virgo_reader's reviews
1298 reviews

 It’s so important to listen to the stories of people who grew up in Gaza and the West Bank. Indigenous Palestinians who have lived under the rule of Israel with little to no autonomy or rights. The reality of their daily life - pre the starts of the 2023 “war” on Hamas - is bleak. 

 

It makes me ask, how did I not know about this? How was this never taught in schools, how did it not hit mainstream news in a way that me - someone who thought she was at least <i>slightly</i> politically tuned in, had never heard of the Israel/Palestine conflict? For anyone who, like me, was ignorant to the plight of the Palestinians, this book (and others) should be required reading. 

 

Ahed Tamimi is younger than me. She’s the daughter of peaceful Palestinian’s who spent their lives devoted to activism for Palestine. She’s the second of four children, the only girl. She was jailed at 16 by Israel. 

 

 

 

Besides the deluge of violence hanging over them near-constantly, she also talks about how the occupation has caused trauma to children in ways they don’t even realize. She recalls playing a game translated to “Army and Arabs” - basically their version of cowboys and Indians. There were kids who would be the “army” (Israelis) and kids who would be “Arabs” - medical workers, protesters, journalists. The game would show the sides clashing - Palestinians would throw small rocks at the army who would “shoot” them with toy guns or branches. The soldier would inevitably beat them until they were arrested or until they gave up and cried “I’ve been shot!” Medics would then try to treat the wound, pretend to take them away in ambulances. Rules included anyone arrested would be disqualified and anyone who was killed and became a martyr could come back and play a different role. Sometimes they would pretend one of the kids was being released from a long prison sentence and they’d give them a hero’s welcome with singing and chanting. 

 

It’s clear Ahed remembers these games fondly, she calls it “great fun”. But it’s very clear to the reader that the mismatched power balance and violence seen on a regular basis has infiltrated something as simple as a kid’s game. Maybe as a way to work through their trauma.

 

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Something I’ve had to work through as I’ve learned more about Palestine is the idea that in 1948 these people HAD to leave the land their family and ancestors had lived on for generations - hundreds and hundreds of years. I can’t accept or understand this. And to this day, settlements move into the West Bank and push out the Palestinian people who live there. 

 

This made me confront western colonialism for the first time. Because truly, I’ve been ignorant and privileged to be unaffected. It’s something we saw with the original settlers and what they did to the indigenous Native American people in the United States. What Spain and then the US did to the Philippines. Britain with India, South Africa, and many other countries. Japan with Korea. 

 

People seem to believe until there’s a western body recognizing a country… or until they create things that the west requires to be a country (ex: a flag)… that the place and the people are not “legitimate.” 

 

"The British gave away land that wasn’t theirs, with no regard for the indigenous-majority population living there: the Palestinians.”

 

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I could spend all day listing the injustices faced by Palestinians. A large one talked about throughout the book - as it opens with Ahed talking about her time imprisoned as a 16 year old - is the legal system. 

 

The ordeals Ahed faced as a minor arrested and imprisoned are horrifying - as was the response of many Israeli politicians who said they wanted to beat her or punish her themselves. (For throwing a rock… after her cousin was shot with a rubber bullet by an Israeli soldier.) When she was arrested, she was not told why. When she was arrested, they took her photo and posted it online - not legal for a minor. She was arrested and tortured (though not physically) and threatened. She was refused parental supervision for interrogations. She was asked to sign documents in Hebrew. She was imprisoned for a time with no end date, before her trial started and she took a plea deal. 

 

Palestinians who lived in Israel are relegated to second or third class citizens. In March 2018 Israeli parliament passed a law to allow revoking of residency rights of any Palestinian in Jerusalem on the basis of a “breach of loyalty” to Israel. 

 

If a Palestinian who lives in Israel falls in love with a Palestinian who lives in the West Bank or Gaza, they cannot pass on their Israeli citizenship to their spouse because of the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law. Their spouse couldn’t gain residency and live with them in Israel. 

 

 

During the Covid pandemic, Israel received global praise for leading the world in vaccinating its people - but they did not initially provide vaccines to the millions of Palestinians living under its occupation. This is medical apartheid. 

 

The one that was perhaps most shocking to me was that most Palestinians under occupation don’t have the option for mail delivery. Most homes and buildings aren’t numbered, so mail is sent to post offices. In post offices, mail is processed and likely inspected by Israel… there’s no guarantee if or when its recipient will get it. This makes sending letters from prison impossible. 

 

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In 2020 I protested the police murder of George Floyd. The racial injustice towards Black people in the US - especially by police - is something I believe exists and is something I feel is a moral stance I have to take. How would I condemn this violence in the US and not in Israel, when the US sends Israel so much money from our tax dollars? 

 

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Living under these kinds of conditions is something impossible for me to imagine. It’s a scenario, like a movie. 

 

What would I do, if I was raised in a place where I lived under occupation and surveillance, 24/7? Where the land my ancestors lived on for generations was forever out of reach to me? Where I faced discrimination - having to carry identifying cards that distinguish me as Palestinian; drive a car with a license plate identifying me as Palestinian; get permits to leave; be unable to vote; go through numerous checkpoints; forever in fear of settlers or the government taking my land… unable to marry who I want if they live outside of the area I do, to live where I want even within my new hometown? 

