Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Interlink Books (1990), Edition: AMERICAN ed., 207 pages
Description
Wild Thorns is a chronicle of life in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Written in Arabic and first published in Jerusalem in 1976, Wild Thorns, with its panorama of characters and unsentimental portrayals of everyday life, is the first Arab novel to give a true picture of social and personal relations under occupation. Its convincing sincerity, uncompromising honesty, and rich emotional texture plead elegantly for the cause of survival in the face of oppression.
User reviews
LibraryThing member EmScape
I was assigned to read this book for a World Literature class in college and I did not finish it then. The setting is in the disputed territory that is occupied by Israel, but inhabited by Arabs. The time period is late 1970s to early '80s. The characters are Arabs, struggling to live under
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occupation. Some take jobs inside Israel and are told they betray their nationality. Some join the guerrilla resistance and are jailed, then made to feel ashamed for using violence and for making things more difficult for their families. The arguments presented about how one "should" deal with relations between the warring races and what one has to do to survive are explored as each character makes a decision, and follows a certain path. The story is violent, and sometimes difficult to understand if you are someone unfamiliar with the theme. It is important, according to my World Lit professor, to expose ourselves to cultures and themes that we are not familiar with in order to learn of our world. Show Less
ISBN
0940793253 / 9780940793255