My takeaway message from this book is that women should be running the world.The story follows four generations of the Palestinian Abulheja family and their friends. It begins in the 1940's when they are first driven from their ancestral lands in Ein Hod, continues through the war of 1967 and the Lebanon War of 1982, and concludes with the Israeli bulldozing and massacre at the Jenin refugee camp in April 2002. Theirs is a life of perpetual loss, perpetual grieving, and constant uncertainty. The narrative doesn't quite find its stride until around page 185. Prior to that I didn't feel much connection with the characters. Somewhere around the point when Amal goes to Beirut, I started really caring about the people, and it seemed like the writing quality improved. The second half of the book has some pockets of movingly accomplished writing. There are some oddities of style and structure, interrupted flow, and awkward changes in POV. In this regard, the book probably only merits 3 to 3 1/2 stars. I'm assigning a higher rating because the book enlightened me about a situation I've not encountered in other novels. I've been hearing about fighting in the Middle East since birth, such that it has become just so much background noise. Blah blah conflict in the Middle East blah blah blah...so what else is new? Always have, always will... This story made me recognize the tragic reality of those news stories for those who have lived amid the conflict for decades.
The Drift Of Things
To yield with a grace to reason
My takeaway message from this book is that women should be running the world.The story follows four generations of the Palestinian Abulheja family and their friends. It begins in the 1940's when they are first driven from their ancestral lands in Ein Hod, continues through the war of 1967 and the Lebanon War of 1982, and concludes with the Israeli bulldozing and massacre at the Jenin refugee camp in April 2002. Theirs is a life of perpetual loss, perpetual grieving, and constant uncertainty. The narrative doesn't quite find its stride until around page 185. Prior to that I didn't feel much connection with the characters. Somewhere around the point when Amal goes to Beirut, I started really caring about the people, and it seemed like the writing quality improved. The second half of the book has some pockets of movingly accomplished writing. There are some oddities of style and structure, interrupted flow, and awkward changes in POV. In this regard, the book probably only merits 3 to 3 1/2 stars. I'm assigning a higher rating because the book enlightened me about a situation I've not encountered in other novels. I've been hearing about fighting in the Middle East since birth, such that it has become just so much background noise. Blah blah conflict in the Middle East blah blah blah...so what else is new? Always have, always will... This story made me recognize the tragic reality of those news stories for those who have lived amid the conflict for decades.
