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A review by jordynhaime
Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation by Michael Chabon
2.0
I couldn't finish it.
How incredibly disappointing this book was. I was really looking forward to reading this and I was so excited when I finally got my hands on my library's copy...
This is what happens when you send a bunch of novelists to one of the most reported places in the world for ONE WEEK to write about a conflict which, to quote Chabon, many of them had never even given a second thought. The result is the same overused narratives and tropes we read in the headlines every day. That's just not what I was looking for.
I didn't want to hear the bus ride in which you stared longingly out the window at the menacing border wall, or how innocent-looking the 19-year-olds with guns looked as they stopped you at the same checkpoint that all the other contributors wrote about. I definitely didn't want to hear about how you think the problems started in 1967 when the occupation officially began, and apparently not in 1948 when people were forced out of their homes or fled them because of the war. I don't want to hear about what you "think" about the conflict that's happening there because you know so little about the history. And please, do not call us "few good Jews" "the Righteous ones," as if Judaism is an evil religion in which we all come together on a common hate of Palestinians. This is blatant anti-semitism.
I would much rather read something by a journalist or at least a decent writer next time. Two stars rather than one because of the few writers who wrote essays about something interesting and different and used real research and thought.
How incredibly disappointing this book was. I was really looking forward to reading this and I was so excited when I finally got my hands on my library's copy...
This is what happens when you send a bunch of novelists to one of the most reported places in the world for ONE WEEK to write about a conflict which, to quote Chabon, many of them had never even given a second thought. The result is the same overused narratives and tropes we read in the headlines every day. That's just not what I was looking for.
I didn't want to hear the bus ride in which you stared longingly out the window at the menacing border wall, or how innocent-looking the 19-year-olds with guns looked as they stopped you at the same checkpoint that all the other contributors wrote about. I definitely didn't want to hear about how you think the problems started in 1967 when the occupation officially began, and apparently not in 1948 when people were forced out of their homes or fled them because of the war. I don't want to hear about what you "think" about the conflict that's happening there because you know so little about the history. And please, do not call us "few good Jews" "the Righteous ones," as if Judaism is an evil religion in which we all come together on a common hate of Palestinians. This is blatant anti-semitism.
I would much rather read something by a journalist or at least a decent writer next time. Two stars rather than one because of the few writers who wrote essays about something interesting and different and used real research and thought.