever Liat pointed to Palestine as ‘their enemy.’ I will end my review here so I don’t have to say more about what I think about those Liats out there and their ‘national victim identities', and how they kept confused the definitions of 'victim' and 'enemy'.
sentiaracha's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
zofka15's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
It is horrible how some political war affects normal people lives
marinaraydun's review against another edition
5.0
One of the most incredible love stories I ever read. It moved me in a profound, physical way. Highly recommend.