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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
Hard to rate. Phenomenally written, just wish there was a more concrete ending.
Highly recommend reading.
Highly recommend reading.
I am not the most engaged and active reviewer on goodreads, as I tend to use the platform solely as a way to track my reading. However, as readers, we are lucky enough to stumble upon a book that, once in a while, leaves a profound and deep marking on us. 'Sadness is a white bird' is that novel. For me this novel appeared out of nowhere, propelling a lighting strike like force that temporarily stunned me - leaving me lost in thought at the passionate beauty of the poetic coming-of-age story that I had just read.
I am not going to list another long summary of the content of the novel as there are lots of wonderful summaries already listed on the site and online. However, as someone who specialises in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, this book is such a unique gem in capturing the raw intensity and emotion on both sides of the conflict, giving a first hand perspective through the eyes of the main protagonists, which is so often overlooked in literature surrounding this topic.
I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in the region but also anyone who wants a different kind novel that will most certainly leave a mark.
I have attached a link to a Stanford university conversation with the author which I would recommend to anyone who has read the book to enhance your understanding and knowledge of this book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZQ--Qo8slE
I am not going to list another long summary of the content of the novel as there are lots of wonderful summaries already listed on the site and online. However, as someone who specialises in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, this book is such a unique gem in capturing the raw intensity and emotion on both sides of the conflict, giving a first hand perspective through the eyes of the main protagonists, which is so often overlooked in literature surrounding this topic.
I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in the region but also anyone who wants a different kind novel that will most certainly leave a mark.
I have attached a link to a Stanford university conversation with the author which I would recommend to anyone who has read the book to enhance your understanding and knowledge of this book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZQ--Qo8slE
This book left me speechless. The style is emotive and lyrical; the non-chronological narration works fantastically. The tone was so melancholy and loving, it made for simply delicious reading. Excellent too on the little nuances, the everyday tensions. It really humanises the bigger political climate being represented.
Jonathan is a great protagonist whose Israeli, Jewish heritage is at odds with his friendship with the Palestinian twins, Laith and Nimreen. His coming-of-age story is about his conflicting loyalties, and his desire to leave behind the us vs. them mentality. Unexpectedly, for me at least, his is also a queer story. Jonathan likes both boys and girls, and the themes of youth and sex enrich the texture of his reality because of how they are juxtaposed with war.
The ending sequences were especially moving. I won't say more. Read it!
Jonathan is a great protagonist whose Israeli, Jewish heritage is at odds with his friendship with the Palestinian twins, Laith and Nimreen. His coming-of-age story is about his conflicting loyalties, and his desire to leave behind the us vs. them mentality. Unexpectedly, for me at least, his is also a queer story. Jonathan likes both boys and girls, and the themes of youth and sex enrich the texture of his reality because of how they are juxtaposed with war.
The ending sequences were especially moving. I won't say more. Read it!
Wow!!! So I found this one at a bookstore and it was recommended by an employee. How this one missed my radar to that point, I have no clue. It is definitely one of my top ten and maybe top five?!
The narrative goes back and forth between the past and present. The character development is on point and you quickly begin to become emotionally involved with the main character.
While this is fiction, it drives home many points/views that can be applied to life today. Outstanding read!!
The narrative goes back and forth between the past and present. The character development is on point and you quickly begin to become emotionally involved with the main character.
While this is fiction, it drives home many points/views that can be applied to life today. Outstanding read!!
Soooooo gooooood. One of those books where the writing feels like the perfect vessel for the voice and story.
Sadness Is A White Bird is a second-person letter written from Jonathan, a 19 year old who recently begun serving in the Israeli army and is in prison for an initially undisclosed reason, to Laith, one of the two Palestinian twins that he had formed a wonderfully profound friendship with the year before enlisting. It paints the moral quandary of the region in such a personal way with these relationships + brief dives into each family's trauma-ridden histories. Rothman-Zecher carries this story skillfully: his language is straight-forward, as befitting Jonathan's perspective, but is laced sparsely and effortlessly with lovely and fresh descriptive turns of phrases.
The kinda book that I wish I had a book club for.
Sadness Is A White Bird is a second-person letter written from Jonathan, a 19 year old who recently begun serving in the Israeli army and is in prison for an initially undisclosed reason, to Laith, one of the two Palestinian twins that he had formed a wonderfully profound friendship with the year before enlisting. It paints the moral quandary of the region in such a personal way with these relationships + brief dives into each family's trauma-ridden histories. Rothman-Zecher carries this story skillfully: his language is straight-forward, as befitting Jonathan's perspective, but is laced sparsely and effortlessly with lovely and fresh descriptive turns of phrases.
"You and Nimreen both laughed. Nimreen's laugh was like a fast, narrow river. Yours was slower, wider."
The kinda book that I wish I had a book club for.
This is a hard book to rate and review. I’ll think on it some and then post a review.
It started out with some pretty unique and intriguing narration and only left my comfort-zone as time progressed. It became increasingly didactic and scattered. I should have stopped, since I really didn't care about the characters; it was annoying I didn't care about the conflict they were in because the Israeli/Palestinian issue is so delicate and worthy of examining. Instead I pushed through because I wanted to find out where Jonathan's story ended. The last 100 pages meant nothing to me and I skimmed through them, because I just couldn't care and I wanted to get to the end out of spite(?). It's not particularly affronting at first glance, but it felt to me quite hollow beneath the surface.