Green Almonds: Letters from Palestine

by Anaële Hermans, Delphine Hermans (Illustrator)

The graphic novel collaboration and true story of two sisters. Anaële, a writer, leaves for Palestine volunteering in an aid program, swinging between her Palestinian friends and her Israeli friends. Delphine is an artist, left behind in Liege, Belgium. From their different sides of the world, they exchange letters.

Green Almonds: Letters from Palestine is a personal look into a complex reality, through the prism of the experience of a young woman writing letters to her sister about her feelings and adventures in the occupied territories. Green Almonds is an intimate story with big implications.

A young woman discovers a country, works there, makes friends, lives a love story, and is confronted with the plight of the Palestinians, the violence on a daily basis that we see on our screens and read in our newspapers. Anaële's story is brought to life by Delphine's simple and evocative drawings, which give full force to the subject and evoke the complexity of this conflict, creating a journey to the everyday life of Palestinians.

Green Almonds: Letters from Palestine received the Doctors Without Borders Award for best travel diary highlighting the living conditions of populations in precarious situations when it was published in France in 2011.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Memoir, Nonfiction, Comics, Middle East, Graphic Novels Comics, Politics

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 19, 2011

Reviews

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review to come.

This could have been a case of it's-not-you-it's-me, but I can't read anything to do with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict because it's always confusing with conflicting information and I have no right to pick a side. Other than that, the layout and idea were promising but ultimately fell flat.



2023 update: I support Palestine

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two Belgium sisters correspond for a year when one of them moves to Palestine to work with an NGO for a year. Her sister draws her letters in this travelogue about her time in Palestine and Israel. She spends a lot of time describing the plight of the Palestinians but it seems a bit one-sided overall. The art is very primitive. It reminds me of children's drawings with boneless arms and v's for breasts on the women. To be honest, the whole book was a bit dull.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Belgian woman travels to Bethlehem in 2008 for a sort of Christian pilgrimage with the intent of staying for several months amongst the Palestinians to do some vague volunteer educational work of some kind. She loves the people and the place, painting them most sympathetically -- even having a romantic interest in one -- and contrasting their desire for freedom and safety with the Israeli walls, checkpoints, soldiers and settlers. The story unfolds in letters and postcards exchanged with her sister back in Belgium.

It's been a decade since her trip, and it is sad to realize how little the situation has changed in the interim.

Regardless, the story is a dull, limited in its scope, and smacks of white privilege and some of the negative aspects of voluntourism. The art is too primitive and childlike for my taste and is drawn by the sister who didn't actually visit Palestine, so I assume she is working from photo reference or pure imagination.

Meh.

[Paula Bardell-Hedley · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The idea came to us to make a comic that told the story of what [Anaële] experienced during the ten months we spent living so far from each other, from March to December 2008.”

Anaël and Delphine Hermans are sisters from Liège, an east Belgian city close to the Dutch and German borders. In 2008, Anaël, a writer, went to work for a voluntary aid programme in Palestine – dividing her free time between her Palestinian and Israeli friends – while Delphine, an artist, remained at home. The siblings, always close, exchanged newsy letters and postcards during their ten-month separation.

Aimed at the 13 to 16 age-group (I hardly ever read titles for young people then, flukily, two together) Green Almonds is a combined graphic-epistolary memoir, simply told, of family, friendship, love, mistrust, land confiscations, violence, imprisonment, armed soldiers, checkpoints and a wall of division running along the border and through parts of the Israeli occupied State of Palestine.

“Dear Nan, So, you made it? In reading your letter, I could picture everything. I tried to draw you there.”

From her apartment in Bethlehem, Anaële travels around the country, sometimes crossing the border to spend an evening relaxing with her Israeli companions, returning to experiences like visiting the overpopulated Dheisheh refugee camp and assisting with fruit picking. The book is a personal glimpse into a complex situation, seen through the eyes of a naive young woman who discovers a country, makes friends, falls in love and is confronted with the plight of the inhabitants. Her story is enriched by her sister’s uncomplicated and poignant drawings.

