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jiujensu's reviews
445 reviews
Palestine: A Socialist Introduction by Sumaya Awad, Brian Bean
challenging
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
If you're looking to understand the history, context, and details of what's going on in Palestine/Israel, you should add this book to your list.
This is a great overview of issues concerning the liberation of Palestine. It's socialist focus is internationalist and brings together all struggles/ divisions - imperialism, capitalism, patriarchy, gender, race, class, nationality, religion which, in my opinion, is missing from many discussions from a liberal perspective (even more is missing from conservative...).
Each section discusses important bits that I hear well-meaning people get very wrong. There's a discussion of the Israeli left/socialists, Zionism, agreements and negotiations through the years, Arab leaders' support for imperialism, the Arab Spring.
There were great sections at the end on BDS, gender, and Black-Palestinian solidarity. It ends on a rather inspiring note for a book full of facts I wish I had a photographic memory to hold with an essay by Remi Kanazi.
This is a great overview of issues concerning the liberation of Palestine. It's socialist focus is internationalist and brings together all struggles/ divisions - imperialism, capitalism, patriarchy, gender, race, class, nationality, religion which, in my opinion, is missing from many discussions from a liberal perspective (even more is missing from conservative...).
Each section discusses important bits that I hear well-meaning people get very wrong. There's a discussion of the Israeli left/socialists, Zionism, agreements and negotiations through the years, Arab leaders' support for imperialism, the Arab Spring.
There were great sections at the end on BDS, gender, and Black-Palestinian solidarity. It ends on a rather inspiring note for a book full of facts I wish I had a photographic memory to hold with an essay by Remi Kanazi.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I'd been wanting to read this for a while and it didn't disappoint. Written in 1993, it's still an incredibly relevant dystopian novel about the end of the United States. Is it a sovereign citizen libertarian utopia? - poverty, no government, every person for themselves? It's more about climate change and authoritarian politicians conspiring to kill off humanity - about survival and the need for community. I'm sure it wouldn't be the utopia libertarians, doomsday preppers and the armed white people of Nextdoor are cosplaying currently - I don't think the book makes a case in favor of that. The novel paints a more realistic, hopeless, and terrifying picture of the now not so distant year 2025.
Part of what makes the relevance evergreen is that history repeats over and over. What seems like a reference to Trumpian fascist leanings and "make America great again" and politicians that make people yearn for a simpler time that never really existed, reading in 2021, could easily have been referencing Reagan or politicians governing through industrialization, wars, waves of civil rights gains - any major change - as easily as a point far in the future.
Which brings us to the religious aspects, a big part of the book. I really enjoyed her playing with that idea of God being change starting a new religion. I agree with embracing change - not a bad message - but her God seems as cruel in some of the verses as the Christian one she came from. Despite the religion, the idea that we need each other and are stronger in groups isn't a bad one. Does one need religion to focus community effort or comfort? Who can say.
Climate change features prominently. It's interesting to think that maybe around the writing of the novel, climate change was just becoming a national political issue. Now, almost 30 years later, we refer to a climate emergency and talk about climate refugees. The image of Lauren's group of refugees being chased by fire is vivid and extremely fitting both for California and a depiction of what is often an abstract concept for people.
I think there are some references sprinkled in about the rich people evacuating or protecting themselves, corporate greed, capitalism, etc in the climate change and destruction of the US, but these weren't front and center. But some references made me think of Ted Cruz leaving for vacation during winter storm/power outage and company towns owned by mining companies.
Not super relevant but kind of fun coincidence: Still related to climate change. I had just listened to this podcast that has a bit about the historical significance of carob and the possibility of a comeback due to climate change days before I read in Sower about a character being impressed another had chocolate as opposed to the ubiquitous carob candy, obviously referencing the warmer climate, scarcity, and economic problems.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000xsr8
Part of what makes the relevance evergreen is that history repeats over and over. What seems like a reference to Trumpian fascist leanings and "make America great again" and politicians that make people yearn for a simpler time that never really existed, reading in 2021, could easily have been referencing Reagan or politicians governing through industrialization, wars, waves of civil rights gains - any major change - as easily as a point far in the future.
Which brings us to the religious aspects, a big part of the book. I really enjoyed her playing with that idea of God being change starting a new religion. I agree with embracing change - not a bad message - but her God seems as cruel in some of the verses as the Christian one she came from. Despite the religion, the idea that we need each other and are stronger in groups isn't a bad one. Does one need religion to focus community effort or comfort? Who can say.
