Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Bloomsbury USA Childrens (2008), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 160 pages
Description
Seventeen-year-old Tal Levine of Jerusalem, despondent over the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, puts her hopes for peace in a bottle and asks her brother, a military nurse in the Gaza Strip, to toss it into the sea, leading ultimately to friendship and understanding between her and an "enemy."
User reviews
LibraryThing member Bbexlibris
Far removed from the conflict in the Middle East it is easy to live day by day not thinking of the dangerous situation that mothers, fathers, children and grandparents live through daily in many places on the other side of the ocean. It is easy to forget the freedoms women don't have, the childless
A Bottle in the Gaza Sea is a book of two hopefuls in a sea of killing, prejudice, and a tradition of violence between the Palestinians and the jews, from Jerusalem and the Gaza strip. Tal, a teen from Jerusalem wills to find peace, and longs for a glint of hope, of life from the other side. She puts a letter in a bottle and asks her brother, who is a soldier to put it in the Gaza Sea. Naim, is what comes of it, a bright Palestinian teen topped off with sarcasm. They email back and forth. Facades are broken down, lies made to truths, and through their friendship hope comes to them and those around them.
I genuinely enjoyed reading A Bottle in the Gaza Sea, Zenatti did an excellent job with the witing and the content of the book. The characters are fully believable, lovable and unforgettable. I hesitate to mention that this is designed as a young adult read, and that because of that you would steer clear, feeling that maturity and wisdom would most likely be lacking. I can promise you that those assumptions are wrong. The young Tal and her Gaza friend, Naim are young in age, but it is easy to be captivated by them, as they both portray the losses of their peoples at the hands of each others people. I was involved, interested and Zenatti spoke to me. I highly recommend this book, it gives all the emotion without the descriptions of blood and guts ( but does not hide that that is everywhere). A Bottle in the Gaza Sea is a realistic hope for peace, a dream of a future life of freedom, no matter how many generations the war has already gone on for.
Quotes:
The two of us don't have much luck: we were born in the twentieth century- the bloodiest century in history, as Rosebush reminded us yet again yesterday.: Two world wars, the Soviet empire dominating part of the world +conflicts pretty much all over the place with increasingly sophisticated weapons= hundreds of millions of deaths. 'It's just maths,' he added with an almost sadistic smile (p. 34).
'We choose none of the things that determine out lives: not the way we look or where we're born or our parents. None of them. We just have to cope with all the things we haven't chosen and which make us who we are.' My father told me that last year, when I was having trouble with just being me (p. 132).
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babies and the violence. However in my drive to feel more, to know more and keep all peoples close to me. I believe education difies prejudice and so I read on.A Bottle in the Gaza Sea is a book of two hopefuls in a sea of killing, prejudice, and a tradition of violence between the Palestinians and the jews, from Jerusalem and the Gaza strip. Tal, a teen from Jerusalem wills to find peace, and longs for a glint of hope, of life from the other side. She puts a letter in a bottle and asks her brother, who is a soldier to put it in the Gaza Sea. Naim, is what comes of it, a bright Palestinian teen topped off with sarcasm. They email back and forth. Facades are broken down, lies made to truths, and through their friendship hope comes to them and those around them.
I genuinely enjoyed reading A Bottle in the Gaza Sea, Zenatti did an excellent job with the witing and the content of the book. The characters are fully believable, lovable and unforgettable. I hesitate to mention that this is designed as a young adult read, and that because of that you would steer clear, feeling that maturity and wisdom would most likely be lacking. I can promise you that those assumptions are wrong. The young Tal and her Gaza friend, Naim are young in age, but it is easy to be captivated by them, as they both portray the losses of their peoples at the hands of each others people. I was involved, interested and Zenatti spoke to me. I highly recommend this book, it gives all the emotion without the descriptions of blood and guts ( but does not hide that that is everywhere). A Bottle in the Gaza Sea is a realistic hope for peace, a dream of a future life of freedom, no matter how many generations the war has already gone on for.