First published in France in 2011, then rereleased by Lion Forge in 2018, Green Almonds: Letters from Palestine received the Doctors Without Borders Award for best travel diary highlighting the living conditions of populations in precarious situations when it was first issued.

“…it’s hard to reconcile these funny, talkative Palestinian women with the women I meet in the street. Though this is clearly not my world, it’s charming, so welcoming, that I can’t help but enjoy it.”

Many thanks to Lion Forge for providing a review copy of this title.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing travelogue, if you could call it that, of a Anaele's letters to her sister back in Belgium, of her time as an NGO in Palestine. She lives on the side of the wall. She sees what is going on from the Palestinians point of view. One of the most striking things she hears over and over is that, oh, it is normal.

Oh, it is normal to be shot, if you go outside, on a hill.



Or, it is normal to come face to face with a solider when you are walking in a shopping area.



One reviewer didn't like the little light postcards that mark each new section that came from Anaele's sister. Little things like watching the barges, or smelling the flowers.

Sad, gripping, and well written. Held my attention when I should have been working, and just wanted to peak at how it was, for later, don't you know, and then found myself reading the whole thing.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Inês Sousa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opinião em breve.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy reading graphic novels, especially non-fiction ones such as memoirs. I downloaded this travelogue in the hopes of learning more about present-day Palestine, its past, its people and culture. Having lived overseas in a Muslim country for a couple of years I was expecting to hear about how Anaële’s expectations differed from her reality or how she experienced cultural shock but none of those things were described.

Anaële was unsettled and depressed by how normalized ruthless killings had become in Palestine society. It was noteworthy to see how different citizens dealt with frequent jailing, civil unrest, forced evacuations, placement camps, withholding of water, their inability to leave the city, and having guns pointed at them by soldiers.

I enjoyed Delphine’s illustrations, especially of Palestine landscapes and cityscapes. My only gripe is how she drew women’s chests. They looked like saggy socks and made me want to gag. Am I the only one who thought this?

However, as I was reading this memoir, I was left with several unanswered questions. I know Anaële went to Palestine for work but she never quite tells the reader what she did for a living (not until the afterward, at least). I found it weird that she told customs officials that she was planning on volunteering but didn’t have any story prepared to tell officials when she got to customs. If I was going to a place where many Muslim countries will deny you re-entry after visiting, I think I’d have asked co-workers what they said to get through customs first.

I could never quite understand what Anaële did all day. It seemed like she only visited with friends and strangers who became friends for a day only to pass out of her life again.

My biggest gripe about this graphic novel is that this story was told entirely from the point of view of anti-Israeli Palestinians. Anaële had both Muslim and Jewish friends but I only read about how antagonistic the Israelis were. I was hoping to find a more balanced testimony to the history of these peoples and I didn’t find it in this book. I understand that this book wasn’t meant to be a treatise on the history of Palestine but I found myself scarcely more enlightened about the country than before I read this book.

I received a free copy of this book from Netalley (it's not an ARC). You can go there to download a free copy as well.

[Shazia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Green Almonds was an interesting read, a travel diary in a way, which includes the exchange of letters between sisters Anaële and Delphine. Each “chapter” begins with a postcard sent from Delphine to her sister Anaele, who spends the next 10 months living in Palestine. The rest of the graphic novel is made up of illustrations Delphine drew to go along with the words from Anaele’s letters.

If you know even a little bit about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, you wouldn’t really be surprised by anything you read within this graphic novel—the various check points that Anaele had go through to enter or leave any Palestinian village, the villages she visited that were contained within walls, with armed Israeli soldiers patrolling the streets. And her very different experiences when visiting her Israeli friends at the beach, carefree and drinking beers.

