An otherwise unremarkable book about a normal man surviving in circumstances the American public are constantly shielded from. The thing that makes Dr. Abuelaish so astonishing as a human being is that despite the deeply unjust and personal loss of his daughters, he maintains a steadfast resolve to not let his anger curdle into hate.

Palestinian people are not disposable.

Not incredibly well written, but the story and message make up for it.

An important voice in the complicated narrative of the Middle East. My favorite bit from near the end: "We all need to search for the causes of our failure in the human journey to peace and discover why we are not happy, satisfied, and secure. The cause is inside us, not outside us--in our own hearts and minds. Hate is a chronic disease, and we need to heal ourselves of it and work toward a world in which we eradicate poverty and suffering. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich from hurting one another." (p. 230)

Hadiah dari Secret Santa-BBI, terima kasih ya :)
-----------------------------------------------
review insya Allah tanggal 31 Januari 2012 bareng teman-teman BBI mereview hadiah dari secret santa masing-masing

Simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting, this book is a MUST READ!

I was deeply disappointed by this book. I've had it on my tbr list since it came out. Sadly, the synopsis given has very little to do with what Abuelaish actually talks about. It is made very clear very early on that he lived a highly privileged life. This sort of privilege allowed him far more access and ability than the average Gazan, making it difficult at times to hear his message of peace and human rights when he was too busy name dropping or explaining the many prodigious programs or jobs he was considered for. His frequent absence from his family made me question how much he really knew his family members and, again, how he can write a memoir on the basis of the deaths of some of them when they're hardly mentioned.
I was expecting a memoir about a man who took a major loss and turned it into good. What I actually read was the story of how a man worked his way into positions of favors and influence who just happened to have the misfortune of his daughters passing right before leaving the country he wants peace for. I felt there were a lot of mixed messages, an undertone of blame and judgement despite his many protests of the opposite, and a profound lack of emotion given this is his family.