Climate change features prominently. It's interesting to think that maybe around the writing of the novel, climate change was just becoming a national political issue. Now, almost 30 years later, we refer to a climate emergency and talk about climate refugees. The image of Lauren's group of refugees being chased by fire is vivid and extremely fitting both for California and a depiction of what is often an abstract concept for people.
I think there are some references sprinkled in about the rich people evacuating or protecting themselves, corporate greed, capitalism, etc in the climate change and destruction of the US, but these weren't front and center. But some references made me think of Ted Cruz leaving for vacation during winter storm/power outage and company towns owned by mining companies.
Not super relevant but kind of fun coincidence: Still related to climate change. I had just listened to this podcast that has a bit about the historical significance of carob and the possibility of a comeback due to climate change days before I read in Sower about a character being impressed another had chocolate as opposed to the ubiquitous carob candy, obviously referencing the warmer climate, scarcity, and economic problems.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000xsr8
This Storm by James Ellroy
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
I tried a few times to get into this one. It just didn't hook me. There were too many names and locations... and some other things.
I'm not opposed to a minimalist style. That was a point in its favor. Also, it looks like there's a murder mystery in there somewhere so that could be good.
That I'm completely unfamiliar and unintersted in the military settings and people is probably one problem. I didn't understand a lot of the military jargon in there - and there is a lot. And there's an excessive amount of weird slang that's either meant to place it in the period of history or maybe it's more military stuff. Where I understood the reference, it was a bit cringeworthy, and where I didn't, it was just a blank for me.
The slang and jargon and how the characters spoke and related to each other seems to be yelling at you to appreciate how macho bros work together and I don't know if I can or want to step into that locker room situation for hours on end.
Lots of slurs too. I get it's fiction and the time period, etc, but it just seemed gratuitous.
I'm not opposed to a minimalist style. That was a point in its favor. Also, it looks like there's a murder mystery in there somewhere so that could be good.
That I'm completely unfamiliar and unintersted in the military settings and people is probably one problem. I didn't understand a lot of the military jargon in there - and there is a lot. And there's an excessive amount of weird slang that's either meant to place it in the period of history or maybe it's more military stuff. Where I understood the reference, it was a bit cringeworthy, and where I didn't, it was just a blank for me.
The slang and jargon and how the characters spoke and related to each other seems to be yelling at you to appreciate how macho bros work together and I don't know if I can or want to step into that locker room situation for hours on end.
Lots of slurs too. I get it's fiction and the time period, etc, but it just seemed gratuitous.
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I read this as a reader and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you're reading as a writer, he gives you little periodic assignments that could be useful. The read was just as informative without that though.
He breaks down the short story in a way I've never seen. I feel like I've read a course on literature or writing that I didn't get a chance to take in college. If I do decide to write something, maybe I won't feel so lost.
He breaks down the short story in a way I've never seen. I feel like I've read a course on literature or writing that I didn't get a chance to take in college. If I do decide to write something, maybe I won't feel so lost.
Ambivalence: Adventures in Israel and Palestine by Jonathan Garfinkel
3.0
He may be ambivalent about his faith and he may have been ambivalent about his girlfriend before he got dumped, but about Israel I'm not so sure. He's definitely proud of himself for making a Palestinian friend and for eventually asking and answering questions most Jews manage to suppress and ignore- even the ones living in Israel. He finds out his view of history learned at his Canadian Zionist school was a lie (propaganda, indoctrination, IMO). He's haunted continually by this composite character representing the school like a true victim of serious semi-successful brainwashing. He's got several composite characters and dead people or those not in the country speaking to him. It was creative and kind of fun, but in a memoir, I'm not sure I liked it.
He does have some breakthroughs. There were in fact people on the land (Israel) before them (Israeli Jews) and Palestinians didn't leave of their own free will and did in fact want to come back. Also, he learns that not everyone hates Jews and there is such thing as Palestinians and the map of Israel he had burned in his brain as a child was wrong. I think he still holds onto the lie that it was the Jews who made the desert bloom, though. What is shocking is how I hear people constantly bemoan the fact that Palestinians are being indoctrinated to hate Jews in textbooks and schools, while there is nothing about this propaganda Jews learn in school, not just in Israel, but all over the world (and the fact that for Palestinians it is illegal to learn about their own history or literature, etc).
