I am so here for Darwish's love of coffee.
This is a breathtaking book, it is simply beautiful and tragic. Written in the midst of the Israel-Lebanon war in 1982, Darwish takes us on a day in Beirut. I've wanted to read Darwish for ages and am so happy that he didn't let me down. Definitely need to reread this.
Reading this was an emotional experience. Darwish expertly blends between myths to reality, weaving in Palestinian history, Arab politics and dreamlike form of earnest storytelling. The result is gorgeous, a portrait of life in the midst of immense violence.
It was hard not to read this book within the Middle Eastern context and simply feel an ache. How long must this violence go on? Human bodies are so fragile, flesh so soft, and it is incomprehensible that we've spent so much time and effort creating tools dedicated to destroying. I wish I hadn't become so familiar with the image of a body trapped under rubble. Reading Darwish's images of the sea (and the dove symbolism), I felt that while I will never truly understand being a Palestinian, I do have the capacity to deeply relate to the loss of a home, at its deepest sense.
With a two year anniversary to October 7th coming up and as a peace deal continues to be illusive, I don't feel like there are enough words to write down all my thoughts, let alone unpack feelings. The other day I heard an older Palestinian peacebuilder say that he's "been around long enough to see ups and downs of the conflict" and I felt this twinge of sadness because so much time goes by and I feel like we will be eternally haunted by it all. I have aged within this as well, I have watched as barriers that I though existed revealed themselves to be, as cruelty became a currency. What could possibly happen now?
What I'm Taking With Me
- I hope to read more Darwish
- The more I've delved into the conflict, the more my ethical compass has lost its way. Darwish speaks of the fighters, the guerilla groups that dragged civil war Lebanon into the conflict with Israel. What is right?
- I wish I could visit Beirut one day