Green Almonds: Letters from Palestine

"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down."

What I've learned from Robert Frost, World War Z, and Green Almonds: walls are good when fending off zombies; not so much in other circumstances, when the human tendency to dehumanize everyone and everything that isn't our own tribe is made all the easier when we don't even have to look at them anymore.

I think this may be the first epistolary graphic novel I've ever run across. It was a really neat way to tell the story - letters between two sisters, one in Belgium and one volunteering in Palestine. The book shows the lives of ordinary people in Gaza and it's absolutely heartbreaking. The dichotomy between the lives of Anaële's Palestinian friends vs her Israeli friends is stark.

Delphine's illustrations are simple but effective in managing to convey both her sister's outsider status, and the harsh reality of the wall and security checkpoints.

A really effective and evocative graphic novel.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.

A Belgian woman travels to Bethlehem in 2008 for a sort of Christian pilgrimage with the intent of staying for several months amongst the Palestinians to do some vague volunteer educational work of some kind. She loves the people and the place, painting them most sympathetically -- even having a romantic interest in one -- and contrasting their desire for freedom and safety with the Israeli walls, checkpoints, soldiers and settlers. The story unfolds in letters and postcards exchanged with her sister back in Belgium.

It's been a decade since her trip, and it is sad to realize how little the situation has changed in the interim.

Regardless, the story is a dull, limited in its scope, and smacks of white privilege and some of the negative show more aspects of voluntourism. The art is too primitive and childlike for my taste and is drawn by the sister who didn't actually visit Palestine, so I assume she is working from photo reference or pure imagination.

Meh. show less

Overall Verdict : Go for it.
It's an amazing travelogue between two sisters. I found the concept really interesting. Its a must read. It leaves one sentient about Palestine in a remarkable way. There are some issues in places, I found that both sisters were just talking about what's going on their ends and were dismissive about the life another person is living. Delphine, for instance, did not follow back on a lot of things. Even Anaele did not ask about people she had left behind while she continued her life in Palestine. I felt some broken links are their and somethings are omitted to keep the focus on what's going on in Palestine. Overall, it is great. The moment I started reading it I could not put it down.

Interesting story about a woman going to Palestine and Jerusalem and telling her sister what is going on and her experiences through post cards. The story irritated me because not enough information about the conflict was given to give the story context and comes off as look what this European tourist went through and witnessed. I liked the simplicity in the art work. The whole post card thing felt unnecessary because the sisters didn’t really acknowledge what the other was saying in her letters.

This book is geared to a young reader. Although the topic is complex, the observations are simple and direct.

C'est l'histoire de 2 soeurs, une quit vit à Liège, en Belgique et l'autre qui part vivre et travailler en Palestine pour 10 mois. Ce livre propose un regard personnel sur une réalité complexe à travers le prisme d'un échange intime.
Celle qui vit à Liège c'est Delphine l'illustrztrice et Anaële, celle qui part, ce qu'elle aime, c'est écrire.

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