Though it technically it takes place on the Israel side of the Green Line, this was very much a Palestinian novel by a Palestinian author. It is a satirical dark comedy about an unnamed narrator who grows up in an Arab village and continues to go back and forth between Arab and Israeli society. Though the book had some funny moments and I appreciated that it shined light on the prejudice experienced by Arab Israelis from Jewish Israelis, I didn't love the novel because I didn't find the characters relatable or particularly likeable, and it annoyed me how many of the characters were intentionally left unnamed. ( )

Life under occupation.
I wasn't quite sure where this book was going, it kind of lacked direction. What it did give though, was a feel for the divided life of an Arab citizen living in lands that once belonged to his Grandparents' generation, yet were now under Israeli rule.

The unnamed narrator gets a lucky break as a youngster, when his school grades mark him out for special education in a Jewish boarding school. Yet this is not without its inherent problems. He learns to imitate the Jews in language, behaviour, appearance and habits and he is actually insulted when he is recognised as an Arab. This pretense takes its toll though, and he does not become the builder of the first Arab atom bomb, as his parents expect. I cannot help but wonder if he might have done better by remaining in his home school, amongst his own. How much of his downfall is due to the stresses of trying to become someone that he is not.

What came across clearly, was the position of the Arabs as second class citizens, even third or fourth class citizens. How this impacted on their lives and aspirations. Even having the blue card that allowed them to work within Israeli borders, their options were limited.

It's quite a depressing book, but profound in its message and well worth reading for an understanding of the situation that we hear biased reports of from the media. ( )

"I look more Israeli than the average Israeli. I'm always pleased when Jews tell me this. 'You don't look like an Arab at all,' they say."

This first person (probably semi-autobiographical) novel relates the story of a Palestinian born with Israeli citizenship. His grandfather died fighting Zionists in 1948, and his father was jailed for attempting to set off bombs. In contrast, he receives a scholarship to an elite Jewish boarding school. The novel explores his conflicts between his past history and current life, as he moves between cultures. The book alternates between the everyday relationships of a close family and the complexities of life in modern Israeli society.

I liked most of the book, but was very discouraged by the developments as he slid into dispair and withdrawal. ( )

A young boy, growing up in the Arab village of Tira in Israel’s Galilee region, describes life within his family and how it feels to be an Arab living in the overwhelmingly Jewish country of Israel. He gains entrance to a Jewish boarding school and tries hard to fit in.

I was afraid to begin this story because I didn’t want to read a book filled with Arab hatred for Jews. My hope in choosing this book was to get beyond the tragedy of the current political and socioeconomic situation in Israel and truly see an Arab as he lives in Israel. I was soon captured by this young boy’s story. It was so interesting and full of such vivid detail that I felt as if I were reading an autobiography rather than a novel, much in the same vein as I felt reading Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner.

The story is sad because it reveals grimmer aspects of Arab-Jewish relations, but it also offers a glimmer of hope (much in the way that the Seeds of Peace did), that an important way to peace is through being open to learn about someone different. The words of this novel are simple, but the emotions behind the narrative are far more complex. In conveying those feelings to his readers, the author does a stunning job. The plight and confusion of a man caught between two cultures is so clearly shown.

In a way, it is a depressing story. Nonetheless, I appreciate the fact that the author has provided this insight into the Israeli-Arab culture for the wider world to share. It shows just how difficult it is for an Arab to find a place as a valued member of the country in which the majority of the population is Jewish, and, once he finds a way to co-exist comfortably among Jews, how he finds that he has alienated himself from his own culture. ( )

בסדר, אבל לא השאיר עלי רושם גדול ( )