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A Thousand Farewells: A Reporter's Journey from Refugee Camp to the Arab Spring
In 1976, Nahlah Ayed’s family gave up a comfortable life in Winnipeg for the squalor of a Palestinian refugee camp in Amman, Jordan. The transition was jarring but it was during this unsettling period that Ayed first closely observed the people whose heritage she shared. She had to become accustomed to rudimentary housing and crowded streets, unfamiliar social customs, and the prevailing mood of loss and mourning. But it was hearing the family’s stories of exile and displacement that profoundly affected her.
The family returned to Canada when Ayed was thirteen, and the Middle East and its problems receded for many years. But the First Gulf War and the events of 9/11 reignited her interest. And as an Arabic-speaking journalist, she was soon reporting from the region full time, covering its dangerous conflicts and trying to make sense of the wars and upheavals that have affected its people and sent so many of them seeking a better life elsewhere. In A Thousand Farewells, Ayed vividly describes the myriad ways in which ordinary Arabs have coped with oppression and loss. From her own early days witnessing protests in Amman to watching the amazing Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt and Libya, Ayed offers nuanced and insightful analysis. Throughout, she focuses on the people whose lives have been so dramatically affected.
A Thousand Farewells is the heartfelt and personal chronicle of a journalist who has devoted her career to covering one of the world’s most volatile regions.
The family returned to Canada when Ayed was thirteen, and the Middle East and its problems receded for many years. But the First Gulf War and the events of 9/11 reignited her interest. And as an Arabic-speaking journalist, she was soon reporting from the region full time, covering its dangerous conflicts and trying to make sense of the wars and upheavals that have affected its people and sent so many of them seeking a better life elsewhere. In A Thousand Farewells, Ayed vividly describes the myriad ways in which ordinary Arabs have coped with oppression and loss. From her own early days witnessing protests in Amman to watching the amazing Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt and Libya, Ayed offers nuanced and insightful analysis. Throughout, she focuses on the people whose lives have been so dramatically affected.
A Thousand Farewells is the heartfelt and personal chronicle of a journalist who has devoted her career to covering one of the world’s most volatile regions.
376 pages, Paperback
First published March 30, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
October 13, 2019
War is the genre I immerse myself the most in, yet this is one of the rare non fiction books that I've come across so far which are so succinct n personal n still retain the best possible element of unbiased narration, analysis n interpretations_ i.e. the interpretations r based on what writer saw n heard around her in a world that she herself cud easily have been a part of as a victim or activist but wasn't for the sheer luck of being born in Canada to Palestinian immigrants. She grapples throughout her journey with the question of identity and how certain identities (read nationalities) r immune to violence while others are easily interchangeable with the word "collateral damage".
The best thing about the book is the way it gives u the human perspective that what it means to be Born an Arab civilian, n the beauty of resilience, patience, valour, and even hope with which these ppl continue to live on and fight on.... "Everyone in the Middle East has a long memory—they never forget."
Arabs have suffered immensely n how they feel that have been manipulated (mis)used n brutalized n decived by their own leaders and by the international community alike.... N they still stand....There r not enough cannons to salute their resilience.....N not enough words to mourn their plight..... she also depicts how the sectarian issue lies at the heart of the civil wars n how Israel figures into the mix as well.... middle east is a complicated mire of vested interests of various nations n this book gives u just one detailed glimpse into its human dilemma!
"indeed all Arabs—needed to redefine “victory” in their discourse. That it need not be victory against a declared enemy, but “victory in education, in development, in the standard of life.” That is the kind of victory these youth now desperately sought, that others sought.'
Nothing wipes your tear but your hand....Enduring patience brings down mountains.
—ARAB PROVERB
The best thing about the book is the way it gives u the human perspective that what it means to be Born an Arab civilian, n the beauty of resilience, patience, valour, and even hope with which these ppl continue to live on and fight on.... "Everyone in the Middle East has a long memory—they never forget."
