Reviews

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Review | "Haifa Fragments" by Khulud Khamis

This week's review is over a different sort of book, "Haifa Fragments" , which I was fortunate enough to win in a Goodreads giveaway.
I don't have much to say about this book, other than that I really enjoyed it, but before I get into my review, here's the book's description:

Haifa Fragments
Jewellery designer Maisoon wants an ordinary extraordinary life, which isn’t easy for a tradition-defying, peace-activist, Palestinian citizen of Israel who refuses to be crushed by the feeling of being an unwelcome guest in the land of her ancestors. Frustrated by the apathy of her boyfriend Ziyad and her father Majid—who want her to get on with her life and forget those in the Occupied Territories—she lashes out, only to discover that her father is not the man she thought he was. 
Raised a Christian, in a relationship with a Muslim man and enamoured with a Palestinian woman from the Occupied Territories, Maisoon must determine her own path.  


The point of view switches some throughout the book without warning, so it takes some getting used to and at times you won't know exactly who you're reading about until other characters are mentioned.  And the story itself is a little rushed, lacking some of the exposition that would help understand the characters' history a little better.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The only other story like this I've read would be the "Almond Tree" a few years ago, and even then it's very different. I enjoyed both stories, but while  story follows years of development of the main character, this is a story that takes place in the present day. The situations are different, and the main idea is different, but they're both done beautifully in their own ways. 
This book read a bit like poetry and I think anyone who considers themselves a feminist, a pacifist, anyone who wants to read about self discovery without necessarily reading a coming of age novel will enjoy this book.

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