A review by imanqblake
I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti

slow-paced

5.0

Reading this after Rashid Khalidi's book was such a change of pace for me, and it was an amazing one. Of course, the translations might not hit the same as it is in Arabic, but each sentence was so carefully crafted and felt heavy with grief, frustration, and just the weight of the emotions portrayed paired with the exquisite choice of words made me love this book. It read as a scattered recollection of memories from the author's time in Ramallah, but it didn't feel abrupt or overly slow, the pace was nice to take your time with and digest his perspective on his experiences. I really do recommend reading this book after Khalidi's because it gives a more human/emotional perspective to the harsh realities Palestinians faced since a century ago. I would definitely love to read this again.