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A review by oleksandr
Palestine +100: Stories from a century after the Nakba by Basma Ghalayini
3.0
This is a collection of short stories plus a novella, written by Palestinian authors, but in English and translated. They are all linked by a common theme, “what Palestine should be like in year 2048, a hundred years after the Nakba (or ‘catastrophe’)?”, when eighty percent of Palestinians (over 700,000 people in total) were expelled from their lands but the newly founded Israel. I read it as a part of monthly reading for October-November 2021 at Speculative Fiction in Translation group.
I usually go story-by-story in my reviews, but here the general theme is already set and an approach of each individual story may spoil it. So, instead I mention overall ideas: Palestinians living in a virtual reality; in a parallel universe; in their sleep; inviting Olympic games to one of the ghettos; Israelis building a perfect defense but going mad because of their internalized fear…
Almost all stories are by the very setup are local, it is not Earth in 2048, just Palestine in 2048 and Israelis are mostly presented in a negative light, either as an uncaring military-industrial complex, which more than in one story, kills Palestinians, who are innocent, or as some arrogant individuals.
The final (translated) novella maybe the most weird The Curse of the Mud Ball Kid – a collection of stories linked by the last living Palestinian (others are killed by guess who) and people around him, and I liked it for quite an unusual storytelling.
I usually go story-by-story in my reviews, but here the general theme is already set and an approach of each individual story may spoil it. So, instead I mention overall ideas: Palestinians living in a virtual reality; in a parallel universe; in their sleep; inviting Olympic games to one of the ghettos; Israelis building a perfect defense but going mad because of their internalized fear…
Almost all stories are by the very setup are local, it is not Earth in 2048, just Palestine in 2048 and Israelis are mostly presented in a negative light, either as an uncaring military-industrial complex, which more than in one story, kills Palestinians, who are innocent, or as some arrogant individuals.
The final (translated) novella maybe the most weird The Curse of the Mud Ball Kid – a collection of stories linked by the last living Palestinian (others are killed by guess who) and people around him, and I liked it for quite an unusual storytelling.