19th century author Horatio Alger achieved fame for his novels, which followed a formula of poor boy working hard gains riches. Michelle Cohen Corasanti's The Almond Tree owes a debt of gratitude to Mr. Alger, but the story of Ichmad Hamid only parallels Alger's pattern at the highest level. The Book of Job may also have been an influence on this novel, as might the last 50 years of newspapers regarding the Middle East.
Ichmad Hamid's story begins with the loss of his sister, a side casualty to the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Hamid and his family continue to suffer losses, both in terms of family members and their personal circumstances, but a hope for the future continues to burn. In brief, the novel describes Hamid's quest to improve his personal lot and through that, his family's, while the continued Arab vs. Jew conflict around them inflicts further losses upon the clan. (Of course, as a mathematician, I was definitely a fan of our protagonist, who used his skills in that field to achieve his greatest triumphs or WERE they his greatest ones??) I don't believe I can comment on the various characters of this book without delving into the realm of spoiler alerts - as such, I will avoid the temptation to discuss them. I'd like to address who lives / who dies, who 'sees the light' / who 'descends deeper into hate and despair, etc. BUT I will hold that discourse until we gather up a group who have actually read the book.)
It is not possible to read or review this book without dealing with the ongoing issues between the Israelis and the Palestinians; it is their conflict upon which this book is based. Many years ago, I read in a book about the Mossad that the agents working closest with the Palestinians usually became sympathetic to their plight and conditions not so severely as to sabotage their jobs and careers, but sufficiently to see that there was another vantage point to be noted. This book demonstrates that it is not just intelligence agents who undertake such a conversion. And that nice people sometimes don't see another side to this conflict, either.
Ms. Corasanti freely admits in her (untitled) preface that her time in Israel planted the seeds for this book. It should not be considered a spoiler to state that one of the overriding messages of this book is that cooperation and understanding between two groups of people will resolve what shouted rhetoric will not. Further, that this cooperation will need to be undertaken at the individual level, because leadership of both sides have too much at stake to be conciliatory towards the other. However, I thought that the government / power is bad message was a bit heavy-handed throughout the book, and its black-and-white nature could and should have been nuanced with various shades of gray.
This book should be required reading for anyone wishing to understand the conflict in the Middle East, and I give it high recommendations. 4 stars, and I'd go 4 ½ except most rating systems don't allow fractions.
The Almond Tree, by Michelle Cohen Corasanti, is published by Garnet Publishing Limited of Reading, UK.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in return for the promise of an honest and prompt relative term (and publicly posted) review.
Ichmad Hamid's story begins with the loss of his sister, a side casualty to the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Hamid and his family continue to suffer losses, both in terms of family members and their personal circumstances, but a hope for the future continues to burn. In brief, the novel describes Hamid's quest to improve his personal lot and through that, his family's, while the continued Arab vs. Jew conflict around them inflicts further losses upon the clan. (Of course, as a mathematician, I was definitely a fan of our protagonist, who used his skills in that field to achieve his greatest triumphs or WERE they his greatest ones??) I don't believe I can comment on the various characters of this book without delving into the realm of spoiler alerts - as such, I will avoid the temptation to discuss them. I'd like to address who lives / who dies, who 'sees the light' / who 'descends deeper into hate and despair, etc. BUT I will hold that discourse until we gather up a group who have actually read the book.)
It is not possible to read or review this book without dealing with the ongoing issues between the Israelis and the Palestinians; it is their conflict upon which this book is based. Many years ago, I read in a book about the Mossad that the agents working closest with the Palestinians usually became sympathetic to their plight and conditions not so severely as to sabotage their jobs and careers, but sufficiently to see that there was another vantage point to be noted. This book demonstrates that it is not just intelligence agents who undertake such a conversion. And that nice people sometimes don't see another side to this conflict, either.
Ms. Corasanti freely admits in her (untitled) preface that her time in Israel planted the seeds for this book. It should not be considered a spoiler to state that one of the overriding messages of this book is that cooperation and understanding between two groups of people will resolve what shouted rhetoric will not. Further, that this cooperation will need to be undertaken at the individual level, because leadership of both sides have too much at stake to be conciliatory towards the other. However, I thought that the government / power is bad message was a bit heavy-handed throughout the book, and its black-and-white nature could and should have been nuanced with various shades of gray.
This book should be required reading for anyone wishing to understand the conflict in the Middle East, and I give it high recommendations. 4 stars, and I'd go 4 ½ except most rating systems don't allow fractions.
The Almond Tree, by Michelle Cohen Corasanti, is published by Garnet Publishing Limited of Reading, UK.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in return for the promise of an honest and prompt relative term (and publicly posted) review.
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