I'm not a big poetry person. As in, I don't really know how to "critique" poetry... or know good poetry from bad. So I'm not going to rate this book, because I read it not to critique but to get a POV of someone who grew up in Gaza. And while this was a book of poems and not a biography/memoir/non-fiction story about the Palestinian struggle... all of those elements still came across. 

Did I resonate with every story? No, but again it's probably because I'm not a poetry buff and some went over my head. But some I screenshotted, some really sank into my bones. 

I think what hit me the most, though, was the interview with the author at the end of the book. He was born in 1992 ... ***I*** was born in 1992. He was born in a refugee camp, he grew up in an environment where water was unclean / electricity was cut constantly / he was under CONSTANT threat of death, bombings, snipers. He was shot at 16. He lost his brother. When he was about to graduate college (the same time I was), his college was attacked and he lost friends. I think it just really hit me - this person and I could have swapped lives. The only thing separating us is the place where I was born. Had I been born in Gaza, his life would be mine. 

It's so so important we listen to the Palestinian people and their stories.