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Once More with Chutzpah

Haley Neil

1.88 · Rating details · 109 ratings · 65 reviews

An intensely readable and moving YA debut about a teen who grapples with questions of her Jewish identity, mental health, and sexuality on an unforgettable trip to Israel.

When high school senior Tally and her twin brother Max head off on an exchange trip to Israel over their winter break, Tally thinks it will be a good distraction for Max; he might be trying to hide it, bu ...more

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Hardcover, 352 pages

Expected publication: October 26th 2021 by Bloomsbury YA (first published 2021)

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· 109 ratings · 65 reviews

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Jul 01, 2020 may ➹ marked it as uhhh-no

instead of reading or supporting this book, you should donate to these organizations, and educate yourself about Palestine using this carrd or these resources <3 ...more

flag 135 likes · Like · see review

Feb 12, 2021 Layla marked it as nope-thanks-i-hate-it

a list of things that are bad:

• ✨genocide✨

• ✨ethnic cleansing✨

• ✨apartheid✨

• ✨mass incarceration✨

• ✨commiting war crimes✨

• ✨commiting murder✨

• ✨being an IDP✨

• ✨being under occupation✨

• ✨illegal annexations of land✨

• writing a fun self discovery story that takes place somewhere where all this is occuring and completely ignoring the issues and glorifying the situation.

For an explanation read this:
https://mobile.twitter.com/khilfish/s...

#FreePalestine ...more

flag 97 likes · Like · see review

Jul 01, 2020 unknown pokemon rated it did not like it

yes i love to read some roadtrip in israel while thousands of ppl are being targeted for religious hate crimes and having to flee their home country bc they fear for the lives. perfect place to set a roadtrip.

flag 84 likes · Like · see review

Jul 01, 2020 Aimal (Bookshelves & Paperbacks) marked it as wouldnt-touch-with-a-10-foot-pole

no thank you, in this house we do not support books passed off as fun romps through an apartheid, settler state that routinely murders, displaces and subjugates palestinians. :)

flag 60 likes · Like · see review

Jul 02, 2020 Jane rated it it was amazing

None of the people "reviewing" this book have read it -- because it has not yet been published and no arcs have been released. Instead they are here to object the idea of a book set in Israel -- without knowing what it is actually about or how it may deal with nuanced issues. They are saying that an #ownvoices author may not write about her own experiences. I am sure that they do not express disgust at every book set in the US despite our deep problems. I doubt they would reject a book from any ...more

flag 54 likes · Like · see review

Feb 11, 2021 Fanna marked it as no-support-at-all

Please listen to the Palestinians bringing attention to this problematic book, please educate yourselves about occupation and annexation, please realise how this story would be ignoring the oppression by Israel through a trip — even if unintentional — wrapped in propaganda covers, and please don't fall for a cute cover without attempting to understand the concerns raised by Palestinian readers and others.

↣ read this and this ↢

...more

flag 49 likes · Like · see review

Jul 08, 2020 Natalieee marked it as to-read

Criticizing a book that hasn’t even been published yet?? No arcs, no information other than a brief synopsis and pressuring the publisher to cease publication??? Yeah OKAY that seems right and just.

I’m not about it.

The book sounds super exciting and fun, and the author has released a statement where she acknowledges the hate she’s getting, hears what they’re saying, and says to have faith in her. Let her write about her experience and beliefs. Not allowing her otherwise is straight up unfair a ...more

flag 30 likes · Like · see review

Feb 14, 2021 human marked it as imma-just-nope-the-fuck-out-of-here

Shelves: better-repurposed-as-kindling, coming-of-age, contemporary

could we maybe just... not?

so done with this shit.

flag 24 likes · Like · see review

Jul 02, 2020 nitya rated it did not like it

Let's not glorify/trivialize genocide

Let's do support Palestinian and Central Asian authors :) ...more

flag 25 likes · Like · see review

Jul 02, 2020 Angela Domingo rated it did not like it

"Becky Albertalli meets Birthright". Birthright trips are Zionist propaganda that literally removes Palestine from Israeli maps. Instead of supporting this book, we should educate ourselves about Palestine and its annexation by Israel. https://twitter.com/khilfish/status/1.... Once More with Chutzpah is just pinkwashing the occupation of Palestine. You can learn more about the situation in Palestine through grassroots organizations like the Palestinian Youth Movement. (https://linktr.ee/palestin ...more

flag 22 likes · Like · see review

Jul 02, 2020 Geena rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf

A book that ignores the plight of Palestinians and the genocide faced at the hands of Israel. How can someone who claims to support BLM turn around in the same breath and write a cutesy book set in Israel?

Despite the efforts of a Palestinian activist to reach out and get in contact with both the author and agent, with feedback that they need to address the occupation in Palestine, both author and agent ignored them.