Arabs have suffered immensely n how they feel that have been manipulated (mis)used n brutalized n decived by their own leaders and by the international community alike.... N they still stand....There r not enough cannons to salute their resilience.....N not enough words to mourn their plight..... she also depicts how the sectarian issue lies at the heart of the civil wars n how Israel figures into the mix as well.... middle east is a complicated mire of vested interests of various nations n this book gives u just one detailed glimpse into its human dilemma!
"indeed all Arabs—needed to redefine “victory” in their discourse. That it need not be victory against a declared enemy, but “victory in education, in development, in the standard of life.” That is the kind of victory these youth now desperately sought, that others sought.'
Nothing wipes your tear but your hand....Enduring patience brings down mountains.
—ARAB PROVERB
January 14, 2013
I should first say that I’m a fan of Nahlah Ayed. Having watched her countless news reports from the Middle-East, I’m in awe of her courage and conviction as a female and a western reporter in an area of the world that can be tenuously welcoming to both. It was with great anticipation that I picked up A Thousand Farewells.
The story begins with Ms. Ayed’s Winnipeg upbringing and abrupt relocation to a Palestinian Refugee camp in Jordan. The rest of the book, the majority of the book, is about Ms. Ayed’s voyage to and firsthand accounts from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Libya while employed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The reader is treated to ‘inside’ perspectives of civilians of the Middle East and a greater understanding of their desires and motives.
I enjoyed reading anecdotes of Arabic life, expressions like musharradeen and gorbah. I was amused by the take many have on a brown skinned woman with a Canadian passport as the question ‘Where are you really from?’ has also followed me most of my life. The last chapter was my favourite as it centred more on Ms. Ayed and how she feels about doing what she does. Unfortunately her perspective comes late.
I had a hard time getting through this book only because I had hoped it would be more intimate. Events, like the fall of Saddam Hussein is widely known but personal details, for example, the siege of her hotel in Marsa Matrouh on route to Benghazi, was given only two paragraphs. She witnesses and endures some extraordinary incidents that are met with moments of fatigue, fear and light-headedness but regrets, anger and sadness are never thoroughly contemplated. Instead she quickly reverts back to the role as an observer, telling someone else’s story and after a while brief encounters and off handed comments from taxi drivers, teachers and street vendors start to slow the narrative to a point where I found myself struggling to the end. Chronology also becomes a bit sketchy as she opts to focus on big events and facts punctuated over several years instead of describing what happens to her life in between. She tells the reader she had difficultly reintegrating into normal Canadian routines but she doesn't show us what this means. And why are there no pictures?
I think this book was written prematurely. A Thousand Farewells would suggest that she’s done with the Middle East but I suspect this isn’t the case. There is too much diplomacy in the book to make a sufficient leap from employee to writer. I'll wait.
The story begins with Ms. Ayed’s Winnipeg upbringing and abrupt relocation to a Palestinian Refugee camp in Jordan. The rest of the book, the majority of the book, is about Ms. Ayed’s voyage to and firsthand accounts from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Libya while employed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The reader is treated to ‘inside’ perspectives of civilians of the Middle East and a greater understanding of their desires and motives.
I enjoyed reading anecdotes of Arabic life, expressions like musharradeen and gorbah. I was amused by the take many have on a brown skinned woman with a Canadian passport as the question ‘Where are you really from?’ has also followed me most of my life. The last chapter was my favourite as it centred more on Ms. Ayed and how she feels about doing what she does. Unfortunately her perspective comes late.
I had a hard time getting through this book only because I had hoped it would be more intimate. Events, like the fall of Saddam Hussein is widely known but personal details, for example, the siege of her hotel in Marsa Matrouh on route to Benghazi, was given only two paragraphs. She witnesses and endures some extraordinary incidents that are met with moments of fatigue, fear and light-headedness but regrets, anger and sadness are never thoroughly contemplated. Instead she quickly reverts back to the role as an observer, telling someone else’s story and after a while brief encounters and off handed comments from taxi drivers, teachers and street vendors start to slow the narrative to a point where I found myself struggling to the end. Chronology also becomes a bit sketchy as she opts to focus on big events and facts punctuated over several years instead of describing what happens to her life in between. She tells the reader she had difficultly reintegrating into normal Canadian routines but she doesn't show us what this means. And why are there no pictures?