Interestingly, at Jonathan's home synagogue, the men and women are separate and the women can't touch the Torah and men and women can't touch each other. I found it kind of funny given the fact that there has been so much press lately about mosques and how people believe Islam is the problem, after all, look how they treat women- separate to pray. Callers to radio shows justify their ill feelings for the mosque in NY due to this separation which doubtless many Jews in NY (and all over the world) also practice!
When he talks to other Jews about his questioning of what he's been taught, he seems to oppose them, but does so as though he tossed a coin and he doesn't know why he's saying what he's saying. When he talks about his orthodox friends, he longs for the faith they have and admires them greatly, which is not so bad. What they say about Palestinians bothers him (also good), but not in the way Rana's acceptance of suicide bombing does- he's ready to end that friendship.
The fact that his friend, Rana, supports suicide bombing as a general concept shocks him. Funny when you think of his heroes in Israeli history who were responsible for some pretty horrible things, but such is the contradiction that is Israel. When he finds out about this, he wonders why he can question his faith and position, but she can't. He also says at some point that they both have had to question their Israeli educations and she found it almost as hard as he did to criticize and question her education and (for her) Israeliness. I wonder if he thinks the Jews could have won their state with non-violence. Does he regret that they used violence so that he can freely (and cheaply if he'd taken one of Israel's many offers to Jews) travel at the expense of so many lives long gone and so many under occupation?
He visits a community, Oasis of Peace, where Israelis and Palestinians live together equally, but he calls this fabricated peace rather than a choice or an alternative, as they consider it. He goes with an activist whose group is intent on posting signs telling of the state's real history, or at least a sanitized version letting people know of the Palestinian villages that Israel tried to erase. He's not terribly critical of them, but it is clear that while he seems glad he knows the truth, he doesn't really want to get involved in educating others and seems on the fence about the whole thing- he may not be as happy to know the truth as I thought.
The real peace, is the one in the Shimon-Abu Dalo residence, he thinks. I disagree. They hate each other, but they don't kill each other. It's the reason for his trip to Israel. He wants to write a play about it and goes to do research and to find out about the nagging questions relating to what he learned in school. He inexplicably goes to see Divine Intervention at the Toronto Film Festival, meets Rana who tells him about this house. I hope he made a great play because I don't think his trip was too enlightening for him otherwise. When Palestinians would talk history with him, he wouldn't be able to concentrate either because the IDF was shooting or low blood sugar or whatever. He did seem to conclude that his Zionist education was a bit biased and maybe not factually correct. But he wants it to be. He wants the faith of those people and to not ask questions. He admires his "War of Independence" heroes (maybe just remembering as a child?) and how kibbutzim were instrumental in the war. He can't let go of the Jewish state idea, which precludes equality and democracy, even though he kind of understands that implication.
He does less analysis and more general reporting of Israeli attitudes than some memoirs. One such experience that sticks out is how in his visit to the kibbutz, I and apparently he, expected pretty liberal attitudes about Palestinians and was surprised. He asked them if they would let Palestinians live in the kibbutz, given their values and claims of interacting with Palestinians. They weren't forthcoming. When they bragged about going to the West Bank, it was not really in a Palestinian village as they had said and it was owned by Palestinians serving Jewish patrons.
I've been able to get my hands on far more Jewish memoirs than Palestinian ones. This one was pretty good. It didn't make me nearly as mad as Prisoners by Jeffery Goldberg. I was only mildly disappointed with the evolution in this book. He was able to reverse some of his Zionist brainwashing and begin thinking for himself. He was ashamed of himself for doing this, though, and seemed to want to want the faith of people who thought Palestinians were dogs. He made some Palestinian friends and asked some questions, but he still seems to think they are guilty or responsible for the mess they are in. He does seem to be for cooperation and peace and not so obsessed with the Holocaust (like American Jews) and manufactured victimhood that it causes moral myopia.
Maybe we'll have to wait for Israel to allow Palestinians freedom of movement and to study their history and write about it without it being illegal for Palestinian memoirs to become more widely available.
