Customer Reviews

Fast Times in Palestine

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a deeply personal story about a decent and intelligent, if initially uninformed and sheltered, American who gets swept off her feet by the beauty and wonder of Palestine and the people who live there. Her love for the people and the place shine on every page. And when you love someone, it hurts to see them bullied, humiliated and marginalized. It hurts to see a land you love carved into unnatural pieces by a concrete wall or lives you treasure ripped apart by machine gun fire or a suicide bomber. This book isn't about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; it's an intense, first person narrative about the beauty and danger of life in Palestine.

But what I think most readers will come away with is the belief that underneath the ugliness of the occupation and the intifada there is something that is beautiful and absolutely worth protecting. And in the small acts where Israelis and Palestinians work together, the author shows you a future that we must insist upon: where Palestinians and Israelis have equal measures of peace, freedom, political power, and access to resources. If the world fails to make this a reality, this book shows you just how very much we all have to lose.

Before I read this book, I didn't have a stance on the conflict because I didn't know enough. My family is Jewish and very pro-Israel, but I am agnostic and I try not to form opinions without facts, so I have always taken everything they say with a grain of salt. "The Palestinians don't want a state. They don't want peace. They won't be happy until every Jew on the face of the Earth is dead." This is what I grew up with.

But this book opened my eyes to a world I never knew existed: the world of occupied Palestine. I consider myself very aware politically, so it's hard to believe the truth has eluded me for so many years. Never underestimate the power of the media, I guess. I get my information from a decent variety of sources, but when all those sources are deliberately hiding so much information, how is a person supposed to know any better? The media portrays Palestine as the aggressor in the conflict, and speaks of the government as if it represents the feelings of the general population.

What I really appreciate about this book is not just that the author tells the other side of the story, but that she makes a point of separating the government and the people. It is too easy to generalize, and I could see a person reading this book and turning their hatred toward Israel as a whole if the author had not taken such extreme care to depict every person she encountered as a human being. Yes, Israel is the oppressor and Palestine is the oppressed, but to leave it at that is black-and-white thinking. Citizens of Israel aren't anymore aware of the treatment of Palestinians than American citizens are of the treatment of Iraqis. I especially appreciated this author's reference to Dr. Philip Zimbardo's prison experiment, and the "power of the situation." Even the soldiers committing atrocities at checkpoints are real people. It is only through the dehumanization of people that mass acts of evil are possible.

I bought this book with the hope of learning about Palestinian culture and writing a good paper for school, and what I got out of it was so much more. I believe it should be required reading in schools, and I'm encouraging everyone I know to read it.

I mentioned this book to a friend of mine, and their response was they would give it a read, "to see how balanced it was." I don't know about balanced; the author was living in Palestine. Fair, however, it is. It is what she experienced, the good, the bad, the ugly. She walked in with the same ideas most Westerners have, but was willing to learn and realize that much of what gets reported is at best an exaggeration and at worst blatantly false. This book simply reports the truth as she experienced it, with reports and articles and citations from sources in Israel and from around the world to back up her claims.

She doesn't hate Israel or Jews or Palestine or Muslims, but she sure didn't like being hit in the leg with a grenade at a peaceful protest or almost getting shot by a 19-year-old with a machine gun because she was in a car at night with Arabs. Nor did she like being afraid of suicide bombers at cafes in Israel or how the corrupt Palestinian government cared about nothing besides cronyism and lining their own pockets or how the political fragmentation creates problem upon problem for the peace process.

It's not about talking points or winning points for either side. It's about the people she met and the experiences she had, the good in all people and what it all means. The Palestinians get painted as religious nut jobs in the media over here, nothing but Hamas blowing people up with suicide bombers and home-made rockets, but that's like the rest of the world only seeing Americans as belonging to the Westborough Baptist Church.

I've been hearing stories about Palestine for years, and this book still touched a deep nerve. I thought I had grown a little numb, blase, sure, sure, there's an occupation. People are dying all over the world, that sucks. But this puts a human face on a really terrible situation that is perpetuated by a few crazies in power but severely and negatively affects millions in both nations. Unfortunately, only one nation ever gets its story told. This gives a voice to the other side of the occupation, the voice that until now has had a strangle hold over its mouth and a master ventriloquist in control.

An informative, yet fun to read book on the most controversial conflict of our times.

The book captures the author's journey in the Palestinian territories and successfully presents the life under occupation. You will find yourself in an emotional roller-coaster as you witness classical music concerts, olive harvests, humble but delicious dinners, Palestinian beer, suicide bombings, checkpoints, terrorist groups, state terror and crimes against humanity.

However I can say that the overall taste left after reading the book is like seeing the brightest stars of hope in the darkest night of fear. I think it's a must read for any American taxpayer who is willing to see the conflict beyond media manipulation, above political interests, and from a purely humanitarian viewpoint.

Olson has a very important story to tell, and she does so from the very unique "accidental tourist" position. It is a very well written piece that documents (mostly) Palestinian daily life through her personal experiences, as well as explaining some past events.

I should mention that I am an Israeli. Reading this book wasn't always easy for me and I can't say I always agreed with what Olson had to say. Nevertheless, I think she does an important job by holding a mirror to our face and telling us what the occupation means for the Palestinians. And by doing so she actually helps both sides to get a better understanding of the other.

No doubt some so-called "pro Israel" folks will scream against this book. After all it is critical of actions and policies Israel made over the years. Unfortunately those actions were made possible because "friends" provided Israel with the monetary and political support to implement them. True friends can also tell you when you're doing wrong, and stop you from causing disasters to yourself and others.

