Customer Reviews

Wild Thorns (Interlink World Fiction)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The events of this book take place in the Israeli occupied West Bank in the early 1970's, about 5 years after the Six Day War of 1967. Usama, a young Palestinian returns to his homeland after few years of working abroad. The return story includes tales of humiliation at the border crossing. Usama is shocked by the changes around him, he came back to fight the occupation and struggles with the idea that Adil, his cousin and best friend has actually given up the family farm and is working as a laborer in Israel proper, "inside". The reality of his people under the occupation, eating "their" bread, working in "their" factories and learning "their" words was incomprehensible to him.

The way Sahar Khalifeh presented the changes in the Palestinian society during the first few years of the occupation was very illuminating and original. Here we see a highly polarized society, the Palestinians working abroad in the oil states, the Palestinians working "inside", the "intellectuals", the upper and middle classes, of whom, some "collaborated" and others refused to. Tremendous tensions described in a very real and human way, with little attempt to support one group of Palestinians over another.

Adil, is by far the most sympathetic character in the novel. He works tirelessly to support his family; he does however resent his father, and gets drunk to wash it all away. A classic war of the classes, the father fights by talking to western media, would never approve of his son working "inside" yet he does not approve of Usama or his youngest son breaking the laws of the Israeli occupation. Adil, the son, works diligently to improve the condition of fellow laborers and fights for their rights within the Israeli law.

Sahar Khalifeh does a wonderful job describing in very vivid language the everyday life of a neighborhood. Scenes from the markets, cafes, street vendors, hustle bustle and fear. Scenes of small dwellings bursting at the seams and then add a curfew on top of that. There are also the scenes of the polarization disappearing and the whole neighborhood shouting slogans in unison. There is also Usama's mother, an endearing old woman who has her own dreams for her son; dreams that have nothing to do with occupation or politics.

We are treated to 2 accounts of experience in an Israeli jail. Basil, Adil's younger brother is welcomed by the members of the resistance and accepted into their ranks. A friend of Adil, who also ended up in prison, was also eventually welcome. His cell was very different though. Ruled by another Adil, a socialist, who administered justice and education but lacked in sympathy, warmth and understanding; not like the real Adil.

The real Adil is portrayed simply as a good human being, who helped fellow Palestinians in real and tangible ways. Adil was selfless, generous, modest and genuinely caring, that was his only agenda. But at times, we think Adel is the way he is, out of hopelessness, he knows Palestine is lost, no longer worth fighting for, but he can make the lives of those around him less unbearable. And he gets drunk to wash it all away. I am not sure if that is the Adil that Sahar Khalifeh set out to create, but he certainly comes across like that.

While this clearly is a partisan, pro Palestinian and anti occupation novel, it is not a propaganda piece; and it is certainly worthy of reading and savoring. Sahar Khalifeh signals hope for peace, reconciliation, and coexistence in the novel. Several reference to the class struggle overtaking the racial divide and even more promising tales of humans reaching out across the divide. There is the tale of the two Israeli soldiers weeping as they see a five year old boy reunite with his father for the first time ever and there is Adil lifting up the young Israeli girl who had just witnessed the stabbing of her father, an army officer.

Wild Thorns is well worth reading. The translation comes across well. It does not sound stale like many translations of Arabic literature can be.

I have always considered myself a dedicated sympathiser to the Palestinian cause, I have always had my doubts as to how to categorise in my mind those Palestinians referred to as "Arab Israelis" and those who accept to work 'inside'. With this book I have learned of my total ignorance on the subject of occupation, and Ms. Khalifeh has taught me a valuable lesson: it is impossible to draw this conflict in black and white. The shades of grey in this novel render the reality from within all the more tragic. Never before have i empathised so with this most unbelievable of injustices, one of the heaviest burdens to be placed squarely on the conscience of all nations and most of their citizens. I am sure that anyone who reads this book will be robbed of his or her ability to view the current developments with cold indifference.

Guess what? Palestinians are people, too. If that sentence makes you angry, then you probably won't want to read this book -- but if you're willing to read with an open mind, you may come away from the book with an enriched understanding of "the other side." On the other hand, even if you already are sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians, but from the remote perspective of news reports, then this book will make it all more real to you.

The tale is already twenty-six years old, set just a few years into the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Written by a Palestinian, about Palestinians, it is sympathetic to them, but it's not a propaganda piece. We get only rare glimpses of Israelis in this book, but when they do appear, they are shown in the same humane light that shines on the main characters. When a five year old Syrian boy meets his imprisoned father for the first time, the Israeli guards turn away with tears in their eyes. This is not the only scene in which someone on one side of the conflict responds compassionately to the suffering of someone on the other side.