He does have some breakthroughs. There were in fact people on the land (Israel) before them (Israeli Jews) and Palestinians didn't leave of their own free will and did in fact want to come back. Also, he learns that not everyone hates Jews and there is such thing as Palestinians and the map of Israel he had burned in his brain as a child was wrong. I think he still holds onto the lie that it was the Jews who made the desert bloom, though. What is shocking is how I hear people constantly bemoan the fact that Palestinians are being indoctrinated to hate Jews in textbooks and schools, while there is nothing about this propaganda Jews learn in school, not just in Israel, but all over the world (and the fact that for Palestinians it is illegal to learn about their own history or literature, etc).
Interestingly, at Jonathan's home synagogue, the men and women are separate and the women can't touch the Torah and men and women can't touch each other. I found it kind of funny given the fact that there has been so much press lately about mosques and how people believe Islam is the problem, after all, look how they treat women- separate to pray. Callers to radio shows justify their ill feelings for the mosque in NY due to this separation which doubtless many Jews in NY (and all over the world) also practice!
When he talks to other Jews about his questioning of what he's been taught, he seems to oppose them, but does so as though he tossed a coin and he doesn't know why he's saying what he's saying. When he talks about his orthodox friends, he longs for the faith they have and admires them greatly, which is not so bad. What they say about Palestinians bothers him (also good), but not in the way Rana's acceptance of suicide bombing does- he's ready to end that friendship.
The fact that his friend, Rana, supports suicide bombing as a general concept shocks him. Funny when you think of his heroes in Israeli history who were responsible for some pretty horrible things, but such is the contradiction that is Israel. When he finds out about this, he wonders why he can question his faith and position, but she can't. He also says at some point that they both have had to question their Israeli educations and she found it almost as hard as he did to criticize and question her education and (for her) Israeliness. I wonder if he thinks the Jews could have won their state with non-violence. Does he regret that they used violence so that he can freely (and cheaply if he'd taken one of Israel's many offers to Jews) travel at the expense of so many lives long gone and so many under occupation?
He visits a community, Oasis of Peace, where Israelis and Palestinians live together equally, but he calls this fabricated peace rather than a choice or an alternative, as they consider it. He goes with an activist whose group is intent on posting signs telling of the state's real history, or at least a sanitized version letting people know of the Palestinian villages that Israel tried to erase. He's not terribly critical of them, but it is clear that while he seems glad he knows the truth, he doesn't really want to get involved in educating others and seems on the fence about the whole thing- he may not be as happy to know the truth as I thought.
The real peace, is the one in the Shimon-Abu Dalo residence, he thinks. I disagree. They hate each other, but they don't kill each other. It's the reason for his trip to Israel. He wants to write a play about it and goes to do research and to find out about the nagging questions relating to what he learned in school. He inexplicably goes to see Divine Intervention at the Toronto Film Festival, meets Rana who tells him about this house. I hope he made a great play because I don't think his trip was too enlightening for him otherwise. When Palestinians would talk history with him, he wouldn't be able to concentrate either because the IDF was shooting or low blood sugar or whatever. He did seem to conclude that his Zionist education was a bit biased and maybe not factually correct. But he wants it to be. He wants the faith of those people and to not ask questions. He admires his "War of Independence" heroes (maybe just remembering as a child?) and how kibbutzim were instrumental in the war. He can't let go of the Jewish state idea, which precludes equality and democracy, even though he kind of understands that implication.
He does less analysis and more general reporting of Israeli attitudes than some memoirs. One such experience that sticks out is how in his visit to the kibbutz, I and apparently he, expected pretty liberal attitudes about Palestinians and was surprised. He asked them if they would let Palestinians live in the kibbutz, given their values and claims of interacting with Palestinians. They weren't forthcoming. When they bragged about going to the West Bank, it was not really in a Palestinian village as they had said and it was owned by Palestinians serving Jewish patrons.
I've been able to get my hands on far more Jewish memoirs than Palestinian ones. This one was pretty good. It didn't make me nearly as mad as Prisoners by Jeffery Goldberg. I was only mildly disappointed with the evolution in this book. He was able to reverse some of his Zionist brainwashing and begin thinking for himself. He was ashamed of himself for doing this, though, and seemed to want to want the faith of people who thought Palestinians were dogs. He made some Palestinian friends and asked some questions, but he still seems to think they are guilty or responsible for the mess they are in. He does seem to be for cooperation and peace and not so obsessed with the Holocaust (like American Jews) and manufactured victimhood that it causes moral myopia.
Maybe we'll have to wait for Israel to allow Palestinians freedom of movement and to study their history and write about it without it being illegal for Palestinian memoirs to become more widely available.
