The Almond Tree in Around the World in 80 Books

May 09, 2013 Julie Griffin rated it really liked it

Shelves: first-reads

I grew up in the sixties and seventies when there were lots of books about the Holocaust: The Odessa File, for example, was one of my favorites, about the search for former Nazis in hiding, as well as The Boys from Brazil and others. One of my favorites was Leon Uris' Exodus. Since then I have read other histories of Israel and the struggles to build a nation in the Middle East. This has colored my perceptions of the issues in the Region and I have had friends whose parents lost families in the I grew up in the sixties and seventies when there were lots of books about the Holocaust: The Odessa File, for example, was one of my favorites, about the search for former Nazis in hiding, as well as The Boys from Brazil and others. One of my favorites was Leon Uris' Exodus. Since then I have read other histories of Israel and the struggles to build a nation in the Middle East. This has colored my perceptions of the issues in the Region and I have had friends whose parents lost families in the Holocaust and supported a Jewish state with some misgivings about how power can be used against those who are powerless. Michelle Cohen Corasanti germinated the seeds of this story about a Palestinean boy and his family and his struggles for twenty years, through high school experiences in Israel, law school in the States, life as usual. What grew from those seeds is a mature and well-handled story, stately and long-lasting as the almond tree of the title, which follows some of the most horrendous events that could happen to a person, and the person's struggles to follow his father's ideals of making no one an enemy, not even the soldiers who mine the fields and force squalor on his family, who scorn him in university, who do not allow room for common human decency. In Corasanti's story, the boy's (and then man's) willingness to accept contempt and turn it back as compassion can change at least the individual's path in life. The book begins with one of the most horrible beginnings I have ever read in any book.... and it does not lighten up from there, as it follows Ichmad, a math and science genius who follows his love of education and science even through horrible events in his own life and his family's... through many losses, his father counsels him that others are not his enemy, even though he has much reason to hate. Clearly his hatred would have imprisoned him in a small life, one of resentment and bitterness, which is what happens to one of his brothers eventually. Instead, Ichmad enlarges his life and attends a Jewish university on a scholarship after winning a national math competition. His father encourages him, his mother is enraged and sees no reason for him to entertwine his life with the Jewish enemy. At university, he befriends both Arab and Jew, and becomes a research fellow for a professor who hates him at first, but comes to love and respect him. The two travel to America on fellowships and become academic superstars together. But Ichmad's family back home in Palestine continues to suffer, and the events at the end of the book, starkly detailed in the squalid Gaza strip, are an echo of the harrowing beginning. The author's heart and compassion for her characters come through clearly in the book, and her message of acceptance is one that resonates today. She loses some of her authority and clarity when drawing the non-Palestinian characters, for example, Ichmad's American wife, Nora, who is on the edge of ludicrous as a stereotype. She also loses sight, perhaps deliberately, of the end acts of suicide bombers, which is not just to take their own lives but to murder innocent people along with them---this is not detailed in the book which does not flinch away from such gruesome realities in other circumstances. I would recommend this book as an elegiac story which transcends but also educates about the issues in the Middle East. In the end, Ichmad (and his father, who set the example)is a moral center for all of us. I hope the author may have another story to enlighten us so well from the female point of view. ...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Anna rated it liked it

Shelves: lit-ex-challenge

I began this book with expectations of really liking it as I've previously read other books concerned with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Whilst I enjoyed it in as far as the author writes fairly well and it was a very engaging story it seemed to lack something along the way. There were times when the characterisation was a bit lacking. I'm not attempting to make any political comment but the characters in this book were very much split into good and bad and this made the characterisation a l ...more

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