The Book of Gaza: A City in Short Fiction

Reading the City: A City in Short Fiction

by Atef Abu Saif (Editor), Abdallah Tayeh, Talal Abu Shawish

Featuring Atef Abu Saif, Abdallah Tayeh, Talal Abu Shawish, Mona Abu Sharekh, Najlaa Ataallah, Ghareeb Asqalani, Nayrouz Qarmout, Yusra al Khatib, Asmaa al Ghul & Zaki al 'Ela

Under the Israeli occupation of the '70s and '80s, writers in Gaza had to go to considerable lengths to ever have a chance of seeing their work in print. Manuscripts were written out longhand, invariably under pseudonyms, and smuggled out of the Strip to Jerusalem, Cairo or Beirut, where they then had to be typed up. Consequently, fiction grew shorter, novels became novellas, and short stories flourished as the city's form of choice. Indeed, to Palestinians elsewhere, Gaza became known as 'the exporter of oranges and short stories'.

This anthology brings together some of the pioneers of the Gazan short story from that era, as well as younger exponents of the form, with ten stories that offer glimpses of life in the Strip that go beyond the global media headlines; stories of anxiety, oppression, and violence, but also of resilience and hope, of what it means to be a Palestinian, and how that identity is continually being reforged; stories of ordinary characters struggling to live with dignity in what many have called 'the largest prison in the world'.

Translated from the Arabic by Tom Aplin, Charis Bredin, Emily Danby, Alexa Firat, Alice Guthrie, Katharine Halls, Sarah Irving, Elisabeth Jaquette, John Peate, Adam Talib, and Max Weiss

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Literature, Politics, Middle East, Cities

Unknown Binding

First published May 1, 2014

About the author

Atef Abu Saif is a Palestinian writer, born in Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in 1973, to a family originally from Jaffa. He holds a BA from Birzeit University, an MA from the University of Bradford (UK) and a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the University of Florence, Italy.

He teaches Political Science at the University of Al-Azhar, Gaza, and is Chief Editor of Siyasat magazine, published by the Public Policy Institute in Ramallah. He is the author of six novels and was shortlisted for the 2015 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. He has also published two collections of short stories, three plays and a number of books on political science.

Reviews

[Nocturnalux · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to pick this up in 2021, at a time when my ignorance about this particular part of the world became too pressing to be ignored. It deserves a proper review- which I meant to write at the time- and I still fully intend to give it one, after a proper reread.

For now, I will simply say this: Across this slim volume, the life a people under siege is outlined, from the inside. Each author has their own voice and the full scope of human existence is contained therein, from women kicking against a most unfair system, to lovers torn apart by what experts love call "geopolitical circumstances, to disenchanted activists who have seen their dreams for an actual country get bulldozered over. Refugee camps are written by those born there, by those raised there, by those suddenly landing there. Some episodes will forever stay with me, as the warped borderline friendship between an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian, the woman who takes to swimming, the delicious frozen treats sold on the street.

As I type this, many of the places that are so vividly invoked in writing, have been reduced to rubble. Underneath that rubble, lives are being extinguished.

These stories are the stories they might have written. And these stories, are the stories they never will write.

[Sahar · Rating 4 out of 5]

“𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑, 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒, 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒, 𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑠𝑜.”

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗮𝘇𝗮 is part of a collection of powerful short stories by the natives of various cities around the world. This work contains 10 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝘇𝗮 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽 and as such lends itself to providing relatable elements and lived experiences for both men and women. Though heavily reliant on the translation of the Arabic in pushing through the meaning of each story, the translators have done a decent job at 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗮𝘆. 🌤

These vibrant stories speak of rekindled first loves, the beauty in resistance, and 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗚𝗮𝘇𝗮𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲 There were a couple of stories with narratives that didn’t particularly appeal to me, but as with any anthology, some stories are better than others. Whether this is due to discrepancies in translation or simply that some writers are naturally better storytellers, I’m not sure, but several stories in this collection are really quite heart wrenching. In all, this was a nice mix of stories and I look forward to reading more from this collection! 🌎

“𝐺𝑎𝑧𝑎 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑎, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑥 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠.”