I think this book was written prematurely. A Thousand Farewells would suggest that she’s done with the Middle East but I suspect this isn’t the case. There is too much diplomacy in the book to make a sufficient leap from employee to writer. I'll wait.
September 28, 2013
I really loved this book. The author recalls from her own ten year experience as a CBC foreign corespondant in the Middle East. Seh tells her own tale form the time she was a child born into a winnipeg suburb, her family moving to a refugee camp in Amman Jordon, then back to Winnipeg, and an educaiotn as a journalist in Toronto. It is a deeply personal stroy which gives a very understandable , comprehensive viewpoint of the Arab World form 2001 to 2011, focusing on the people in the Middle East who lived it. I found her coverage to give some clear insights into understanding the different viewpoints, and how history of the area shaped curretn events.
Highly reccomend it!
Highly reccomend it!
September 24, 2020
I respect Nahlah Ayed, and she writes well, however I really found this book to be disjointed. It starts with Ayed telling us about her life as a child with Ayed herself really the focus of this section. Then all of a sudden, boom, she is a journalist, a Middle East correspondent with little space given as to why. Once it the Middle East Ayed writes eloquently and extensively about what she witnessed there. However the focus is now on the Arab world around Ayed, with very little attention given to Ayed herself. She could have written a wonderful book about the Arab spring, but the title says it was about her journey and - with the exception of a few paragraphs thrown in here and there - it was not. I wanted to know what it is like to be a correspondent. What did she think of what was going on? Where she went?
July 15, 2017
I have decided that I don't like journalists writing books. The writing just doesn't gel as Ayed flips and flops and segues from no where to no where.
I really wanted to read this book because of the area and was looking forward to becoming more informed of the political strife. I am no more informed nor enlightened than I was prior to reading the book. I was looking for more insight to why there continues to be uprisings and wars and this book did not address the issues. I was left in the same position as the Black Donnelleys and the Hatfield's and McCoy's.
I really wanted to read this book because of the area and was looking forward to becoming more informed of the political strife. I am no more informed nor enlightened than I was prior to reading the book. I was looking for more insight to why there continues to be uprisings and wars and this book did not address the issues. I was left in the same position as the Black Donnelleys and the Hatfield's and McCoy's.
May 31, 2023
CBC journalist and Middle East correspondent Nahlah Ayed's memoir of working and analysis of recent Middle East history is excellent. Ayed tells of her experience and offers analysis of recent political events in several Mideast countries, including Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Tunisia. This book was published in 2012, so it may not be the most recent account available, but Ayed's appreciation for the complexities and love for the Middle East region shines through. She also includes an interesting account of the years she spent in Jordan as the child of Palestinian parents. I highly recommend this book and found it at once moving and informative.
February 28, 2020
I think I just wasn't in the mood for this book. Ayed is very interesting, a great writer, has an amazing career, but I found myself skimming through most of it after her family moved back to Canada. Perhaps at a different time, I will pick it up again to read more thoroughly.
April 25, 2024
Beautifully written, deeply knowledgeable but modest at the same time. Understated, discreet, empathetic and so all the more compelling. A focus on shared humanity, on how people cope in the short term, are resilient in the medium term, and survive in the long term. Hedging their bets to stay alive, waiting for the moment when they can rise up to bring about change in their often brutal conditions.
October 28, 2012
I have always admired Ayed's reports. They were filled both humanity and detail, something that I wasn't able to do with my short-lived media career. Her book explores her background and the historic events she has covered so far, giving her fans a better understanding of her job.
