Sunday 13 October 2013

Mornings in Jenin

My opinion of this book is tainted by how little I enjoyed reading it. And that's not to say it was a bad book; I just didn't enjoy it. So much sorrow crammed into a lifetime, and crammed into a novel, does not for a pleasant Sunday read make.

Stylistically, it's overwritten. The plot rambles in places. It will not make you feel good about yourself. But none of that really matters.

When you mention Israel and Palestine to most people, their faces take on a slight panic as they think of some thing to say, and usually only manage something like "what a mess". The mess is comfortable. The mess means that maybe no one is right, and the whole thing is just a jumble of silly things. The mess makes it easy to ignore. "Busy, busy" if you're a Bokononist.

The horrible thing Mornings in Jenin does is make it very simple. 

A family live in a village. Then some people come, shoot them, take their village, and claim to still have the moral high ground. It's so simple it's hard to ignore.

Monings in Jenin taught me something I'd rather never have learned.

Sometimes it's very wrong to say that no one is right.