I love this book. Though at times the I had to put it down and take a break from the intense frustrations some of the stories made me feel. Sadly this story presents a rare perspective available to the American community. This was one of the best books I have read about Palestine. Mostly because it presented lots of information but didn't read like a text book. The personal stories added to understanding the human side of this struggle.

It is also refreshing to have the perspective of someone who really had very few pre-conceived expectations. I admire Ms. Olson's willingness to learn about another countries struggles and to take them on as her own. What an admirable choice she made. It took some serious bravery and maybe also a bit of good luck to take this road less traveled.

This book is a great intro for anyone new to the Palestinian struggle, especially Americans with our generally short attention spans and desire to understand the "human story" behind fighting. I recommend this for anyone wanting to know more but not wanting to wade through long lists of facts and figures that are more common to this topic.

I am deeply moved by Ms. Olson's choices, efforts and her portrayal of this struggle.

As one who was raised deep in the cult of Jewish Zionism in America, and having evolved to where I am today, as a Jewish anti-Zionist and activist for Palestine, the subject matter is extremely important to me. I own a large library on the subject, and have read extensively, all aspects of the situation, and from both sides.

From that perspective I can say that what this author has done is unique and very significant. As a young American woman doing some traveling after finishing school, she is someone that we can all relate to. And as she enters into Palestinian society, she presents the people she encounters in such a way that we can relate to them as well. In doing so, she makes lives that are affected by occupation and conflict real to the reader, and personal. In this book she has made the Zionist/Palestine conflict ACCESSIBLE in a way that, at least for me, nobody else has done before.

This is a very important book. Highly recommended. A must-read!

Fast Times in Palestine tells the story of a young woman from Oklahoma, recently graduated from Stanford with a degree in physics with a post-graduate stint in bartending while she tries to figure out what to do with her life, who then decides, on a lark, to travel to the Middle East and winds up spending a few years learning Arabic and living in Palestine. But the outline of her story doesn't begin to suggest how marvelous her book is - how engrossing, how lively and informative and, ultimately, so moving.

Pamela Olson brings to life for the reader what living in Palestine, especially in Ramallah, was like during the first decade of the 21st century and does so in such riveting and compelling prose that you sorrow with her, exult with her, weep with her, party with her, and often fear with and for her as she continues to confront dangerous and sometimes life-threatening situations in the West Bank and Gaza. Most of all, she brings Palestinians vividly to the fore and make us care about them all.

Eventually and subtly, however, you notice something else as Olson begins to pepper the reader with illuminating coverage of the history of the so-called "Israeli-Palestinian conflict," as well as the daily events (and carnage) she covered as a journalist while she was were there, supplemented with many footnotes for the reader who wants to dig deeper.

Part adventure story, part searing reportage, part love story (yes, that, too), this wholly absorbing book written with infectious humor, dazzling verve, keen insight, and deep passion, is one that I read with unflagging interest. If you want to know about what everyday life is like for the Palestinian people, go to Palestine; if you can't, read this book.

Reading Fast Times in Palenstine has been the most accessible and enjoyable way I've yet found to understand the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Ms Olson makes it clear how tempting it is to generalize -- to pick a side in the conflict, to cast blame, to burn with hatred. Yet she relentlessly resists generalizations. She instead consistently personalizes the conflict.

Her masterful descriptions brought me there with her: one day you are picnicking among the ancient olive trees, the next crammed like cattle in a checkpoint queue, the next waiting for a text message from a detained friend.

I started the book as Ms Olson did -- as an American who knew nothing about the conflict, not intending to care much. Yet the stories of people Ms Olson met unfold, like her, I found myself wanting ever more to know more.

Beyond the conflict, it's a remarkable story of a woman who lives an improvised life. She starts the book with the quote from "Impro" by Keith Johnstone: "There are people who prefer to say 'Yes,' and there are people who prefer to say 'No.' Those who say 'Yes' are rewarded by the adventures they have, and those who say 'No' are rewarded by the safety they attain." Ms Olson gives us the best of both worlds: the adventures of a young woman who never fails to say "Yes, and...", all from the safety of our reading lamps.

Okay, I admit I settled into reading Fast Times in Palestine expecting a solid effort by an earnest young person about a subject I am interested in. To my delight, I found an absorbing and extremely enlightening book about the Occupied West Bank during the second intifada by a gifted and deeply insightful author. The book is the real life memoir of a very young woman who found herself in Palestine at a particularly volatile time knowing next to nothing about the political situation before she arrived. Thus Fast Times serves as absorbing history as well as a deeply intimate personal tale and very clear window into Palestinian life. Stanford physics grad Pamela Olson landed in Ramallah with no particular plans or a job, and ended up working as editor and journalist for the nascent online news site The Palestine Monitor, and then as assistant to Moustafa Barghouti in his bid for president of the PA. The journalistic job required her to maintain close contact with grueling and at times, traumatizing events on the ground. Pamela has an exquisite sense of place and describes the landscape in loving and tender and very apt detail. Living closely with olive farmers at one point, helping them to harvest their crops amid the harrowing and Kafka-like obstacles placed in their way by the construction of the Wall and the endless assaults by settlers and IDF, Pamela's voice as a witness to the occupation is truly compelling. Footnotes are woven so gracefully into her personal story that they simply contextualize the events she sees with her own eyes, and never seem awkward, intrusive, or dogmatic. The book maintains an astonishingly steady sense of her growing understanding of the conflict as she reflects on her experiences and reactions to everything she sees, hears, and feels. Pamela Olson is a deeply humane, eloquently intelligent being with a gift for telling a good story. Her story is about a situation that concerns us all- but it is her rare humanity that makes this book so absorbing. Having visited the Holy Land myself, I can say that she captures the essence of the land and the people beautifully and accurately.