The third book I read during my European Vacation was in Arabic. After my disappointment with عمارة يعقوبيان I decided to brave it again and hit another one in my mother tongue. The choice this time fell on رأيت رام الله for مريد البرغوثي . Now let me switch to Arabic for a change:
في هذه الرواية يعبر البرغوثي عن رفضه للنظرة الحالمة للمدن الفلسطينية والتي يريد منها معظم الكتاب الرجوع إلى ما كانت عليه تلك المدن في الماضي، ويرجح أن تتغير تلك المدن وتتطور نحو المستقبل كما الحال في باقي الدول. كما ينتقد أيضا إعلان الهزيمة كنصر للمهزوم. ويعبر البرغوثي عن آرائه تلك من خلال سرد لحياة مريد البرغوثي و رجوعه لبلده رام الله بعد 30 سنة من الغربة تلت نكسة 1967، افتراقه الدائم عن عائلته الكبيرة وإسرته الصغيرة. لقاءات صغيرة تجمع العائلة وتكشف عن ما يسميه البرغوثي "طرافة المأساة" حيث يمتلك أفراد الأسرة الواحدة جوازات سفر ما يزيد عن 7 دول.
من أكثر المقاطع تأثيرا كان موت أخيه في باريس بعيدا عن أهله وحيرة مريد في كيفية إبلاغ والدته دون التسبب بوفاتها.
OK back to English now. I get tired typing in Arabic. :) The book is wonderful. ALbargothy tells his story beautifully, succeeding in gaining the reader’s empathy away from the dramatic/romantic grieving of a man without a country. I recommend this book strongly.
Now to less literary matters. The weather’s improving slightly. Either that or I’m just bored limiting my self to indoor outings (I love that oxymoron) so I decided to go walking by the scientific center. It wasn’t too bad; a little humid but bearable. I don’t think I can manage jogging yet. It’s still too hot for that and I’m still not totally back in shape. Isn’t it totally annoying how easy you can fall out of shape and what a drag it is to get it back again. Age doesn’t seem to help there either. Our bodies become so stubborn as we grow older. Urgh.
Oh and I got myself a gardenia. No flowers yet. Hope it stays green. Plants tend to die in my care. :(
I think I’m gonna brave the weather again and try our mamsha in jabria now. Later amigos.
7 comments:
Hmmm...it looks like plastic to me, but again, what do I know about plants.
7 passports!!! good heavens!!!
hello..thanks for passing by..glad you liked my blog...I love the smell of gardenia by the way...ohh...mamsha in jabriya?...my usual hang out in Ramadhan...so we're neighbours afterall..:)
Sing to it. They say it helps :P
But to do that you'll have to spend more time at home and cut down on the 'gezzing', woman.
MissCosmo,
See you next Ramadan then? :)
And please bring that frog along.. he's so cute
i dont know much about plants either shosho, which explains their dying around me, but this is supposed to be a European one used to a dark and rainy days, so it lacks the vibrant yellowing our plants get from the sun :)
and i think singing to them in my magical voice would shorten their life span rather than help shurouq.
oh now we have 2 lanes in our mamsha miscosmo, when did that happen? as for the smell of gardenias, let's just hope it stays alive till its time to bloom. and welcome chez hanan
Nothing like the smell of gardenias..when they don't have the pests that came with my last one and scared me off..if you have some soft/happy classical music, it apparently does wonders..they found that if you cut or hurt a plant in the presence of another one the one not being cut shows signs of stress and pain..they have amazing abilities to react to their environment..enjoy it, hope you get flowers soon..
kwtia. pests? oh no. I already have 2 pests living in my house. I cant deal with more. If classical music helps would heavy metal damage it?
vintage. travel leaves plenty of time for book reading so I thought I'd share :)
You know, I do get worried if I play really crazy music next to the plants..but I don't know for sure..the guy who supplies us with plants at work gets really mad if we walk too close to them, he says that it traumatises them to be smacked by our skirts..very sensitive things they are..
If you u haven't noticed pests on them, you don't need to worry..
Post a Comment