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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
An interesting and compelling insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the eyes of a group of young adults. Sad and hard and beautiful.
"The three of us walked in silence on the dirt path toward home, one of you on either side of me. The sun was setting. The light was dying, as they say, as it was. I did the bravest thing I could think of doing. I took your hand in my left hand, and Nimreen's left hand in my right one, threading my fingers through your knobby ones and through her thinner ones. Nimreen laughed, and then you laughed too, and then I laughed too. I held on to your hands for another moment, hard, and then let them go."
If this book was a color, it would be gray, and in case you haven't heard, I love the color gray!
challenging
emotional
reflective
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved this! So much! It was so horrofingly sad, and beautiful and warm and just so so so alive! Jonathans friendship with the twins, his easy, loving relationships with his other friends, his easy inimacy with other males in particular is astonishing, and his more intimate moments reads like revelations. The language is gorgeous and made me want to cry on severy occasions. The Darwish poems strewns throughout the novel are heartbreaking, especially the titular one! An amazing book!
Ultimately I found this novel moving and complicated in the right ways, but the irritations in getting there were many. For example, Rothman-Zecher has a grating habit of reminding us that the novel is addressed to one of the characters by using his name in the text every couple of pages. "I was thinking of you, Laith," and "I had dinner on Friday night, Laith," over and over again -- by the end of the first chapter I had twigged to the idea that the narrator was talking to Laith and the constant insertions began to feel like a high school student desperately trying to turn a nine-page paper into the required ten pages.
Some sections are overwritten and some melodramatic. Many of the characters got on my nerves; although to be fair, this was mostly because they were acting like nineteen-year-olds, which is exactly who they were supposed to be. The novel has an earnest quality that is sometimes endearing and sometimes just feels a bit naive. Still, as I said, I can't deny that I was hooked by the end, and that the book was more nuanced and thoughtful than I originally expected.
Some sections are overwritten and some melodramatic. Many of the characters got on my nerves; although to be fair, this was mostly because they were acting like nineteen-year-olds, which is exactly who they were supposed to be. The novel has an earnest quality that is sometimes endearing and sometimes just feels a bit naive. Still, as I said, I can't deny that I was hooked by the end, and that the book was more nuanced and thoughtful than I originally expected.
A devastatingly sad novel, and that's not even a spoiler. An Israeli youth, Jonathan, befriends two Palestinian siblings the summer before his military service begins, and is subsequently torn between loyalty to his family, especially his grandfather, and to them. The book is as poetic as it is searing and reads like a confession to his friend Laith.
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In this debut novel, author Moriel Rothman-Zecher delves into both the political and the emotional conflicts that can exist between Jewish and Palestinian Israelis. However, despite the gravity of this subject, the author gives us a novel that is expressively written, that is important reading for anyone who wants to better understand the people behind these tenuous struggles. You can read more about this book in my review here.
https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2018/03/18/the-difficulties-of-devotions/
https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2018/03/18/the-difficulties-of-devotions/