[nastia · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Gaza became known as the exporter of oranges and short stories”. 🍊🍉📝

—a collection of 10 short stories by authors considered the fathers of the palestinian short story genre, and new voices as well, men and women. they depict the city of gaza in the way that they know it, their everyday life and struggles, through the characters that take life in their stories.

so many people have already lost their lives in this genocide, please do your part, you reading this. don't be silent. if it doesn't affect you, you're lucky, just like me. but aren't we all humans? my name's nastia, i'm from greece and i stand with palestine. from the river to the sea, palestine will be free. #freepalestine #istandwithpalestine 🇵🇸🌊

[kali ☾]

Some of the most affecting passages from this book:

“Doesn’t the world I want at least deserve a chance?”

“You see, the world is the world, even when we, ourselves and our purity, are no longer part of it. Perhaps it’s simply dark, with faded features. Our souls are strangers in it, our spirits homeless. But, it’s the same world, acting on the sadness of past days and the obscurity of the coming ones, indifferent to the fact that it had come to an end when we had, even if its ending was just for a few moments.”

“This book seeks to paint a portrait of Gaza through the eyes of its writers, as a city different to the one presented in the media. Gaza is a city like all cities by the sea, where people relax on the beach, where the streets have names and the coffee shops their patrons. People love and hate, they are filled with desires and wracked with concerns. They live on a remorseless stretch of land, in a reality that tries to kill their desire to live, yet they do not tire of loving life, as long as there is a way to do so.”

“To stand face to face with death. To choose between two deaths: to kill or see your son killed.”

“You know that this entire society itself does the same, incarcerates people with the identities it fixes them in, locks them up forever while the cellmates’ brains fester with shame and abnormality... Everything that breathes on this earth does this, and in the end they say that we practise… love! […] The politicians practise ‘love’ by acquisition and they are the state and the nation... Tell me, how many can really win over a woman? How many can really deflower this city?”

“What will happen to this little place called Gaza? More to the point, what will happen to us? How we have lost or are wasting our lives, draping ourselves in sins we haven’t committed or that we fear committing!’”

“Literature has been the living voice of the Palestinian struggle, in the face of being uprooted, displaced, and occupied. […] Through the brevity and symbolism of the short story Gazan writers at times found a way to overcome printing and publishing restrictions imposed by Israeli occupation forces.“

[Genevieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up from my favourite bookshop in Edinburgh, Argonaut Books, after I asked the owner Adam to recommend some Palestinian writers. As a genre I sometimes find short stories difficult to get into: they feel like they're over before they've begun and reading more than one in an evening can feel almost disorientating. But getting to build up a sense of Gaza through the eyes of writers over decades has been eye opening. In short, Gaza is not "just" a warzone. It's a place where humans live, breathe, love, write, take trips to the seaside. There are moments of joy amid the pain and horror. As with always in an anthology, some writers strike more of a chord than others, hence the on-the-fence rating [3.5 stars more than 3], but some of the stories by women (Asma al-Ghul; Yusra al-Khatib) really spoke to me.

[Tommie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem with anthologies is of course, the writing within varies considerably. Although it was cool to read such different perspectives of Gaza from different time periods (the authors featured seemed to range from mid century to present), enough of the stories felt so contrived I couldn't even give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it was the translator's fault. A few gems buried within, but none that managed to bring the whole collection up

[Romie · Rating 4 out of 5]

“People love and hate, they are filled with desires and wracked with concerns. They live on a remorseless stretch of land, in a reality that tries to kill their desire to live, yet they do not tire of loving life, as long as there is a way to do so.”

I knew right from this beautiful introduction that this collection of short stories would impact me.

[Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Book of Gaza is a great compilation of short stories from a series of Palestinian writers set in Gaza. Although each short story has its own unique plot and characters something that unifies them all together is that they are all extremely vivid in their descriptions. The writers use visual, olfactory, textile and auditory descriptors to really immerse you in the story and for many of them I was truly captivated. My favourite story is 'The Sea Cloak', it's a sweet story about the experience of growing up as a young girl in an oppressive environment and the writer masterfully conveys the feeling of being observed and critiqued by all those around you. I say it's a sweet story because it centres on a childhood romance that then comes up later at the end of the story that is incredibly cute.