As much as I wanted to like this book, it just kind of fell flat for me. The art is fine, it doesn’t stand out to me and the text within the book was also just fine. I wish the book went more in depth with every aspect of her stay, from her trips to the different villages to the friendships she made. Perhaps if this wasn’t made up from just Anaele’s letters then there could have been more substance within the graphic novel. I just wanted more!

[Etienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting chronicles of Palestine living. Unfortunately, I just read Chroniques de Jérusalem by Guy Delisle, and it was quite similar, but better, if I haven't read it, and might have appreciated this one more. That being said, this book is all about simplicyt in it's artwork and story, kind of a journal about living in Palestine, the life of the people their and the political issues. Well done but just a bad timing for me reading it. I though about giving it three, but I think that with a better timing it might have gotten a four, so I'm going with a 3,5/5.

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing epistolary memoir about Hermans’s 10-month stay in Bethlehem volunteering for a youth organization. Enlightening, yet depressing at the same time. I couldn’t help but think of Sacco’s Palestine as I was reading this.

[Oneirosophos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anaële is in love with a Palestinian friend and moves to Gaza as a volunteer for a NGO. Each chapter is like a letter to her sister back in Liege, with her daily "routine" in Palestine.

The harsh reality of the apartheid in Gaza are the only strong one moments in this correspondence's soft illustration. The ending just reminds you that it was in reality just a "romance", taking part in a harsh environment. But fortunately the daily moments of Anaele's in Palestine are far better than her personal "romance".

[kaitlphere · Rating 3 out of 5]

An insightful read about what communities are like on the border between Israel and Palestine. The story was presented in letters, so nothing was explored with much depth. The art matched the quick storytelling well.

[Sarah Hamatake · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t really get it. There is almost enough information in here to be useful, but that all seemed to be fabricated for the reader and not natural letter writing like the authors suggest. I loved the artwork, but the flow just came across as faked to make an unclear point.

To be clear, I think all the experiences were real, but the letters did not seem to be.

[The Wintermute System · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lady brags about spending time with a man who wants me and all my people dead and distorts history to make Jews look bad. And the art is shitty.

[Aneesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

My family went on a road trip without me. I took the opportunity to read graphic memoirs about war-torn regions, during the day. I liked this book.

[Keen Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars!

“It’s one of the most ridiculous places in the world.”
“Yes it’s hard to imagine anything more absurd.”

This controversial and divisive part of the world has been quite the inspiration for many graphic artists now, Joe Sacco, Sarah Glidden and Guy Delisle are just some of them, and these Belgian sisters have decided to have a go and have managed to find an interesting and worthwhile angle to come at it from.

Again we see the many appalling ways in which the Israelis are allowed to treat Palestinians. Scenarios which look more like something from a far-fetched sci-fi movie to most of us are a miserable day to day existence for most Palestinians and not only does the west sit back and do nothing to meaningfully challenge it, but they continue to play their huge part in supporting it.

Through the correspondence from the sisters we get an authentic and fairly thorough insight into what the Palestinians have to endure every single day. The art work is nothing to write home about, but there is a warmth and conviction about the writing that makes this a distinctive enough piece of work.

[Rohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epistolary graphic novel. A woman travels to Palestine for 9 months and immerses herself in the history, abuse, violence of the West Bank. She visits detention camps, prisons, mosques, temples, and schools. She celebrates Ramzan, teaches English to children, develops feelings for a Palestinian man, stares down the barrel of an Israeli soldier, smokes hookah, crosses scores of military checkpoints and learns basic Arabic. She witnesses the grandeur and wealth of Tel Aviv and is struck by how different it is from the repression and military occupation of Palestine.

Interspersed with these recollections are postcards from her elder sister living in Belgium. The serene and idyllic life led by her sister (parks, canals, mountain hikes, beer, chocolate, baby showers) is in stark contrast to the unease and suffering she witnesses on a near-daily basis.

The artwork is childlike with strong, flowing strokes. I found it interesting how the author eschews shading in the final segment, when she returns to Belgium.