Page 322-323
It had been an exceptional year. I had initially arrived in London to fill in for six days, and it became my base for nine months. I that short time, I had been on assignement in Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, Pars, and Oslo -- the latter the scene of a tragic bombing and shooting attack by a madman opposed to the growing Muslim and Immigrant presence in Norway. In between I filed from London, covering the summer riots there and a number of other stories. I lived out of a pile of suitcases stacked up in a tiny rented apartment across the street from the CBC office, in a state of near chaos that I was only barely able to contain. Even in the worst of the upheaval in the Mideast, I had never been so unsettled. And yet for the first time in a long time, I was at peace.
It occured to me then that all that time I'd spent in the Middle East as a child and all those years working in difficult conditions there as an adult had been building up to this one singular year. The deflation I felt as I moved out of the Middle East in 2009 had vanished. Those seven exhausting years now made sense: they had been my prepartation, my schooling in anticipation of what would eventually come.
Journalistically, the Arab Spring was a highlight for me - an event far more meaningful than witnessing the fall of Saddam's regime or watching the end of the war in Lebanon. It answered many lingering questions. Why were Arabs so silent? How could they eventually gain freedom? It seemed they had simply been waiting for the right momemt. The apathy had existed so long as they hadn't found a way out of despondence. But now they had, and the apathy seemed to dissipate. The uprisings marked the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one, and I hungrily read on, possessed, eager to find out what would happen next.
Page 322-323
It had been an exceptional year. I had initially arrived in London to fill in for six days, and it became my base for nine months. I that short time, I had been on assignement in Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, Pars, and Oslo -- the latter the scene of a tragic bombing and shooting attack by a madman opposed to the growing Muslim and Immigrant presence in Norway. In between I filed from London, covering the summer riots there and a number of other stories. I lived out of a pile of suitcases stacked up in a tiny rented apartment across the street from the CBC office, in a state of near chaos that I was only barely able to contain. Even in the worst of the upheaval in the Mideast, I had never been so unsettled. And yet for the first time in a long time, I was at peace.
It occured to me then that all that time I'd spent in the Middle East as a child and all those years working in difficult conditions there as an adult had been building up to this one singular year. The deflation I felt as I moved out of the Middle East in 2009 had vanished. Those seven exhausting years now made sense: they had been my prepartation, my schooling in anticipation of what would eventually come.
Journalistically, the Arab Spring was a highlight for me - an event far more meaningful than witnessing the fall of Saddam's regime or watching the end of the war in Lebanon. It answered many lingering questions. Why were Arabs so silent? How could they eventually gain freedom? It seemed they had simply been waiting for the right momemt. The apathy had existed so long as they hadn't found a way out of despondence. But now they had, and the apathy seemed to dissipate. The uprisings marked the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one, and I hungrily read on, possessed, eager to find out what would happen next.
June 4, 2016
A selection of my "international fiction" book club. Nahlah had a shocking turn of events in childhood. She was born in Canada to Palestinian parents. When she was 6 years old, her parents worried that their kids would become too Westernized. So they uprooted and moved back to a refugee camp in Jordan where they remained for the next 7 years! There was no work, so eventually her dad returned to Canada without the family and sent money back for their living expenses! They eventually reunited and stayed in Canada, where Nahlah studied journalism and became the Middle East correspondent for CBC television news. I was transfixed by her growing up story. The rest of the book describes her 10 years covering conflicts in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt. I learned a lot about the history of the conflicts in that area of the world, but I found the book slow going and would literally only read about 5 pages at a time before wandering off. I was also a bit vexed that she said zero about her personal life during those years, leading us to believe she had no personal life and was "all business." The contrast between her childhood "tell all" and her later silence about personal matters was too great. I thought about whether I would have different expectations of a male journalist's story and the answer is no.
May 22, 2015
It was interesting to learn about her time as a journalist in the middle east. I really like learning some of the background reasons why things are the way they are.