The reason why I haven't rated this book higher is for two reasons. The first is that I believe it could be translated more idiomatically. This may be just personal preference but I find the translation of a lot of the stories to be quite literal and it can make it difficult to understand what is going on and make the narrator feel stiff and unnatural. The second reason is that the writing style feels very similar throughout almost all the stories and this may stem from the same translation problem. Perhaps the editor wanted to have a more uniform style throughout, but I would have preferred stories with a bit more variety in writing style opposed to the first person, flow of consciousnessy type writing that can become a bit repetitive if it occurs in almost all the stories. Of course I would have to compare this English version with Arabic to determine whether the stories chosen or the editorial choices are the reason.

Nonetheless it was an enjoyable read, with happy and sad moments and I definitely recommend it to learn more about the Palestinian identity. Tragically, with the ongoing genocide, the world is also experiencing a cultural genocide and books like this help preserve the cultural arts that would otherwise be lost with the death of their creators. A sad note to end the review but again I do recommend!

[Rebecca ☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any literary work uplifting Palestinian voices is a win in my eyes!

will add more to this review later hehe

[Mehjabeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a powerful collection of short stories written by authors of a Palestinian background. Some stories were more hard-hitting than others, and in one or two cases the story seemed to get slightly lost in translation. However, you read this not for its quality of writing but for what it portrays, a glimpse into every-day life in a city under much media scrutiny. Together these stories tell tales of oppression, hope, friendship and love, reminding us that there is so much more to Gaza than war and struggle.

‘Gaza became known as the exporter or oranges and short stories’.

[Amit Shavit · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories are great and very eye opening, but I must say the translation could have been better for some of them.
Still recommended though!

[Caterina Gandolfi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. A collection of short stories that take place in Gaza. While I was sometimes slightly confused by what was happening while reading the short stories, this short book is of profound relevance. It gives an insight into what everyday life was like on the Gaza Strip, before the war started. It shows how Palestinians, while facing constant oppression, still tried to live a way that nurtured the small joys of life.
The book was published in 2014, and it very striking to read in the present circumstances. It also has a descriptions of the authors of the short stories at the end of it, giving a brief overview of the life of Arab, mostly Palestinian writers based in Gaza. I read this book wondering whether the writers themselves are still alive, and being quite certain that the places described in the book and the homes of the writers might have been torn to the ground since this book was published.

Overall, an extremely powerful book and one that I would recommend everyone to read.

[Pooneh Yekta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't finish the book and that's why I gave it only two stars. I read almost half of the collection but the translation bothered me so much that I just gave up at some point. I started reading it so that I can have a bit of idea about the literary scene in Palestine. And of course that didn't happen either. The only thing that I was happy about was that I could very well feel the general vibe of the city Gaza. And yeah that's quite something.

[Mmars · Rating 5 out of 5]

This phrase “Gaza, thorn and balm of the soul” from Mona Abu Sharakh’s story captures the aura of the ten stories in this book. The authors greatly love Gaza, but their souls suffer. But not, perhaps in the way that would jump to mind. In several stories, the pain is caused by the absence of romantic love once cherished. Separation of family is another sadness. But there is also that thread of daily life in which amidst one’s tribulations there is comfort in the familiar. “She gazed at his familiar smile and broken tooth. She remembered the hairclip, the walls of the neighbours’ house and the shade of the tree, then felt her heart take flight once more.” [Nayrouz Qarmout]

In Asmaa al-Ghul‘s “You and I”, perhaps my favorite story of the collection, I was carried away, forgetting the setting. It begins “I set out for the university today, knowing the way, and yet not knowing it.

Looking up at the sky, I see an unfamiliar cluster of clouds behind the grey, and stumble, as I always do, on one of the grates to the drain that runs along the side of the street all the way to the end. Our neighbourhood is jam-packed with grates, as it is with school kids, carts selling just about anyyhing, vegetable stands, and a butcher who cling s to a dangling sheep as if he were warming it from the bitterly cold wind.”