 

More importantly… what would I do if my child was exposed to these things? I’m a new mom, my daughter is almost a year old. If I knew she could be imprisoned at any time - for throwing a rock, or just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, even outside our own home… If I knew that if she was imprisoned, I would likely be denied the right to see her as she was interrogated, where I know she is mistreated by the occupation forces. Where I know her future is bleak, and limited - she can’t go anywhere she wants for school, especially if we lived in Gaza, not the West Bank. 

 

What would I do if my child was one of the ones imprisoned under “administrative detention” with no information or end in sight? What would I do if my child was one of the ones abused by Israeli soldiers? What would I do if my child was shot in the face by a rubber bullet, meaning almost certain death? Or shot in the leg - an aim done by Israeli soldiers to paralyze? 

 

What if I was like Khalida Jarrar, a woman Ahed met in prison, who was re-imprisoned after her release and whose daughter died while she was imprisoned? When she could not leave even to bury her daughter? 

 

 

VINTAGE WLW IN PARIS SIGN ME UP

Was this book perfect? No. But what makes a book 5 stars to me is ME LOOOVING IT. The vibes. And the vibes of this? Immaculate.

I still have a few small issues that are similar to what I said about the first book - I wish there had been more on Anthony's parents. No resolution there. I felt like the side plots/cameos by Gwen's parents were lackluster because I was like, "Are we getting more info on them???"

Still. THE VIBES.

This one was okay to pretty good. My biggest issue is with the third person POV - it switches by section and I wish it had switched by chapter with the character's POV in the chapter heading because it wasn't always clear.

This is a long distance relationship over 6+ months so it's not a lot of in person relationship building. If you're looking for a romance that touches on the difficulties of long distance relationships, this is it.

I struggled a little with this one. A little as I was reading it, but more so as I realized the book was winding down and I didn't feel really satisfied.

The love story was cute. The set up between them being ex-childhood best friends whose grandfather's are still best friends was great. But I was left with so many questions - hiding because there are potential spoilers:

No resolution with Liam's mom? No acknowledgment? Not even an explanation of their falling out, her moving away, starting a new life.
No resolution between Camilla and her best friend. I understand the anger of being lied to but... unsatisfying. 
No clarification on what happened at prom?? We just know they danced, made out, he bailed. Okay, AND???
I guess I kind of get why everyone was mad at Camilla. But also, not really? She gave up her dream to stay. She held onto the restaurant because her grandma asked her to. But her family just treated her like shit the whole time.
WHAT was the inclusion of the ex-boyfriend, ESPECIALLY at the end? I get it was kind of a "come to Jesus" moment but it just felt weird. 
I don't know how I feel about her family.

I just didn't feel like there was enough emotional payoff or description, maybe. I'll give book 2 a try but based on the description of book 3 I'm meh about it.

This book had a TON of potential and while I mostly enjoyed it, it fell flat as a romance for me.

There weren't "feelings" until too late. I would've liked more romance, more emotion, more heart, more FEELINGS earlier in the book. Especially after the violence punishment of Persephone... it needed a bigger bounce back to make me believe they were in love.

A very important book as it tells the story of a man who was part of the last "Black Cargo" (from the title). Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis, born Oluale Kossola, tells the story in his own words of growing up in Africa and what it was like... the raid on his village... coming to America... and living in postbellum America.

You can feel the yearning he has for Africa, a land he was stolen from and never got to return to. The fact that he outlived all his children AND his wife (by 30 years) is devastating. I really hope that his daughter in law, who had twin girls with his oldest son, and his granddaughters brought him joy - they're briefly mentioned in the book and Hurston describes the obvious love/fondness he has for them. I did find something on his Wikipedia (cited from a book about the Clotilda) that he allowed his daughter in law and her second husband to have the land after he passed. 

“Oluale Kossola could never fathom why he was in “de Americky soil.” “Dey bring us ‘way from our soil and workee us hard de five year and six months.” And once free, he says, “we ain’ got no country and we ain’ got no lan’.” And in postbellum America he was subject to the exploitation of his labor and the vagaries of the law, just as he was in antebellum America. He remained confounded by this cruel treatment for the rest of his life. Kossola’s experience was not anomalous. It is representative of the reality of African American people who have been grappling for a sense of sovereignty over their own bodies ever since slavery was institutionalized.” 

 

“In its founding and government, Africatown was similar to other black towns, writes Sylviane Diouf. But it was distinguished by the fact of its ethnicity. Although some African Americans were numbered among them as spouses and founders, Africatown “was not conceived of a settlement for “’blacks,’ but for Africans.” 

Africatown was their statement about who they were, and it was a haven from white supremacy and the ostracism of black Americans. The bonds the Africans created in the barracoons, on the ships, and in servitude were the source of their survival and resilience, and the foundation of their community.” 

Cute, pretty low stakes. I felt the pacing was a little off but enjoyed it enough to read book 2.

Really cute FF historical romance. Just VIBES, man. Not "historically accurate" - but honestly, what historical romances ARE???

Not a big fan of this series! Idk, they're really short and I have an aversion to the characters