This book was such an eye-opener. A wonderful read by Dina Matar who went around collecting people's stories of their experiences before and during the war in Palestine. The stories begin as far back as the 1930's and end in present time.
It is written in chronological order, with every chapter consisting of - on average - 7 personal stories, with Dina providing an introduction and a bit of history before the telling of these stories. She writes that although these stories were translated from Arabic, she attempted to stay true to the storytelling with very minor edits made.
Reading those stories in chronological order from different people's viewpoints was very heartbreaking from me. I have never had the good fortune of visiting my homeland - Palestine. Born in 88, all I know is what I see on TV and read in books. I have never seen Palestine pre-1948, and it was beautiful to hear some of these stories from people who lived these times.
These are definitely the kind of stories we need to remind us of what used to be and what is. The stories we need to learn in order to pass them on to future generations. Great read, and highly recommended.
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