At work waiting for my coworkers to be done so we can go grab a beer, but here drinking a hot toddy with homemade apple liquor and finishing Dancing Arabs in the meantime. 😍😍
pickThis one is hard to describe. Primarily, it is a coming of age story of a Palestinian kid who goes to a Jewish school & learns to hate who he is & where he is from. His MC reminds me a lot of some of Sherman Alexie's characters, in the honest & jaded way that the MC viewed & judged himself, his family & his people. Not a very likable MC but the really good passages made up for a lot of it & the ending managed to pull the disparate parts together.
"She hides her eyes now behind her white scarf and says it isn't death that makes her cry. Not at all. She's tired already, and she doesn't want to be a burden to Mother and Father anymore. She says the only reason she's crying is that she used to think she'd be buried in her own land."
??????
Damn this book is good. Powerfully captures the struggle of trying not to give up when you live somewhere in constant conflict and your land is being taken away from you. It's obviously so much more complex than that but it's difficult to articulate. This passage though - the utter hopelessness and anger at his father for refusing to give up his ideals and his belief that change can still happen.
Taking a break from #bookisholympics for #bookmail 🤓 I have had this author on my TBR for years after reading an incredible article/interview between him and another author who is a good friend of his. After searching the shelves of used bookstores fruitlessly, I gave in and ordered it online. Can't wait to dig into this one!
Dancing Arabs | 
