Born A Refugee --by Dixiane Hallaj

Fiction / Historical (modern)  

314 pages / 3961 KB

2013

5 Stars

"Born A Refugee" sat in my kindle for several months before I decided to read it. I had started it, when first purchased, and for some reason didn't get very far. I feared, I think, it would be a downer, and I just didn't want to read a downer. Was I ever wrong!

I needed a good book to read the other day, and opened this one. I finished it the next day. It was a 2-sit read. Had I not fallen asleep, it would have been a 1-sit read.

I know very little about modern Palestine and or Israel, and found this book to be very enlightening. Now, I know a little about Palestine and life in one of the refugee camps.

Mama, a widow, and her three youngest sons live in Kalandia Refugee camp. Her oldest boy is a businessman and lives in town, and her daughter is married and lives on the other side of the camp. The younger boys were born in the camp, and know no other life. The older children were very young when they were dispossessed and moved to the camp. The book easily could have become a lament, but it didn't. The boys are very believable boys.

There is sadness in the middle of the book, but it works. So did my eyes, and I recommend a hankie at the ready. By the end of the book, happiness once again prevails. There are a couple of loose ends I hoped were answered, but they weren't, but overall, I would give this book a 97 out of 100 possible points.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story, and would like to read a non-text book, yet educational and informative, story about the Palestinian people and their lives under the thumb of the Israelis. I found the story engaging, the people believable, I learned some about the culture and beliefs, and look forward to reading Book 2 and Book 3.