This is the true story of a remarkable young boy, Ramzi, who was born in a Palestinian refugee camp, and spent his childhood under horrendous circumstances caused primarily by Israeli occupation. Ramzi eventually overcomes the great adversities thrown his way and finds refuge in music. He obtains a scholarship to study music in France, he goes on to become a viola player, and later develops a vision for sharing his wonderful musical experience with other children in Palestinian refugee camps. Ramzi opens a music school, Al Kamanjati, where teachers come from all over the world, and volunteer their time to teach the children of the camps. Eventually the school becomes a place where music is taught and played, where musical instruments are made, and where an entire generation of Palestinian youth gets to experience happy moments and acquire a refuge from the anxieties of occupation. These children are known as the “children of the stone”, because they express their anger against the occupation by throwing stones at the occupying army.
Sandy Tolan is a great storyteller and an even greater journalist. Ramzi’s story reads like a novel, and is reminiscent of Oliver Twist, except it is a real story, and Ramzi is a real person. Additionally, the political events of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are chronicled in great detail with excellent supporting material and references, in what now constitutes excellent journalism, and will in the future be invaluable historical accounting of some of the most important events of the 20th and 21st century, events that are tightly connected to all the wars taking place in the Middle-East and that have involved all the great powers.
No sooner did I finish the book that I started re-reading it from the beginning, taking notes, and identifying themes I hope will be elaborated in the future, or people whose lives I would like to follow. I want to know what happens to Ala’, the young lady on the book’s cover who, as a four year old, watched with suspicion the music school get erected on what was then her playground, but went on to become its star student: will Ala’ continue with her music in spite of the societal pressures on Muslim women? Can such a grass roots effort as Al Kamanjati that is focused on the poorest of the poor, and refuses to bow to the political pressures of the West, be sustained? Will Maestro Barenboim’s West Eastern Divan orchestra continue to exist in spite of its deceptive veneer of “Arab-Israeli normalization” and will it succeed in attracting actual Palestinians? Will the BDS movement continue to grow and will it succeed in stopping the sweeping colonization of the Palestinian territories? I very much hope there will be a sequel to this great book, “inshallah”.
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Highly repetitive and biased.
The book is highly repetitive. I got the point...several times over: Palestinians good, Israelis bad. It had a strong start but half-way through the author's story flow becomes fractured. I bought this book thinking that the story was about how children in disadvantaged backgrounds in Palestinian towns and refugee camps combat the odds to learn to play music on a professional level. The writing is just disjointed. We are introduced early on to two sisters who learn to play music. On page 247 of a 315 page book, one sister's path in music education ends abruptly after she was married off to prevent her from studying music in France. You would think that is not the end of it but sure enough, it was. (Ramzi is the organizer of the local music school and had the unique opportunity to study in France when he was younger). That page turned my positive view to a deeply negative view of the book. In the end, it read like a pamphlet directed more against Israel than Palestinian children using music to get out of the terrible situation the Israeli government put them in.
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J.Ruskin
It is written eloquently and with painful honesty; the heroism of the "children of the ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 25, 2015