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pageglue 's review for:
Mornings in Jenin
by Susan Abulhawa
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“In that week I see how familiar words can break like glass and reassemble into goblins that waylay the mind with their claws. "Example" was but a pebble. I had heard and said it countless times before: "for example." Such an insignificant and mediocre word invades the happy days of my youth and steals the memory of playing soccer with young Jamal, whom the Jews make an
"example" right before my eyes. I watch life trickle from the bullet wound of a sixteen-year-old "example" and marvel how things weak, even words, will turn vicious and merciless to gain power, despite reason or history.” P. 101
The Abulheja family are going about their daily lives in their village of Ein Hod, Palestine when the Nakba occurs, displacing them to the refugee camp in Jenin. In Mornings in Jenin, we follow the lives of this family from 1941 until the early 2000s and see how their lives’ trajectories were completely upended by key events in Israel-Palestine’s history.
I was hesitant to pick this book up, purely because I’ve never really loved multigenerational family stories, but boy am I glad I did. This book is epic in scope yet still manages to have frequent moments of intimacy. It’s a big book - not in page count, but in emotions, plot, drama. The family is fictional but the events are historical, and despite already knowing the major events that the story was going to cover, there were still so many gasp-inducing twists and turns. The writing and characters were seriously impressive. I appreciated the historical exposition to contextualise the time jumps, and I found the insider perspective on the Palestinian Liberation Organisation really humanising and interesting. This book is also just really fucking sad. These characters experience so much loss: of family members (in death and in separation), of land, of dreams, of dignity. This is one my top books I’ve read this year, highly recommend.
"example" right before my eyes. I watch life trickle from the bullet wound of a sixteen-year-old "example" and marvel how things weak, even words, will turn vicious and merciless to gain power, despite reason or history.” P. 101
The Abulheja family are going about their daily lives in their village of Ein Hod, Palestine when the Nakba occurs, displacing them to the refugee camp in Jenin. In Mornings in Jenin, we follow the lives of this family from 1941 until the early 2000s and see how their lives’ trajectories were completely upended by key events in Israel-Palestine’s history.
I was hesitant to pick this book up, purely because I’ve never really loved multigenerational family stories, but boy am I glad I did. This book is epic in scope yet still manages to have frequent moments of intimacy. It’s a big book - not in page count, but in emotions, plot, drama. The family is fictional but the events are historical, and despite already knowing the major events that the story was going to cover, there were still so many gasp-inducing twists and turns. The writing and characters were seriously impressive. I appreciated the historical exposition to contextualise the time jumps, and I found the insider perspective on the Palestinian Liberation Organisation really humanising and interesting. This book is also just really fucking sad. These characters experience so much loss: of family members (in death and in separation), of land, of dreams, of dignity. This is one my top books I’ve read this year, highly recommend.