Read books written by Palestinian authors instead, or books by authors who don't ...more

flag 20 likes · Like · see review

Feb 12, 2021 katie added it

Shelves: uhh-no

please so many problematic books being published these days istg

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Feb 14, 2021 FireLily rated it did not like it

Shelves: zero-stars

Can people just...not pull this kind of bullshit? We don't need another book invalidating thousands of lives and glorifying the erasure of culture. We already have a whole country that does that. 🖕🏽 ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Jul 03, 2020 Yann Steunou-Murray rated it did not like it

I am afraid I cannot support this book's very premise. The concept of a birthright trip is a slap in the face to many Palestinians who still hold on to the keys of the homes they were forced to flee in 1948 with equal parts hope and desperation and are systematically denied the right to ever set foot in their homeland ever again. Palestinian activist Emily Khalifeh very politely reached out the author, agent and editor of this book only to be ignored until very recently. I would strongly advise ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Jul 02, 2020 Isra' rated it did not like it

Of all publishing news I expected to hear this year, that of a YA pinkwashing the propaganda machine of birthright trips is not it! Millions of Palestinian refugees are denied the right to go home and yet this author thought Israel would be the ideal setting for a ~quirky self discovery journey~..... hard pass
EDIT: got asked by a zionist where my knowledge of zionism comes from, so I thought I'd paste my answer here, since that zionist is obviously not gonna care about what a Palestinian has to Of all publishing news I expected to hear this year, that of a YA pinkwashing the propaganda machine of birthright trips is not it! Millions of Palestinian refugees are denied the right to go home and yet this author thought Israel would be the ideal setting for a ~quirky self discovery journey~..... hard pass
EDIT: got asked by a zionist where my knowledge of zionism comes from, so I thought I'd paste my answer here, since that zionist is obviously not gonna care about what a Palestinian has to say, but maybe someone else scrolling through these reviews might.

"I'm literally Palestinian, dumbass.
My knowledge of what zionism is comes from having soldiers' weapons pointed at me every time I try to visit my homeland. My knowledge of zionism comes from knowing that many Palestinians have been murdered in those border crossings, in those checkpoints, before, and that one wrong look could see me join their ranks. My knowledge of zionism comes from having my family flee in terror from their homes in 1967, terrified that they'll get massacred if they stay, a deadly repeat of 1948. My knowledge of zionism comes from the intergeneretional trauma from that.
My knowledge of zionism comes from my own green ID card, othering me in my own homeland. My knowledge of zionism comes from seeing the hebrew letters on this card, not there for me, but for IDF soldiers brutalising the land with their existance. Do you even know what a green ID card is?
My knowledge of zionism comes from my own people's history, told to me by my family, so the new generations of Palestinians never forget the massacares, never forget the stolen homes, the stolen lands, the stolen lives, over and over and over again, every single minute of every single day since 1948 to now. So Palestinians never forget the dead children of the past, so we remember the dead children of the present.
My knowledge of zionism comes from knowing that those tales are also told as warnings. "This is what zionists have done to us, and what they'll keep doing to us."
My knowledge of zionism comes from having the entire world deny those truths to me, as though I can't trust my own eyes and ears and senses. "No, all those children aren't in military jails right now, but if they are they deserve it. No, Palestinians don't live in fear of their homes being stolen by settlers, but if they do then the settlers are the real indigenous people of Palestine, so they shouldn't complain. No, Palestinians aren't forced to demolish their own homes by Israel, and if they do then those homes were built illegally anyway." Do they think we're stupid?
My knowledge of zionism come from having zionists blame all of the above on netanyahu, as though he isn't just upholding the legacy of his predecessors. Just upholding the teachings of the founders of zionism. Jabotinsky described how no indigenous group, like Palestinian Arabs, could ever willingly hand their homeland over to white settlers, like the zionists. Ben gurion talked about how the partition plan was only temporary, and that the final goal of zionism was to expand to the whole of Palestine. Nordau advocated for zionist colonization at a large scale, rejecting the idea of small scale efforts. Ussishkin wanted all Palestinians who lived in Palestine to be resettled. And herzl knew that as a settler colonialist project, zionism would require the backing of imperialists. That's why he approached britain with the zionist project. That's why he approached cecil rhodes. Do you even know who any of those people are?

