Beat: The True Story of a Suicide Bomb and a Heart

by Rowan Somerville

‘Rowan Somerville has written an amazing book. Beat is a riveting, intelligent and scrupulously honest journey through the torment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It runs the gamut of human behaviour, from blood-curdling barbarity to extraordinary generosity; a tour de force.’

– Lara Marlowe, The Irish Times

 

In the midst of the Second Intifada, two acts of extreme violence lead to an act of extraordinary humanity. A suicide bomb was detonated outside a nightclub in Tel Aviv, killing twenty-two people, mostly young Israelis. The next day, in an apparently retributive act of violence, an Israeli settler shot Palestinian pharmacist, Mazan Al-Joulani in the neck, rendering him brain-dead. From the ashes of these deadly events, rose an incredible act of generosity, when the family of Al-Joulani agreed to donate his heart to a dying Israeli.

 

The son of pioneering cardiologists, Rowan Somerville travelled to the Levant to speak with survivors and their families, interviewing the surgeon who performed the transplant, and meeting the family of the suicide bomber Saeed Hotari. In this moving account of human anger and forgiveness, Somerville untangles the roots of violence, faith and tribal conflict, and examines the possibility of redemption. In this close look at humanity at work, Somerville’s writing is at once personal and objective, an outsider’s unbiased view of events steeped in, but overcoming, prejudice. The close observations and fast-paced narrative style have the immediacy of a contemporary thriller.

 

Expertly weaving together events immediately before and after the violence, and his own experiences speaking with survivors and people concerned, Somerville gives a nuanced reading of the many uses of the human heart.

 

 

Genres: Nonfiction

306 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2017

Reviews

[Niall Balmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true tale telling of, and contrasting the very worst of man and the best of man.

[Joanne Finegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An honest and heartfelt creation... I felt drawn in and educated more with each page. The narration left me feeling like a kind mentor was bending my ear to show me a new perspective by just taking in their findings.

[Liam J · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story teller, of 2 intertwining stories, revealing the gamut of human emotions: love, hate, mercy, grace, compassion, intransigence, hope.

[Fiona O'Reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non fiction 5 stars.

[Lara CH · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone needs to read this book.

[Book]

The author’s shines when he focuses on non-fiction rather than the first chapter’s historical(ish) fiction.

The book attempts neutrality, however, the author’s perspective is still painfully western/israeli leaning. The words terrorist and terrorism appear only when speaking about Palestinian violence. The epilogue is the only chapter to honestly and critically engage with Israel’s role in the conflict.