February 10, 2021
I can't quite put my finger on why I didn't love this book, but I found it to be a bit of a slog. I started it for a course I was taking in Jerusalem (it was optional background reading, to give us a glimpse of life and some background to some of the tensions in the Middle East), but it just didn't grab me. I can't tell if it's because it's heavy material or because of the style of the writing, but I've been checking it in and out of the library for over a year now (it even served as part of a monitor stand for working from home for the first wave of the pandemic!), as well as checking in and out of the book itself while reading. I’m glad to have finished it, though I don’t think I came away with the knowledge I was hoping I would gain.
One of the biggest challenges I had with this book was that the author would use what felt like jargon from and about the Middle East, as well as historical events from the 90’s and early 00’s, with very little explanation. I had to sit near Google because I kept having to search things when a few words’ description would have saved me that effort and the removal from the book. It also felt as though we jumped around chronologically, which lost me, and I kept forgetting who people were, as the author would name someone, talk about a bunch of other people or events, and come back to that person, expecting us to remember their significance. That could be a result of how infrequently I picked up the book, with long stretches in between, but I found it hard to follow. I did really enjoy reading about Ayed’s childhood, growing up both in Winnipeg and Amman, as well as her personal experience as a journalist and would have appreciated more of that. For someone who continually emphasized the importance of telling the stories of the everyday people, she really did very little of that here, and not enough of her own story for me either.
One of the biggest challenges I had with this book was that the author would use what felt like jargon from and about the Middle East, as well as historical events from the 90’s and early 00’s, with very little explanation. I had to sit near Google because I kept having to search things when a few words’ description would have saved me that effort and the removal from the book. It also felt as though we jumped around chronologically, which lost me, and I kept forgetting who people were, as the author would name someone, talk about a bunch of other people or events, and come back to that person, expecting us to remember their significance. That could be a result of how infrequently I picked up the book, with long stretches in between, but I found it hard to follow. I did really enjoy reading about Ayed’s childhood, growing up both in Winnipeg and Amman, as well as her personal experience as a journalist and would have appreciated more of that. For someone who continually emphasized the importance of telling the stories of the everyday people, she really did very little of that here, and not enough of her own story for me either.
December 31, 2020
This book was such a good read. It's not often I'm reading a book in bed after midnight.
I found the author's stories incredibly compelling. I loved how she brought to life the people who were living in Baghdad, and Beirut particularly.
I really found it hard to understand how her parents could give up a life in Winnipeg for life in a refugee camp in Jordan. While yes, they were trying to instill a sense of history in their children, I found it so hard to read this. But at the same time, it gave Nahlah (and presumably her siblings) an education that could not be given otherwise.
I didn't really appreciate, until I read the book, how relatively new in her career she was when going to Afghanistan. I've long been a fan of Nahlah's and she has always been such a professional in her reporting. So for her to go to a war zone (several) over a period of 7 or so years, I long thought she must have a lot of courage, and after reading the book I'm astonished at how much courage she really had. I was feeling scared for her much of the book. I could not have lived in many of those any of those situations for more than 2 days (and even if that).
The book is well written - it tells stories of people, and I was really enjoying this. I did find the first half easier than the second half of the book - the latter seemed to drag on. I t hink the 2nd half focussed more on the politics, and less on the people.
This in a way, feels like one of the best reads of 2020 for me.
I hope she writes more books.
I found the author's stories incredibly compelling. I loved how she brought to life the people who were living in Baghdad, and Beirut particularly.
I really found it hard to understand how her parents could give up a life in Winnipeg for life in a refugee camp in Jordan. While yes, they were trying to instill a sense of history in their children, I found it so hard to read this. But at the same time, it gave Nahlah (and presumably her siblings) an education that could not be given otherwise.
I didn't really appreciate, until I read the book, how relatively new in her career she was when going to Afghanistan. I've long been a fan of Nahlah's and she has always been such a professional in her reporting. So for her to go to a war zone (several) over a period of 7 or so years, I long thought she must have a lot of courage, and after reading the book I'm astonished at how much courage she really had. I was feeling scared for her much of the book. I could not have lived in many of those any of those situations for more than 2 days (and even if that).