And this is the description of some of the school children:

“Over there, that young girl cries feverishly standing over a drain – her money’s probably fallen down the grate – anxiously, she tries to slide a thin stick down it, but to no avail; this kid here eats a Clementine – his friend tries to snatch a piece, their laughter escalates, bounding off the clouds above; that other girl there hugs her younger sister with one hand, as if to warm her, while adjusting her ponytail with the other – they stay like that, young and intimate, with their blue shirts and smocks, unchanged no matter how each new year passes.”

One or two stories deal more directly with the impact of political oppression, but they are not infused with religious zeal but rather the humane struggle to survive and live with dignity.

There are ten stories in the collection, four by women. Each has a different translator and I felt some may have been better translated than others, though I didn’t feel this harmed the book, but rather allowed individuality in the writing styles.

Atef Abu Saif, the editor and writer of the first story in the collection, provides an informative introduction outlining how the history of Gaza since 1967 and the writing of the short story go hand in hand. Because of the impossibility of being published in Gaza, writings were smuggled out of the country and necessarily were shorter than 100 pages, most frequently short stories.

A very well put together book, and one that should be available in western world libraries. In Canada there is a “contest” of books in which through panel discussion a book is chosen that best breaks down barriers. If such a thing existed globally, this book would be a good candidate.

Addendum: A HUGE thank you to my public library for having this on their new books shelf. A much appreciated random read.

[Tawseef Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the short-stories, more like little vignettes, actually, are really beautiful. Whether its about how the political situation constrains the dreams and hopes of young people, forcing them to seek lives abroad, but being pulled to their homes and families; whether it is how Palestinian society judges or constrains women into roles, or whether it is how the occupation dehumanises people, forcing them to suffer, to give, to love, extra-hard, in order to survive, the stories are powerful and make a short, but intense read. Worthwhile!

[Marcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part this collection is quite moving, but on the whole it is uneven. What's good about these stories is the way they give the reader insight into the quotidian of Palestinians in Gaza - and surprisingly this is not entirely centred on the state of war and siege that Gaza is subjected to.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some real gems in this one. My favorites were "Red Lights," "The Whore of Gaza", and "A White Flower for David."

[Bogi Takács]

Twitter threads for individual stories (to be updated):

Two Men by Abdallah Tayeh -
https://twitter.com/bogiperson/status...
_______
Source of the book: Bought with my own money

[Yena · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 stars solid.

“That obstinate love in their hearts was even more stubborn than Gaza.”

If I were to rate each story individually, we would have the full spectrum from 1/5 to a full 6/5. I think as a collection all together, they work to tell a pretty cohesive story from multiple perspectives, and it was a really nice read.

Pros:
My favorite stories in this book were “The Sea Cloak” and “Red Lights”. I feel like they did a brilliant job of showing a different perspective to life in Gaza as opposed to the traditional stories of pain and struggle. Through them we got to see generosity, love, youth, and a bunch of other themes that usually Palestinians are not allowed to experience. It was refreshing not to see millions of people reduced to victims, and to have the minutia of their life be just as important.

Cons:
Now, I know that all of these are translated stories, so I’m interested in seeing how they would read in Arabic. But some of them were just a little difficult to get through because at times the writing itself was a bit awkward. The introduction also sets up a sort of timeline or progression for Gazan writing, but this is not followed by the way the stories are organized in the book. That threw me off personally, but maybe that’s just me.

Overall, this book made me want to read a lot more Palestinian literature, especially from the 80s. The question remains whether I will read them translated or in the original Arabic.

[Minna M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories, fiction or not, hold so much power in which I have been rallying for Palestinians for as long as I could remember, but it is another thing entirely to see such a human side of them. It's vulnerable and you see yourself so easily in almost all of the characters because Palestinians are just human. There is a lot to be said about the way in which Gazan women socialize and have to operate due to their societal norms, and I hope no Western-centric reader mistakes it for pure misogyny in a culture they do not fully comprehend. It is misogyny don't get me wrong, but unless you are a Palestinian woman who drapes any modesty around herself, I don't think it is your call to make.