My knowledge of zionism encompasses all of that and even more. No one knows the true face of settler-colonialism more than its victims. My knowledge of zionism comes from being forced, alongside the rest of my people, to defend the basic fact of our existance over and over and over again, a continuous process of dehumanisation against the backdrop of ethnic cleansing and genocide. My knowledge of zionism exists because it replaces the knowledge of my Palestinian culture that was wiped from existance in 1948. Hundreds of villages destroyed, countless families separated, a whole part of our culture destroyed. And yet, we keep fighting, to this day, to conserve what has survived that massacre, even as zionists seek to steal everything from our food to our music to our clothes.
By the way, all of this isn't me talking to you, Jane. I couldn't care less what a random zionist thinks about Palestinians. Don't think I didn't notice you "forgetting" to ask me if I was Palestinian in your little comment, intentionally ignoring that Palestinians ARE the authority on what zionism is and isn't. Every single Palestinian on Earth is a survivor of ethnic cleansing. Every single one. All our lives, in all their miniscule details, have been smashed to bits by zionism. All our lives are intricately tied to zionism's crimes. That's where my knowledge of zionism comes from.
Just like any settler-colonialist ideology, it's a blight on Earth. Again, this isn't directed at you, because I have no interest in engaging with anti Palestinian racists. This is for anyone who happens to glance at this page, wondering why so many Palestinians are mad at this book. Zionists don't get to prance over the carcasses of destroyed villages and claim that Palestinians don't have a right to their anger. Zionists don't get to claim that zionism is just "the idea that jewish people deserve a country!!!!!" when the historical and political reality of this ideology has always been fundamentally tied to settler-colonialism.
Despite all of this, I never lose hope. Oppressive regimes never last, no matter how powerful they think they are. Colonialism, in all of its forms, is not a long-lasting, stable way of existance. There will come a day when Palestinians are able to safely live in their homeland again. I just hope I get to see it in my lifetime. I just hope I get to stand on the beaches of the mediterrenean sea in my lifetime." ...more

flag 16 likes · Like · see review

Jul 01, 2020 sophie rated it did not like it

glorifying birthright? not actually dope

flag 16 likes · Like · see review

Jul 02, 2020 Cora rated it did not like it

This book is equivalent to a plantation owner writing a "fun romp" about raping, enslaving and murdering Black people. Except it's modern day colonizing of Palestinians who are being murdered. ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Jul 02, 2020 Celeste rated it did not like it

Absolutely mortified at this book. Palestinians have been kicked out their homes by colonisers and you’re choosing to write a book on a person who goes on a ‘birthright’ trip to a country that’s not even hers in the first place?! Ridiculous. Remove this book immediately.

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Feb 12, 2021 birdie marked it as avoiding

when someone from palestine tells you to not read this book because its concept is problematic, you listen.

for more on what’s happening in palestine, click here.

blog | bookstagram | more ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Jul 05, 2020 jordana rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, coming-soon, contemporary, mental-illness-rep, lgbt, jewish-ownvoices, to-preorder

Jewish demis? Queer jews? grappling with our place in diaspora? wow I am so very here for this.

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2020 rachel she/her rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf

oh absolutely not. it's vile to write a book about a jewish teen realizing her sexuality during a disgusting genocide/settler-colonialism propaganda trip. ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Aug 16, 2020 Zane rated it did not like it

Some crazy zionist BS

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Feb 11, 2021 Farheen rated it did not like it

We don't need a book that ignores what Palestinians went through and romanticizes apartheid ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2020 Jennifer Samson rated it did not like it

Until Palestinians are allowed into their OWN HOMELAND, books like this are nothing but propagana. The author MUST see this. This book is glorifying how great it is that anyone from anywhere in the world who agrees with Israel's oppression of Palestinians can just tramp all around Palestine and feel a devine sense of belonging there. While the Palestinians who were born there are kept out. Gay Palestinians are murdered for their orientation while privileged kids from around the world are told th ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Aug 16, 2020 Sarah rated it did not like it

As some people have said: not every book set in Israel is inherently Zionist. This book is, though, so lobbing accusations of anti-Semitism against rightfully angry critics is at BEST misguided. Birthright is Zionist propaganda. Pinkwashing is Zionist propaganda. The author’s inability to recognize that an American Jewish woman (like me, by the way, so think twice before you say haters of this book are just anti-Semitic) having complicated feelings about Israel means NOTHING compared to the apar ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Feb 10, 2021 isabela ♡ rated it did not like it

if you want to know why i’m rating this book one star, check these links:

https://twitter.com/khilfish/status/1...

https://twitter.com/emtheweird/status...

https://twitter.com/xreadingsolacex/s...

...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Feb 26, 2021 Hannah-Grace rated it did not like it

Palestinian readers have voiced concerns about this book and it is still being published. Please read the other reviews and utilize the resources in them to learn more about why this book is problematic. This book is an attempt to pinkwash and disregard the genocide and apartheid of Palestinians.

More about pinkwashing: https://bdsmovement.net/pinkwashing ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Feb 11, 2021 Sara rated it did not like it

actually no

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2020 Mars Abstract rated it did not like it

It is not necessarily an evil to set a book in Israel, however, portraying a birthright trip as a way to discover yourself and your lgbt identity is colonial propaganda. To insinuate that it’s someone’s birthright to enter a land that was stolen from the people who lived there is entirely inappropriate and is not something we should be publishing under the guise of lgbt representation. Ashkenazi American experiences are not the sole face of Jewish culture, and Zionism should not be lauded as a p ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review