The book is well written - it tells stories of people, and I was really enjoying this. I did find the first half easier than the second half of the book - the latter seemed to drag on. I t hink the 2nd half focussed more on the politics, and less on the people.
This in a way, feels like one of the best reads of 2020 for me.
I hope she writes more books.
June 17, 2025
I wonder who the author was writing to here. I was certainly fascinated by her early years and her wonderful parents. Most of the book was about her work, however. I did learn that:
1) she is very driven by her work and she had little to no personal life back in Canada, for a long time
2) her work involved seeing horrendous and unrelenting injustice and the stress of that took a toll
3) she made good friends as she worked in the middle east and relied on the help of the people there.
4) she had a deep curiosity about the countries in the middle east, and why they were in these situations
I did have a difficult time reading all the details about her work. It was a lot to take in. Perhaps it is better read over a period of time than straight through. I have great respect for her work and compassion.
1) she is very driven by her work and she had little to no personal life back in Canada, for a long time
2) her work involved seeing horrendous and unrelenting injustice and the stress of that took a toll
3) she made good friends as she worked in the middle east and relied on the help of the people there.
4) she had a deep curiosity about the countries in the middle east, and why they were in these situations
I did have a difficult time reading all the details about her work. It was a lot to take in. Perhaps it is better read over a period of time than straight through. I have great respect for her work and compassion.
January 12, 2025
Nahlah offers a myriad of experiences and insights into the Arab world from a unique perspective of Canadian born and raised reporter with deep roots in the middle east and the ability to communicate in the language of the her subjects. She brings alive the turmoil, poverty, suffering, violence, aspirations and perspectives of the Arabs of the middle east from ten years of reporting from the region. A great read.
August 25, 2023
I learned alot from this memoir. Culture different than my own, life in refugee camp, like as a journalist in a country at war. Integrating into the war-torn country then reintegrating back to life in Canada. If I could go back many years to again choose an education and occupation, I would go to journalism school then hopefully be able to tour the world writing about hotspots.
January 12, 2020
One of my favourite reads of 2019. Ayed has written a tightly scripted story of personal family experiences, uprising and war. Ayed, a trusted journalist, gives a clear, troubling and hopeful perspective of her heritage.
February 9, 2021
I grew tired reading of the endless conflict in the Middle East. I can only imagine how exhausting it must be to experience it. This was a book well worth reading despite the subject. I learned a lot from it and appreciated Nahlah Ayed's knowledge and perspective.
May 13, 2017
A courageous book and an even more courageous woman.
May 27, 2017
Very easy to read. Great explanations provided for such a complicated topic. I just wish that there was more of her story interjected. Still loved the book and her writing style.
August 31, 2017
Thoughtful and very interesting.
January 23, 2018
A very educational read!
June 5, 2019
Well that was depressing.
November 20, 2019
Very fascinating story but gets bogged down in details of people and places, instead of focusing on the author's journey etc. So slow reading at times for me.
Read
September 4, 2020Excellent. We are lucky to have someone with her background and experience to inform us on the Middle East.
September 6, 2020
Marvellously encompassive immigrant perspective. Hugely impressive. Well written with perspective and insight. And you can follow her now on ideas at CBC.
January 28, 2024
I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Ms. Ayed's life and about the events that happened in the Middle East during her time there as a foreign correspondent. Would love to read more by her!
January 11, 2022
Nahlah Ayed is a journalist for the CBC who has spent a lot of time in the middle east. When she was a child her family left their comfortable home in Winnipeg to live with extended family in a refugee camp in Jordan. I can't possibly imagine taking my children to live as refugees in another country where there might not be enough to eat and the environment isn't particularly clean, but as a white woman who's family has lived in Canada for decades, I also don't have the issue of my children growing up in a foreign culture and losing their family language and heritage.
I really enjoyed getting to see the first-hand account of the Arab people taking back control of their countries. Nahlah Ayed also got more of an insight into what was going on than many other journalists, as she spoke Arabic. Very informative read.