The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism by Ron Suskind
4.0
Two shows/interviews:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93319762
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/13/the_way_of_the_world_ron
My thoughts:
Wow. Bush should have been impeached. He and his admin did in fact break the law. It was bad that they lied in the run up to Iraq (not illegal necessarily, unfortunately), but forging a letter from an Iraqi official "confirming" their list of lies in a covert action to alter public opinion tipped the scale. Ironically, the guy they wanted to copy the info in his own handwriting and sign it was the Iraqi intel guy who confirmed other reports from British intel and our own agencies that Iraq had no WMD (months before the invasion). He and those who reported this were ignored by Bush and only "used" when they wanted him to copy down this fabricated (by the White House) letter and have it planted in Baghdad by CIA. Of course their outing of him ( with a total lie only to save them some shame and from having to come clean) would put him and his family in danger, being collaborators and all, but hey, when has that ever mattered with Bush admin officials? Plame, anyone?
The book starts out with personal stories of a handful or people and how they experienced America or its decline in those 8 years. I was really enjoying that, then the second part really dove into 9/11, the run up to Iraq, Guantanamo, Bhutto's death and the admin's mishandling (to put it mildly) of it all (every last bit). We had the sympathy of the world after 9/11 and blew it. The British opened back channels in Iraq and then Iran to get solid intel and future negotiations started and we slammed the door because they wouldn't fall in line with our assumptions of WMD, etc.
When the story abruptly changed from personal stories to Bush admin stuff (I've about had enough) I was tempted to stop reading, but it actually was tied together quite nicely in the end. I think it was a bad decision to not fully investigate everything to find out who knew what and when and put it out for all eyes. Only then can apologies and amends be made and perhaps our reputation restored. We can and I hope we do repair our image by doing the right thing, but apologies and admissions of guilt (taking responsibility) are always a solid, healthy way to go.
I fully agree with the sentiment in the book that America needs to get back its moral authority -honesty, compassion, respect for others- and stop imposing our will on others. Giving without leaving the recipient in our debt. Bush was not a leader that helped us build on these principles. He destroyed them. Obama has had to start from scratch- or a negative position.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93319762
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/13/the_way_of_the_world_ron
My thoughts:
Wow. Bush should have been impeached. He and his admin did in fact break the law. It was bad that they lied in the run up to Iraq (not illegal necessarily, unfortunately), but forging a letter from an Iraqi official "confirming" their list of lies in a covert action to alter public opinion tipped the scale. Ironically, the guy they wanted to copy the info in his own handwriting and sign it was the Iraqi intel guy who confirmed other reports from British intel and our own agencies that Iraq had no WMD (months before the invasion). He and those who reported this were ignored by Bush and only "used" when they wanted him to copy down this fabricated (by the White House) letter and have it planted in Baghdad by CIA. Of course their outing of him ( with a total lie only to save them some shame and from having to come clean) would put him and his family in danger, being collaborators and all, but hey, when has that ever mattered with Bush admin officials? Plame, anyone?
The book starts out with personal stories of a handful or people and how they experienced America or its decline in those 8 years. I was really enjoying that, then the second part really dove into 9/11, the run up to Iraq, Guantanamo, Bhutto's death and the admin's mishandling (to put it mildly) of it all (every last bit). We had the sympathy of the world after 9/11 and blew it. The British opened back channels in Iraq and then Iran to get solid intel and future negotiations started and we slammed the door because they wouldn't fall in line with our assumptions of WMD, etc.
When the story abruptly changed from personal stories to Bush admin stuff (I've about had enough) I was tempted to stop reading, but it actually was tied together quite nicely in the end. I think it was a bad decision to not fully investigate everything to find out who knew what and when and put it out for all eyes. Only then can apologies and amends be made and perhaps our reputation restored. We can and I hope we do repair our image by doing the right thing, but apologies and admissions of guilt (taking responsibility) are always a solid, healthy way to go.
I fully agree with the sentiment in the book that America needs to get back its moral authority -honesty, compassion, respect for others- and stop imposing our will on others. Giving without leaving the recipient in our debt. Bush was not a leader that helped us build on these principles. He destroyed them. Obama has had to start from scratch- or a negative position.