Quotes:
The two of us don't have much luck: we were born in the twentieth century- the bloodiest century in history, as Rosebush reminded us yet again yesterday.: Two world wars, the Soviet empire dominating part of the world +conflicts pretty much all over the place with increasingly sophisticated weapons= hundreds of millions of deaths. 'It's just maths,' he added with an almost sadistic smile (p. 34).
'We choose none of the things that determine out lives: not the way we look or where we're born or our parents. None of them. We just have to cope with all the things we haven't chosen and which make us who we are.' My father told me that last year, when I was having trouble with just being me (p. 132).
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LibraryThing member abbylibrarian
When Israeli teenager Tal witnesses a bombing, she begins to write. She writes about her life, about how the bombing made her feel, and about how she longs for peace with Palestine. She puts her letter in a bottle and throws it in the Gaza sea, hoping that someone on the other side will find it and
I love that this book shows two sides of the war and it would make a great book for discussion. I'd be willing to bet that many teens in America know hardly anything about the Israeli-Palestinian War and this book will bring it to life. I'd pair it with Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye.
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start a conversation. She's not expecting to hear from "Gazaman", an irreverant, angry young Palestinian man. Through a series of email exchanges, they get to know each other and Tal realizes that there are no easy answers in her quest for peace. I love that this book shows two sides of the war and it would make a great book for discussion. I'd be willing to bet that many teens in America know hardly anything about the Israeli-Palestinian War and this book will bring it to life. I'd pair it with Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye.
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LibraryThing member -Eva-
Rather (too) short YA-novel about the difference between growing up in Israel and growing up in the Gaza Strip - or more aptly, about the similarities. The two narrators initially think they have nothing in common, but because both are damaged by the strife between their peoples - although in
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different ways - they grow closer and become friends, even though they have never met. It's a well-written shoe-on-the-other-foot story, and although I found the characters slightly unbelievable (or perhaps just not acting like their purported ages), it was still worth a read. I especially appreciated how both sides got their "say" without condemnation - any blame is worked out between the characters in their communication, which emphasizes the story's overall message of hope. Show Less
LibraryThing member The_Hibernator
As a method of self-defense against increasing Israeli-Palestinian violence, feisty 17-year-old Israeli Tal writes a note and sticks it in a bottle. She asks her brother to throw the bottle in the Gaza sea, with hopes that she’ll meet a Palestinian girl and somehow put a personality to the people
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she knows must be behind the fence. What she gets is 20-year-old Naim, a scathingly sarcastic, but nice-under-the-surface Palestinian man. The book is a series of emails between the two, and as their understanding of each other grows, so does their affection for one another. This was a really sweet book. It was silly, as are all teenage romances, but actually believable (if you have faith in coincidence). I was surprised while reading because I’d originally thought the author was Israeli, writing for Israeli teens—but the book is written by a French woman who lived in Israel when she was younger. The target audience is therefore teens who do not necessarily know all the background in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. This is something I appreciated, because I felt like I understood what they were talking about when they mentioned political and historical events. This is a quick, enjoyable read. Show Less
LibraryThing member Salsabrarian
Seventeen-year-old Tal Levine writes a letter in a bottle expressing her frustrations with the turbulence of the Israelis and Palestinians. She hopes for a Palestinian girl to find the letter and to correspond with her by e-mail. Instead a 20-year-old Palestinian man named Naim finds her bottle on
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the beach. His correspondence is at first rude and abrupt but he eventually opens up to the more emotional Tal. The two share the same frustrations and each feels they can only share their private thoughts with the other. I found their voices overly dramatic and emotional but that can be typical of passionate-feeling teens. Still the prose and flow of their emails came off as far more articulate than you would expect. Naim's final e-mail was somewhat abrupt and confusing--is he talking about Tal Levine? But a clarifying clue lies on page 85. Useful for readers wishing to understand the Middle East conflict. Show Less
Awards
Sydney Taylor Book Award (Winner — 2009)
Middle East Book Award (Honorable Mention — Youth Literature — 2009)