I really enjoyed getting to see the first-hand account of the Arab people taking back control of their countries. Nahlah Ayed also got more of an insight into what was going on than many other journalists, as she spoke Arabic. Very informative read.
Currently reading
March 1, 2013It’s become commonplace to read Western views on the Middle East, stories of war-time journalists close the action, and of the struggles of Western women in the Middle East, but each of those stories exists as a separate entity, largely unconnected to the other. Though in Nahlah Ayed’s A Thousand Farewells all of those stories come together as she tells of her life as a Palestinian-Canadian journalist, bouncing from conflict to conflict and trying to find her place as a citizen of the West and the Middle East.
The book follows Ayed’s journey through a nomadic childhood as her parents emigrated from Palestine to Canada, only to relocate their family back in to a Palestinian refugee camp in Amman a few years later. It also provides a short yet sweet history lesson to provide the reader with context for the stories and gives her multi-national journalistic perspective on most major Middle Eastern conflicts in her professional career.
Part autobiography, part history lesson, and part human-interest story, A Thousand Farewells obviously has a lot going on at the same time, and would arguably be a very difficult piece to write. Not often are heartbreaking personal experiences packed tightly with factual data on the history of the Arab Spring. Though, for a book that could very well be three separate books, the content is surprisingly well organized and flows quite naturally. At times however, the reader is left wanting more as certain sections and stories seem cut short in the interest of packing more information in to the text. In fact Ayed could easily produce 300 pages on her personal stories from Baghdad and still have to let interesting pieces fall to the editing floor.
2012 is an interesting time for A Thousand Farewells to be released as the landscape for journalism, especially female journalists in the Middle East, is changing rapidly. Nearly twenty years ago Anne Sebba released Battling For News, a history of women reporters overcoming sexism, and is now re-releasing the book with a new foreword cautioning young female journalists about the dangers of reporting in the Middle East. In an interview with The Atlantic’s Emily Chertoff, Sebba points to the sexual assault of Lara Logan during a Mubarak protest as proof that women are becoming targets in the Middle East, especially in Muslim culture, and that the process and speed of modern news reporting is only making things more frantic.
A Thousand Farewells hints at these problems throughout though the story doesn’t have the same agenda that Battling For News does. Ayed however, may be an outlier as she can approach each case from a Palestinian or a Canadian perspective and use the experience to become more in tune with the situation. In several stories Ayed demonstrates this as she can tell when a situation is about make a turn for the worse before it does by reading the people, and uses her knowledge of the language and the culture to protect herself or even blend in.
Young female journalists should be inspired by the passion and drive of Ayed, but also heed the caution of Sebba and realize that Ayed does possess a certain set of skills that allow her privileges which may not be bestowed on most Westerners in the same situation. Though even then, Ayed tells of an experience in Iraq when the situation became too much and almost resulted her being beaten to death.
The ultimate truth that flows throughout A Thousand Farewells, and one that can be translated to any number of story telling outlets, is her motto that “people are the story, always.” In each story and experience Ayed details the people she was with and the people that she meets, and it’s those details and their experiences that really make A Thousand Farewells cohesive as a story teller’s story. Without it, it would literally be part autobiography, part history lesson, and part human-interest story, and nothing more.
The book follows Ayed’s journey through a nomadic childhood as her parents emigrated from Palestine to Canada, only to relocate their family back in to a Palestinian refugee camp in Amman a few years later. It also provides a short yet sweet history lesson to provide the reader with context for the stories and gives her multi-national journalistic perspective on most major Middle Eastern conflicts in her professional career.
Part autobiography, part history lesson, and part human-interest story, A Thousand Farewells obviously has a lot going on at the same time, and would arguably be a very difficult piece to write. Not often are heartbreaking personal experiences packed tightly with factual data on the history of the Arab Spring. Though, for a book that could very well be three separate books, the content is surprisingly well organized and flows quite naturally. At times however, the reader is left wanting more as certain sections and stories seem cut short in the interest of packing more information in to the text. In fact Ayed could easily produce 300 pages on her personal stories from Baghdad and still have to let interesting pieces fall to the editing floor.