[Faidz Zainal Abidin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a better collection than Palestine +100.

[3li · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a super quick read that was quite emotional and I’m pleasantly surprised because short stories don’t often catch my attention in the way this collection did. Would recommend

[Maryam Choudhary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a review (probably here) that read: these stories are the stories they might have written and these are the stories they never will write. That stayed with me as I read this collection. I feel that says it all really. Free Palestine!

[Madalina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of short stories that reveal parts of Palestinan people's day-to-day life with everything that it means, from the unjustice and cruelty they are treated with by the occupants, to issues that come from inside their own culture (pre-conceived ideas regarding women), and also to beautiful moments like those of relaxing on the shore of the sea or in a restaurant. Some stories have a narrow physical space (for example "Red Lights" by Talal Abu Shawish expands on the space of a taxi and at a few centimeters' distance outside, but it gives us an excellent lesson of humanity at the end). Some others give detailed description of a place (an almost dystopic place like the one in "Two Men" by Abdallah Tayeh, which has a partly hermetical, partly anticlimax-like end). Some are pure introspection like "Dead Numbers" by Yusra al Khatib, "The Whore of Gaza" by Najlaa Atallah and "When I Cut Off Gaza's Head" by Mona abu Sharekh. The last two reveal women's lack of independence in a conservative society and their attempt to break unjust rules. Even in "Dead Numbers" there is an allusion to the same thing: men's belief that a woman is weak and helpless, which proves not to be true in the end. Other stories are really painful because they show Palestinian drama that has lasted since 1948 up to the present. ("A White Flower for David" by Ghareeb Asqalani and the terryfying "Abu Jaber Returns to the Woods" by Zaki al 'Ela).
I enjoyed each and every story for itself, but also for the way it was written.

[ZJR · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid book of short stories; I fear some of them suffer from the translation. Beyond that, they are a clear and touching look into life in Gaza, the claustrophobia and the injustice of it. I would recommend them to anyone with interest in the area or in the short story form. If you can read them in the original Arabic, though, it would be interesting to know whether or not the translation is failing the stories. Abstractions are the hardest things to communicate; the new language lacks connections to the gestalt of the old culture. If I were only rating the latter half of the book, I would probably give it a 3/5 but the opening stories are so good that they elevate the whole book to 4/5.

[jade · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time reading through some of the stories because they did not flow naturally. It might have been a case of lost in translation, I'm not sure. But overall a good read in the sense that it gave me a glimpse of life in Gaza.

[Annas Jiwa Pratama]

Living in the relative comfort and normalcy here in Depok, and some time ago in Maastricht, I am a stranger to suffering. Because of this, and its rich and bloody history, the Gaza strip has always been an obscure, yet familiar place. A locale mystified, existing in my head only as discourse, politics, and think tank reports. (which reminds me of Karl ReMarks’ book, and it’s hilarious-yet-depressing title: And Then God Created the Middle East and Said ‘Let There Be Breaking News’).

As such, I was really excited to start this book. It was a chance to glimpse beyond the headlines. But, man, this was a difficult read. I’m not sure if it was the translation or this was a stylistic thing, or whether I was not in a reading mood, but I found many of the shorts to be written in a very opaque manner. Words and paragraphs don’t flow easily from one another, and plenty of stories seem to jump around without very clear signposts. Things and feelings are described with a rich but heavy prose. There may be a lot of things that gets lost in translation as well because I’m unfamiliar with the Gazan culture and way of life. For example, I was utterly confused and found myself scrounging for meaning when I read Two Men (what was the significance of that jar?).

The Book of Gaza tells a diverse range of stories. Most prominently, I found the stories to convey a sense of suffocation. Suffocation from tradition and family, from the camps and the military, and the immobility. Life goes on in the strip, but it is not easy and it is not really going anywhere.

