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A review by misspalah
Where The Streets Had A Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah
4.0
“The nostagia suffocates me. I see my limestone house in the village. I see the radio your grandfather bought when we went to Souk in the old city. We kept the radio in the kitchen. I see the arched windows overlooking the hills, each window like a stone frame. I can smell my jasmine and almond trees and remember the olive trees i harvested. Those memories stow themselves in my windpipe until i dare not conjure another memory or i will scarcely be able to breathe”.
- Where the streets had name by Randa Abdel-Fatteh
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In the alternate universe, maybe this story will be just about 2 mischievous teenagers named Hayaat and Samy embarking a road trip to the unknown place which Hayaat’s grandmother used to live. Instead of scaling the wall to enter the place illegally, the worst obstacle they faced is just the place no longer exist and being replaced by the shopping mall building not being taken over illegally by Zionist Occupation. In the alternate universe, Hayaat Grandmother may lose her house due to the financial constraint instead of being forced to fled by the Israel force. But we are not talking about the alternate universe, Arent we? Be it in the book or what happened right now, illegal occupation is still going on and people are being evicted from their land and home by Israel. I can see that this book is somewhat a tribute to Author’s grandma that wanted to touch the soil of their homeland but couldnt do so. We always take granted of what we have such as traveling 10 km from our home does not mean anything to us. However, for Hayaat and Samy, it is not that easy, checkpoint upon checkpoint, insults and unfair treatment by Israelis Officers and they can easily being forced to leave their bus if these zionists felt they are up to no good. Overall, this book provided great insights of what it felt being a teenagers in Palestine. They saw the despair of their parents and grandparents losing their homeland but that does not stop them to still enjoy life has to offer. Hayat and Samy friendship is adorable, as hayat is optimist and self aware but Samy is pessimist and nihilist which causing them to always bicker and argue over small things. However, they are fiercely loyal to each other. Along their unplanned journey to collect the soil for Hayaat’s grandma, they have met many people along the way, Naseem (a refugee boy), David and Mali (An israeli activists) and also Kareem’s family who were forced out of bus even they did nothing wrong. This is fast-paced novel with a brief history commentary especially Palestine and Israel Conflict. If you wanted to read a young adult novel about Palestine, this has it all. A highly recommended reading.
- Where the streets had name by Randa Abdel-Fatteh
.
.
In the alternate universe, maybe this story will be just about 2 mischievous teenagers named Hayaat and Samy embarking a road trip to the unknown place which Hayaat’s grandmother used to live. Instead of scaling the wall to enter the place illegally, the worst obstacle they faced is just the place no longer exist and being replaced by the shopping mall building not being taken over illegally by Zionist Occupation. In the alternate universe, Hayaat Grandmother may lose her house due to the financial constraint instead of being forced to fled by the Israel force. But we are not talking about the alternate universe, Arent we? Be it in the book or what happened right now, illegal occupation is still going on and people are being evicted from their land and home by Israel. I can see that this book is somewhat a tribute to Author’s grandma that wanted to touch the soil of their homeland but couldnt do so. We always take granted of what we have such as traveling 10 km from our home does not mean anything to us. However, for Hayaat and Samy, it is not that easy, checkpoint upon checkpoint, insults and unfair treatment by Israelis Officers and they can easily being forced to leave their bus if these zionists felt they are up to no good. Overall, this book provided great insights of what it felt being a teenagers in Palestine. They saw the despair of their parents and grandparents losing their homeland but that does not stop them to still enjoy life has to offer. Hayat and Samy friendship is adorable, as hayat is optimist and self aware but Samy is pessimist and nihilist which causing them to always bicker and argue over small things. However, they are fiercely loyal to each other. Along their unplanned journey to collect the soil for Hayaat’s grandma, they have met many people along the way, Naseem (a refugee boy), David and Mali (An israeli activists) and also Kareem’s family who were forced out of bus even they did nothing wrong. This is fast-paced novel with a brief history commentary especially Palestine and Israel Conflict. If you wanted to read a young adult novel about Palestine, this has it all. A highly recommended reading.