Parents and grandparents want their boys and young men to study and become professionals with good incomes, and they hope for their daughters to marry successful daughters. Men struggle to feed their families and to negotiate a little self respect in spite of the compromises they find themselves making. Other men (and boys) alternate between pride, fear, and shame as they try to respond to the humiliations and oppression of their people with costly courage.

One of the great functions of literature is to let the reader walk in another's shoes. That is what I had in mind when I chose to read this book. I have not been disappointed.

First and foremost, I would like to add that as a Palestinian who feels that the Palestinian-Israeli crisis is not receiving as much attention as it should, it is wonderful to see that a writer who is as talented as Sahar Khalifeh has decided to bring this situation to the forefront.

In "Wild Thorns" Sahar Khalifeh takes the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and offers her readers a deeper side to the miserable situation that we only hear about in two-minute segments on CNN. By describing different aspects of the conflict such as resentment between Palestinians who live in the Occupied Territories and those who've left the country and gone elsewhere, Khalifeh shows that the situation is NOT just between Arabs and Jews. Khalifeh also describes the difficult situation that exists when a young Palestinian woman falls in love with a man that her father does not approve of.

This novel delves into the complicated situation that exists in the war-torn Middle East by portraying REAL people with REAL problems and REAL lives. I recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn more about the terrible Palestinian-Israeli conflict from a wonderful writer who has actually experienced life under occupation.

I am very grateful to a friend in your Customer Service Department for recommending this book to me. It is an authentic account of life in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, ringing true as only someone who had been there can make it. This siutation, between Palestinians and Israelis remains a powder keg today, and doubtless much of the Western world is uninformed about it, except for what the newspapers tell them. The book illustrates most vividly how hate, war, violence, and ignorance are destroying everyone, regardless of the side they take. There are not just two sides here; the author presents the situation in all its complexities and really makes the reader think. Most people in the book are just trying to survive and are not being allowed to. This has happened again and again throughout history, but the novel is a highly vivid and relevant description of how continuing intolerance will result in destruction for everyone. It is particularly relevant for U.S. readers, due to recent terrorist acts in this country (such as the World Trade Center Bombing). One of the main characters is a Palestinian terrorist. No one can afford not to try to understand where he is coming from. The author has done an outstanding job and the book should be more publicized.

I was assigned to read this book for a World Literature class in college and I did not finish it then. The setting is in the disputed territory that is occupied by Israel, but inhabited by Arabs. The time period is late 1970s to early '80s. The characters are Arabs, struggling to live under occupation. Some take jobs inside Israel and are told they betray their nationality. Some join the guerrilla resistance and are jailed, then made to feel ashamed for using violence and for making things more difficult for their families. The arguments presented about how one "should" deal with relations between the warring races and what one has to do to survive are explored as each character makes a decision, and follows a certain path. The story is violent, and sometimes difficult to understand if you are someone unfamiliar with the theme. It is important, according to my World Lit professor, to expose ourselves to cultures and themes that we are not familiar with in order to learn of our world.

Even for those persons with strong opinions about the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, or with those like me who truly do not know what comes first if the egg or the chicken, this book will open their eyes to the real nature of every conflict. It shows with amazing beauty how life is more powerful than death. How every time a person picks up an arm to impose its ideas, he is merely a tool for the dispensers of stupidity.

I do agree completely with the other reviewers who have stated that this book can not be approached believing that is merely propaganda against Israel. It simply shows that no matter the reason, violence only creates suffering for of those who are involved in the conflict.

My cousin kills a man and I carry off his daughter. Tragedy or farce?
-Wild Thorns

This novel is part of something called the Emerging Voices Series and, from what I could find online,
although the book is now over twenty-five years old and Sahar Khalifeh is in her fifties, she is indeed
considered one of the important voices in Middle Eastern literature. The action of Wild Thorns takes
place just a few years after Israel occupied the West Bank, which is where Khalifeh lived when she
wrote it. The main character in the book is Usama, a young Palestinian returning to the territories
after being fired from his job in the oil states. Though his mother has high hopes that he will marry a
lovely cousin, Usama has actually returned to his homeland on a mission, to blow up the buses which
carry Palestinian day laborers to their jobs in Israel.

Usama is shocked by the changes he finds on his return, the indignities that people put up with,
starting with the difficulty getting through the check points on the way into the territories, having to
submit to searches and interrogations. But he is most disturbed by how economically dependent
Palestinians have become on Israel, both for jobs and for consumer goods. He sees this as a kind of
collaboration, which implicates everyone in the occupation.