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
5.0
http://www.morningsinjenin.com/
This book is in many ways profoundly sad, but it was awesome and beautiful too. It is about time there is a book from the Palestinian perspective. It will be new territory to many, but if you're going to discuss Israel or the Middle East at all, you've got to have this perspective along with the others. It has been neglected too long.
Imagine if the Jews had to experience the holocaust several times in one lifetime and each generation had to endure such crimes- and on top of that imagine if the Nazis were able to convince people they were the victims. That is this book. That is the Palestinian experience. Massacre and loss in the past, ethnic cleansing in the future. Jews at least endured it only once, were rescued, and picked up the pieces. Palestinians have to endure it continually and many still insist they are the cause of the bloodshed.
This is the missing piece. I hope more fiction and non-fiction is written in the Palestinian narrative. Growing up, we read The Diary of Anne Frank and discuss and respect the Jewish experience- both their trials and triumphs; we graduate learning virtually nothing about the people the holocaust victims killed to make their dream come true beyond maybe some slurs and stereotypes from TV and the peanut gallery in class.
Palestinians are often spoken about, but not given a chance to speak in discussions on US-Israel relationship or the Nazi Holocaust or the Middle East in general. Even thogh the characters are ficitional, I hope this book goes a long way to educate people on the Palestinian perspective so that we remember to include that narrative (not specifically the one in the book, but of actual Palestinians) when talking about Palestine and Israel.
This book follows one family mainly and travels through time from before 1948, 1967, Lebanon 1982, and Jenin 2002.
If you want to understand the Palestinian experience like we in the US know and feel for the Jewish experience, this is the book to read. It's characters are fictional, but events and certain historical figures are accurate. Many of the things that happen to this family I have seen many times in the news and humanitarian reports. While I don't know if it is possible that all these events have actually happened to one family, it seems representative of the experience as a whole from what I have read. There is the 1948 Nakba, the truces and pacts with Jews that were violated, the feeling of temporary refugee status, the attempts to return in the years after '48, children born as refugees in the first camps and later more permanent camps, the sad realization that the tents had become concrete. Then there is 1967 with the military occupation when people are refugees a second time in their lives, the loss of much of ones family and all of ones rights and land for a second time after picking up the scant pieces after 1948. Then there is 1982 in Lebanon where unarmed civilians were brutally murdered in the worst ways after the PLO had already been chased out- women raped, people lined up and shot in the head, pregnant bellies sliced open, even babies shot- which was unbelievably declared self-defense. The book ends dramatically in 2002 with the massacre in Jenin with very few of the family we are following alive.
I thought the parallel of the Arab baby being stolen to complete a Jewish family's dream for a child was a good touch. The Jewish woman wasn't able to have kids due to the horrors she suffered by the SS and she felt entitled to this stolen child as if it was God's will or something- she refused the details of how her husband stole the child. This is a great parallel to 1948 and how Jews felt entitled to Palestinian land and were lied to that this was a "land without a people for a people with no land" and that is or was taboo in Israel to talk about what really happened- the Jewish terorrist groups that murdered and pillaged their way to a state and continue to this day. When the child grows up and finds out who he is, he feels neither Jewish nor Muslim, Palestinian nor Israeli, which brings him closer to his real Arab family and could represent Palestinian Israelis or Palestinian refugees in the literal and figurative displacement.
This book makes you think about why it was ok for Palestinians to pay for Nazi crimes, why it's not ok for Palestinians to defend themselves or have basic rights, why on earth is it considered tantamount to anti-Semitism when you compare the Holocuast to the Nakba despite the obvious similarities, or how could Holocaust survivors commit the same types of crimes against so many other humans.
Two more things stand out.
I have often thought the words thank you lacking myself and I have never known another culture or language. I have wondered what else I could do or say to express my true gratitude. Amal also noticed this upon her arrival in America from Palestine. I have to say I want to learn Arabic more now. Here are some example thank yous from the book.
May Allah bless the hands that give me this gift.
Beauty is in your eyes that find me pretty.
May God extend your life.
May Allah never deny your prayer.
May the next meal you cook be in celebration of your son's wedding ...of your mothers recovery, etc.
Also, I thought this description below was brilliant. Amal, the main character, born a refugee, tutored in West Philidelphia while in college.
"Opportunity took a detour around Thirtieth Street, and Liberty for All slouched in its chair like a lazy student."
This book is in many ways profoundly sad, but it was awesome and beautiful too. It is about time there is a book from the Palestinian perspective. It will be new territory to many, but if you're going to discuss Israel or the Middle East at all, you've got to have this perspective along with the others. It has been neglected too long.