I learned so much about the Middle East just by looking up things the author casually mentions in her letters to her sister.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down."

What I've learned from Robert Frost, World War Z, and Green Almonds: walls are good when fending off zombies; not so much in other circumstances, when the human tendency to dehumanize everyone and everything that isn't our own tribe is made all the easier when we don't even have to look at them anymore.

[Nalini Srivastava · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall Verdict : Go for it.
It's an amazing travelogue between two sisters. I found the concept really interesting. Its a must read. It leaves one sentient about Palestine in a remarkable way. There are some issues in places, I found that both sisters were just talking about what's going on their ends and were dismissive about the life another person is living. Delphine, for instance, did not follow back on a lot of things. Even Anaele did not ask about people she had left behind while she continued her life in Palestine. I felt some broken links are their and somethings are omitted to keep the focus on what's going on in Palestine. Overall, it is great. The moment I started reading it I could not put it down.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

BD intéressante qui nous présente un échange de lettres entre deux Belges, une vit est restée en Belgique et l'autre est partie 10 mois en Palestine. A travers les lettres de Anaëlle, on découvre la réalité palestinienne et israélienne. Ces lettres, Delphine les a mises en images pour tenter de s'approprier ce que vivait sa sœur. Par exemple, le témoignage d'un habitant d'une ville palestinienne, qui a vécu un couvre-feu de 40 jours (interdiction de sortir ou d'être vu à la fenêtre), et qui à la fin du couvre-feu, a découvert que sa ville avait été entièrement entourée par le mur. Bref, des bribes de témoignages qui rendent compte de la dure réalité palestinienne.

[Julianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A travelogue told thru letters between sisters. Charming illustrations and sweet vignettes.

And the most beautiful way to say hello:

“Sabah al-yassamin” — “I wish you a morning full of jasmine.”

[Halina Hetman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Нагадало Kabul Disco Vol. 1: How I Managed Not to be Abducted in Afghanistan: учасник марнотратної благодійної організації, яка переважно займається відмиванням грошей, приїздить в зону конфлікта, живе там якийсь час та пише (чи малює) про це мемуари. Такі книжки завжди дуже скучні, бо ти очікуєш якихось інсайтів про країну перебування, культурних відкриттів, хоч чогось про, власне, подорожі та нові враження, але натомість ці західноєвропейські "волонтери" настільки зациклені на собі, що могли б написати ту ж саму книжку й без виїзду закордон.
Тут ми маємо ситуацію, що дещо вирізняється: книжку намалювала навіть не сама дівчина, що "їздила вчити палестинських дітей англійської", а її сестра, з якою вони переписувалися під час поїздки. При чому зробила це не дуже вдало з точки зору графіки: виглядає недолуго й недороблено, і при цьому недостатньо оригінально, щоб можна було списати це на власний стиль.
Щодо смислового наповнення, тут все на місці. Закоханість в сумного та екзотичного для європейки палестинського мужика, розбите серце (хто б подумав!), доволі однобоке висвітлення історії землі, на якій вона перебуває. Багато персонажів, які просто згадуються один раз і потім ніколи не з'являються. Майже нічого про, власне, роботу з дітьми, іноді - про відвідування знаменитих туристичних місць.
Висновки авторки з поїздки це приблизно: "тюрми це погано, протести це страшно, і я навіть трошки поплакала, бо втомилася чути стільки сумних історій". Вона повертається в Бельгію і, мабуть, продовжує жити своє звичне життя, листуючись із членом ХАМАСу по імейлу (він не міг собі дозволити потиснути жінці руку, але міг попросити її електронну пошту для переписки... ну ок).