Meanwhile, the hero of the book is really Adil, another young Palestinian, Usama's cousin, who has
stayed at home, works at one of the well paying Israeli jobs in order to take care of his extended
family, and wants no part of the coming violence. But, inevitably, he too gets caught up in the sweep
of events. In the first instance, when he just happens to be on the scene when an Israeli soldier is
attacked and stabbed, Adil carries the soldier's young daughter to safety. But in the end, when Usama
and his cronies attack the very bus convoy that Adil is riding in, he ends up grabbing a gun himself.

Though Ms Khalifeh is obviously sympathetic to the plight of her people, the novel is largely
non-polemical. Adil seems to be as much a victim of Usama's mindless terrorism as is the Israeli
soldier. Yet, Adil's final decision to take up arms makes a certain awful sense too. Even someone as
generally hostile to the Palestinian cause as I am can understand how even the most decent and
reluctant of men would choose to fight with his own people when push came to shove. But, of course,
this is the evil logic of terror, to make everyone take sides, to turn even the peace loving into killers.
It is this that makes the events of the novel as tragic as they are inexorable.

Wild Thorns portrays what life was like for Palestinians after the initial occupation of the West Bank. There have been many books written on the historical, financial, and sociological information of the occupation, but this book encompasses them all through a fictional story of two characters, Usama and Adil.
Usama returns from working in a gulf country and immediately becomes enraged by the apathy that his fellow Palestinians have about the occupation. He sees apathy and lack of action in almost everyone he comes across. His idealistic beliefs and lack of understanding for Adil's situation causes him to blow up the busses that transport the Palestinian workers into Israel.
Adil, Usama's cousin, feels that his fight starts and ends in his home. He feels that his greatest need is not to change the political situation between Israel and Palestine, but to provide food and financial security for his family. He repeatedly argues with Usama on this point, and neither of them are able to come to grips with one another's views.
Wild Thorns may not be just a novel, but a political treatise that vividly describes the political dynamic between Hamas and Fatah within Palestine. Usama may be the literary representation of the Hamas party and the political beliefs that they hold. His belief that the solution to the political problem is through violence and direct uprisings against the Israelis. He finds no compromise with the Israelis. Adil could be interpreted as representing the Fatah party. He feels that there must be cooperation with Israel in order to find a solution. He realizes the dependency that his people now have upon the Israeli government.
Both Usama and Adil provide tension to the problem of how to survive living under the occupation. Without giving away the ending, the book comes full circle and Sahar Khalifeh teaches her readers that neither violence nor apathy will solve the conflict, but she does not offer any alternative solutions.

Wild Thorns is the story of Usama and his return to occupied Palestine. After two years in exile, with nothing much to report, he arrives with a mission to blow up a bus meant to transport working Palestinians to their jobs in Israel. While on the surface this reads like a ripped-from-the-western-headlines caricature of the Palestinian archetype, the story that follows continually complicates both our protagonist's mission and his/our understanding of the situation at hand. The same way countless reductive analyses of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict tend to depict it as a war between a civil, democratic state and bloodthirsty horde of suicide bombers, Usama's engagement with the Israeli occupation is informed by an outsider's narrow perspective. Predicting the info sections of modern social networking avenues like Facebook, Usama drapes himself in humanistic revolutionary signifiers like Che Guevara and Pablo Neruda. In him is an academic remove and ideological contextualization that works at odds with the ground situation, where family and friends, stricken by a poverty exacerbated by occupied oppression, struggle to make ends meet without a national infrastructure that would ease their efforts to do so. His presumptive heroism, entitled entanglement and general sense of security is perpetually undermined by the more wearily grounded voices he encounters.
This is not to say that the text softens any critique of the occupation. The routine checkpoint and military abuse, the false choices offered between low-paying jobs without benefits and abject poverty, and the systemic dehumanization of Arabs by Israelis are all accounted for. What we get alongside that is a humane, multi-faceted portrait of Palestinian voices. They are shown as having philosophical breadth, deep-seated emotional compassion and yes, as much frailty as anyone under trauma-inducing systemic violence would have, but courage and determination as well. Even Israelis, exploited by the capitalist power structure within the factories that Palestinians vie for scraps without medical benefits, are seen as victims of hierarchical exploitation. This is because Khalifeh, as agent of literature as much as she is of provocation, understands that the mirror that fiction can hold to reality can bypass the strategic essentialism of activism (the limits of which Usama represents) and flesh out the grey areas of the human condition. A very important must-read.