Imagine if the Jews had to experience the holocaust several times in one lifetime and each generation had to endure such crimes- and on top of that imagine if the Nazis were able to convince people they were the victims. That is this book. That is the Palestinian experience. Massacre and loss in the past, ethnic cleansing in the future. Jews at least endured it only once, were rescued, and picked up the pieces. Palestinians have to endure it continually and many still insist they are the cause of the bloodshed.
This is the missing piece. I hope more fiction and non-fiction is written in the Palestinian narrative. Growing up, we read The Diary of Anne Frank and discuss and respect the Jewish experience- both their trials and triumphs; we graduate learning virtually nothing about the people the holocaust victims killed to make their dream come true beyond maybe some slurs and stereotypes from TV and the peanut gallery in class.
Palestinians are often spoken about, but not given a chance to speak in discussions on US-Israel relationship or the Nazi Holocaust or the Middle East in general. Even thogh the characters are ficitional, I hope this book goes a long way to educate people on the Palestinian perspective so that we remember to include that narrative (not specifically the one in the book, but of actual Palestinians) when talking about Palestine and Israel.
This book follows one family mainly and travels through time from before 1948, 1967, Lebanon 1982, and Jenin 2002.
If you want to understand the Palestinian experience like we in the US know and feel for the Jewish experience, this is the book to read. It's characters are fictional, but events and certain historical figures are accurate. Many of the things that happen to this family I have seen many times in the news and humanitarian reports. While I don't know if it is possible that all these events have actually happened to one family, it seems representative of the experience as a whole from what I have read. There is the 1948 Nakba, the truces and pacts with Jews that were violated, the feeling of temporary refugee status, the attempts to return in the years after '48, children born as refugees in the first camps and later more permanent camps, the sad realization that the tents had become concrete. Then there is 1967 with the military occupation when people are refugees a second time in their lives, the loss of much of ones family and all of ones rights and land for a second time after picking up the scant pieces after 1948. Then there is 1982 in Lebanon where unarmed civilians were brutally murdered in the worst ways after the PLO had already been chased out- women raped, people lined up and shot in the head, pregnant bellies sliced open, even babies shot- which was unbelievably declared self-defense. The book ends dramatically in 2002 with the massacre in Jenin with very few of the family we are following alive.
I thought the parallel of the Arab baby being stolen to complete a Jewish family's dream for a child was a good touch. The Jewish woman wasn't able to have kids due to the horrors she suffered by the SS and she felt entitled to this stolen child as if it was God's will or something- she refused the details of how her husband stole the child. This is a great parallel to 1948 and how Jews felt entitled to Palestinian land and were lied to that this was a "land without a people for a people with no land" and that is or was taboo in Israel to talk about what really happened- the Jewish terorrist groups that murdered and pillaged their way to a state and continue to this day. When the child grows up and finds out who he is, he feels neither Jewish nor Muslim, Palestinian nor Israeli, which brings him closer to his real Arab family and could represent Palestinian Israelis or Palestinian refugees in the literal and figurative displacement.
This book makes you think about why it was ok for Palestinians to pay for Nazi crimes, why it's not ok for Palestinians to defend themselves or have basic rights, why on earth is it considered tantamount to anti-Semitism when you compare the Holocuast to the Nakba despite the obvious similarities, or how could Holocaust survivors commit the same types of crimes against so many other humans.
Two more things stand out.
I have often thought the words thank you lacking myself and I have never known another culture or language. I have wondered what else I could do or say to express my true gratitude. Amal also noticed this upon her arrival in America from Palestine. I have to say I want to learn Arabic more now. Here are some example thank yous from the book.
May Allah bless the hands that give me this gift.
Beauty is in your eyes that find me pretty.
May God extend your life.
May Allah never deny your prayer.
May the next meal you cook be in celebration of your son's wedding ...of your mothers recovery, etc.
Also, I thought this description below was brilliant. Amal, the main character, born a refugee, tutored in West Philidelphia while in college.
"Opportunity took a detour around Thirtieth Street, and Liberty for All slouched in its chair like a lazy student."