[Melodie Pearse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel is about a European girl who travels to Palestine and shares her experiences through letters to her sister. I studied in Jerusalem and could identify with many of the emotions she described throughout the book. Although I feel like the book is very one sided, this makes sense because it consists of a perspective that stems from relations with Palestinians and time spent in the country. I love how she portrays Palestinian hospitality, the inescapable political conversations, and the weight that follows someone during his/her time spent in Palestine. This graphic novel does a great job of taking the reader through all of the feelings that arise while living in the environment. I highly recommend this book!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was charmed from the start with this epistolary graphic novel of two Belgian sisters’ correspondence while one takes a tense and ever-saddening trip to Palestine. Invites comparison to Guy Delisle’ Jerusalem book from 2011, which similarly describes the difficulties faced by the Palestinian people living in, near, or with those just trying to tour Israel and their own country. Anaele, the narrator, volunteered in a refugee youth organizations/NGO, thus her experiences involved riskier behavior than Delisle. Her feelings of helplessness in the face of what she saw as an oppressive and uncaring Israeli presence turned the trip from one of hope and excitement into a deepening morass, especially when compared to her sister’s relatively carefree life in Belgium depicted in frilly postcards. The comic featured unique pencil renderings which were very original and quite artistic.

[Alicia Zambrano Braun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deux sœurs Belges, une qui vit à Liège et l'autre qui part travailler en Palestine pendant 10 mois.

Celle qui est à Liège dessine les récits et rencontres que sa sœur lui raconte.

C'est une chouette façon de découvrir son expérience en Palestine mais c'est très déprimant, parce que cette situation qui ne s'améliore pas du tout.. 😞

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this graphic memoir, two young sisters exchange letters as one works with a Palestinian group in Israel and the other remains in Belgium, providing an inside take on the current situation with a distinct point of view.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

há uns dias rodei a roleta para o #leraestantenuminstante e calhou a categoria «medo do desconhecido», que implica ler um autor novo. lembrei-me automaticamente deste livro! foi uma sensação tão estranha, não pensei duas vezes.
em 2023 li o «Propaganda», um diário de viagem da joana estrela, e na altura não fiquei fã. fui buscá-lo à estante e só o pousei quando cheguei ao fim. estava um pouco receosa, confesso. mas não posso dizer o mesmo sobre este.

estamos a assistir a um genocídio e nada é feito para o combater. sinto-me completamente impotente ao ver os governos da sociedade ocidental de braços cruzados a olhar para o chão. O que está a acontecer na palestina não é novidade para ninguém. desde 1948 que israel se está a ocupar do território palestiniano e a infligir violência sobre o seu povo. para mim já passámos qualquer barreira da desumanização. que mundo é este em que milhares e milhares de pessoas são mortas e olhamos para o lado? que mundo é este em que deixamos que mais de 10000 crianças morram? que mundo é este em que deixamos um povo à sua sorte? assusta-me vivermos numa era com tanto acesso à informação e simultaneamente vivermos com tamanha indiferença. por vezes paro e debato-me sobre como posso continuar a viver a minha vida normalmente. não posso.

com umas ilustrações que me fazem lembrar uma série da minha infância, 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦 𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘭𝘢, acompanhamos a experiência de voluntariado de anäele, na palestina. senti que pouco ficámos a saber sobre a sua função e o voluntariado em si, mas foi uma leitura tão pertinente e atual. através de cartas que trocou com a sua irmã delphine percebemos por onde andou, com quem se relacionou e com o que os palestinianos já se debatiam em 2008.
espero que um dia este livro seja editado cá em portugal. comprei-o somente pelo título e sinopse e que boa surpresa! genuinamente não compreendo as classificações no goodreads 🫣

[Katrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of the dialogue felt to me like it was translated. It had a choppy feel to it, and some of the phrases didn't seem clear in English.

[Reggie_Love · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beauty of graphic memoirs is their sincerity. While reading them, you feel more than just the words. While Green Almonds is technically a graphic novel and memoir, it is the telling of a broken political city from the view of an outsider. So unlike the memoirs where you feel a part of the story, this graphic novel makes everyone an outsider. This takes away from not only the experience reading, but the message they are trying to tell and education they are trying to share.

[Comics Alternative · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://comicsalternative.com/euro-com...