2012 is an interesting time for A Thousand Farewells to be released as the landscape for journalism, especially female journalists in the Middle East, is changing rapidly. Nearly twenty years ago Anne Sebba released Battling For News, a history of women reporters overcoming sexism, and is now re-releasing the book with a new foreword cautioning young female journalists about the dangers of reporting in the Middle East. In an interview with The Atlantic’s Emily Chertoff, Sebba points to the sexual assault of Lara Logan during a Mubarak protest as proof that women are becoming targets in the Middle East, especially in Muslim culture, and that the process and speed of modern news reporting is only making things more frantic.
A Thousand Farewells hints at these problems throughout though the story doesn’t have the same agenda that Battling For News does. Ayed however, may be an outlier as she can approach each case from a Palestinian or a Canadian perspective and use the experience to become more in tune with the situation. In several stories Ayed demonstrates this as she can tell when a situation is about make a turn for the worse before it does by reading the people, and uses her knowledge of the language and the culture to protect herself or even blend in.
Young female journalists should be inspired by the passion and drive of Ayed, but also heed the caution of Sebba and realize that Ayed does possess a certain set of skills that allow her privileges which may not be bestowed on most Westerners in the same situation. Though even then, Ayed tells of an experience in Iraq when the situation became too much and almost resulted her being beaten to death.
The ultimate truth that flows throughout A Thousand Farewells, and one that can be translated to any number of story telling outlets, is her motto that “people are the story, always.” In each story and experience Ayed details the people she was with and the people that she meets, and it’s those details and their experiences that really make A Thousand Farewells cohesive as a story teller’s story. Without it, it would literally be part autobiography, part history lesson, and part human-interest story, and nothing more.
March 25, 2012
This is a book that I received through the Goodreads ARC.
When I recieved this book, I thought it was going to be more autobiographical in nature. Certainly there is enough in this author's life and experiences as a reporter which would have made a strict autographical tale worthy of a book. While the author does shed some light on her life (born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and having spent some time in a refugee camp in Jordan). the focus of the book is on the events and the reasons leading to the Arab spring movement.
I found the book to be an objective look at the situation and that the author explored the various social, historical and political aspects in a clear and concise fashion which is not an easy task given the complexities of the issues involved. I liked the fact that the author relies heavily on the perspectives of various individuals that she met during her time as a foreign correspondent and these views largely reflected the the "ordinary individuals" whose views are often overlooked in the summary news which we usually get in the broader media. I enjoyed references to singers and poets of the Middle East and found myself and through the use of you-tube have now been exposed to a wider variety of music than I would normally be accustomed to.
Throughout the book there are numerous references to incidents and events of which I was previously unaware and these helped inform me more throughly of the issues involved.
Overall a thoroughly enjoyable and informative read.
When I recieved this book, I thought it was going to be more autobiographical in nature. Certainly there is enough in this author's life and experiences as a reporter which would have made a strict autographical tale worthy of a book. While the author does shed some light on her life (born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and having spent some time in a refugee camp in Jordan). the focus of the book is on the events and the reasons leading to the Arab spring movement.
I found the book to be an objective look at the situation and that the author explored the various social, historical and political aspects in a clear and concise fashion which is not an easy task given the complexities of the issues involved. I liked the fact that the author relies heavily on the perspectives of various individuals that she met during her time as a foreign correspondent and these views largely reflected the the "ordinary individuals" whose views are often overlooked in the summary news which we usually get in the broader media. I enjoyed references to singers and poets of the Middle East and found myself and through the use of you-tube have now been exposed to a wider variety of music than I would normally be accustomed to.
Throughout the book there are numerous references to incidents and events of which I was previously unaware and these helped inform me more throughly of the issues involved.
Overall a thoroughly enjoyable and informative read.
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