A Journey in the Opposite Direction, A White Flower for David, Red Lights were my favorites. Journey gives a glimpse of the desperation of Gaza’s youths, and their defeats. “All at once, these moments leaped onto the wooden table before them, into the present where none of their dreams had been realised, and the fruit of life, whose tree they still climbed, remained mostly unpicked.” And though defeated and going nowhere, they find joy and comfort with one another. Red Lights is a very short story of a taxi driver in Gaza City, and small everyday moments of humanity and solidarity. A White Flower for David tells a grander story, that of two families, at opposite sides during the Intifada.

As I was reading the book, I found myself wanting a more lighthearted, day to day stories. Slices of life in the strip, if you will. You know, like that episode of Parts Unknown when Anthony Bourdain gets to eat with a family in Gaza, which I had watched a few years ago.

But looking back and rewatching that Bourdain episode, that air of suffocation never really cleared. From that episode, I remembered the food and hospitality, but not the walls, nor the dreams of travel and dreams of return. Whether or not Gaza was demystified (for me) from HRW reports and Chomsky books, doesn’t really matter, because those reports are not untrue.

My wish for a lighthearted story, then morphed to a gross feeling. How conceited. I don’t get to dictate what stories they want to tell.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of a dozen short stories written by a range of Gazan authors, painting a complex portrait of the city and strip.

As with any collection of short stories, particularly when it involves a variety of authors, some of the stories worked better for me than others. But the range of authors also means that the stories cover a cross-section of Gazan society, and together, they draw a rich and diverse portrait of Gaza and its many inhabitants - a bittersweet, particularly poignant one given that every location mentioned has almost certainly been razed by this point.

I found Abu Saif’s introduction very interesting - it gives context to the stories and authors, explaining the different waves of short story writers over time. Some of these stories are recent, some first published several decades ago, and I would have greatly appreciated a little note at the start of each story stating when it was written or first published. It would situate the story in time (not always obvious) but also help to compare the stories, what has and hasn’t changed over time. Yes, the reader can trawl the copyright page to figure it out, but it would be a simple inclusion that wouldn’t interrupt the flow of reading. (Obviously this is an extremely minor quibble.)

A collection of short stories that weave a rich, diverse and poignant portrait of Gaza - now a testament to some of what has been lost.

[Nisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lebih tepatnya, 3,5 bintang.

Dari awal lihat buku ini udah tertarik banget pengen tahu apa sih yang diceritain sama penulis-penulisnya soal Gaza. Penasaran kan apalagi sekarang lagi rame soal konflik sepanjang masa mereka yang belum juga menemukan titik terang :(

Ternyata, buku ini ga pas sama apa yang gue harap. Tapi, ceritanya tetap menarik dan gue suka sama sebagian besar penulis menuliskan kisahnya dengan bahasa yang puitis. Perasaan yang ingin disampaikan sama penulisnya sampai ke pembaca meskipun harus melewati penerjemah dulu :"

Salut juga sama penerjemahnya yang masih bisa membawa khas penulisnya. Kudos!

Anyway,
Aku paling suka sama yang judulnya Red Lights dan When I Cut Off Gaza's Head. Yang Red Lights ceritanya singkat banget daripada cerpen lain, tapi pesan yang ingin disampaikan cukup dalam dan aku tersentuh sama supir si pemeran utama yang diceritakan dari sudut pandang orang kedua. Selain itu, untuk cerpen When I Cut Off Gaza's Head suka banget sama endingnya yang plot twist! I should have seen that coming, tapi tetep aja gue syok :"

Rekomen buat yang suka sama kumpulan cerpen yang unik dan berbeda dari biasanya.

[Jane Fudger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a series of short stories written during the 1970's and 1980's by Palestinian authors. At this time authors experienced little chance of seeing their work published and literally had to smuggle their work out written in longhand. As a consequence writing became shortened to short stories or novellas.
The authors in this book were the pioneers of the Middle East short stories This collection was edited by Atef abu Saif whose work I have read and enjoyed before.All the stories were well translated and interesting. I particularly enjoyed "The Cloak of the Sea" by Nayrouz Qarmout, "A White Flower for David" by Ghareeb Asqalini and "You and I" by Asmaa al-Ghul.
Irecently read the Book of Ramallah which was nearly as good as this collection and I will return to both books in the future
aA read I would highly recommend if you are interested in Palestinian life.