The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet
5.0
Move over Birthers! This is not only crazy, but it’s true, too. I have been reading Sharlet’s book, The Family. Coincidentally, the recent Congressional sex scandals have brought this Family into the limelight again, so Democracy Now talked to Jeff Sharlet the other day. He distills his book into a summary better than I can possibly do it and adds more recent facts as well. He starts to go into the reach into the military after discussing the book and its hold on Congress. See the links below.
The Family. They have influenced politics here and abroad, strengthening our ties with crazy murderous dictators everywhere and all kinds of shady things thinly veiled as pushing prayer and Jesus plus nothing (that’s right, no Bible, not even Jesus’ teachings). This is not the Jesus you read about in the Bible. Their Jesus is a power hungry, proud, pro-bsiness, elitist, military leader whose adherents look to Suharto, Mao, Stalin, Hitler for their examples of power and influence and how to indoctrinate for Christ. Marital infidelity or a few massacres in your past (or present) doesn’t so much matter as a nod to this distorted Christ and a discussion in your prayer cell (Odd terminology? I thought so, but it’s par for that course) about how to get that deregulation passed, hate crimes legislation squashed, Iraq/Iran invaded, etc. Their “gospel” is about power and how to get more of it- thinly veiled as submission to their version of Jesus. After all, if the powerful “know Jesus” the love will just trickle down. That’s another thing, they think people just need love, not “hand outs”- not exactly Jesus’ example, but no matter- Scripture plays a very small role in the Family. This is disgusting. This is precisely why I value separation of church and state.
Some Christians worry about Islam (Islamofascism?) taking over. Personally, I would worry about this “Family” type of thing - it's way more prevalent than we realize and it's hijacked common sense, Christianity, and one or both parties in our political system. It’s bad for religion and the state both.
This is the Diane Rehm Show Sharlet was on about a year ago that got me interested:
http://wamu.org/programs/dr/08/06/24.php#20950
This is yesterday’s piece with Sharlet on Democracy Now:
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/8/12/sharlet
The Family. They have influenced politics here and abroad, strengthening our ties with crazy murderous dictators everywhere and all kinds of shady things thinly veiled as pushing prayer and Jesus plus nothing (that’s right, no Bible, not even Jesus’ teachings). This is not the Jesus you read about in the Bible. Their Jesus is a power hungry, proud, pro-bsiness, elitist, military leader whose adherents look to Suharto, Mao, Stalin, Hitler for their examples of power and influence and how to indoctrinate for Christ. Marital infidelity or a few massacres in your past (or present) doesn’t so much matter as a nod to this distorted Christ and a discussion in your prayer cell (Odd terminology? I thought so, but it’s par for that course) about how to get that deregulation passed, hate crimes legislation squashed, Iraq/Iran invaded, etc. Their “gospel” is about power and how to get more of it- thinly veiled as submission to their version of Jesus. After all, if the powerful “know Jesus” the love will just trickle down. That’s another thing, they think people just need love, not “hand outs”- not exactly Jesus’ example, but no matter- Scripture plays a very small role in the Family. This is disgusting. This is precisely why I value separation of church and state.
Some Christians worry about Islam (Islamofascism?) taking over. Personally, I would worry about this “Family” type of thing - it's way more prevalent than we realize and it's hijacked common sense, Christianity, and one or both parties in our political system. It’s bad for religion and the state both.
This is the Diane Rehm Show Sharlet was on about a year ago that got me interested:
http://wamu.org/programs/dr/08/06/24.php#20950
This is yesterday’s piece with Sharlet on Democracy Now:
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/8/12/sharlet
The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering by Norman G. Finkelstein
4.0
He asks the questions and theorizes in a way no Gentile is allowed to. When non-Jews question the number killed, talk about non-Jews dying in the Holocaust, compare it to other historical events, question Israel, wonder if the Holocaust has been used for ill gotten gain, etc, they are called Holocaust deniers and anti-Semitic.
I'm glad Finkelstein has dared to tackle these tough topics. He's a lightening rod, but at least the ideas are out there for us to discuss, agree and disagree with.
I'm glad Finkelstein has dared to tackle these tough topics. He's a lightening rod, but at least the ideas are out there for us to discuss, agree and disagree with.
The Samson Option by Seymour M. Hersh
5.0
Hersh is always blowing the lid off of secrets. I found this riveting. It explains Israel's nuclear secrets and position and how we looked the other way (and continue). The story of how they became a nuclear power is incredible and telling. After reading you will ask if we really want to be "friends" or if they are actually reciprocating our friendly relationship.