It's Easier to Reach Heaven Than The End of the Street - A Book Review

It's Easier To Reach Heaven Than The End Of The Street: A Jerusalem Memoir by Emma Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Emma Williams' memoir of her time living in Israel is an important book to read if you want to understand the nuances of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Williams and her family moved to Israel just prior to the beginning of the second Intifada in August, 2000. Her husband works for the UN; she is a doctor who tries to work and provide some normalcy for her 3 children and a 4th born in Bethlehem. They live in Jerusalem in a village with one Jewish family and an extended Palestinian family.

Throughout the book Williams weaves personal stories and events with the bigger picture of the struggle between Jews and Palestinians. She is in a unique position to develop friends and colleagues on both sides of the issue and tries to convey the fears, desires, and attempts to maintain daily life on both sides. She is also open about her own attempts to understand and how difficult it is at times to face the reality. She quotes frequently from conversations with journalists, soldiers, politicians, and ordinary people. Keeping close and frequent communications with friends and family in the US and Britain, she is also able to compare what appears in the press in those countries with what is happening in the country. We definitely don't see the entire picture here.

The Williams lived in Israel until 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq, when her husband was transferred to another country. She continued to visit frequently through 2006 when the book was first published in Britain. The edition I read was an updated edition published in the United States in 2010.

It isn't necessarily an easy book to read. It's beautifully written, but the reality is harsh. As with any emotion packed issue, there are people on both sides of the issue who have extreme views, but also people on both sides who above all else want peace. I get the feeling that this is a situation that is almost impossible to understand unless you've lived with it. For that reason, this is an important book to read, especially if you think that you understand the issues you owe it to yourself to read this. It might give you a different perspective or at least a more in depth understanding of the situation.

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Discontents - a book review

Discontents by James Wallace Birch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is not the type of book I normally read. Usually I stick to non-fiction, classics, and what my friend calls "potato chip books" - books full of empty calories meant just for fun and escape. Discontents is not one of those books! So reading my review, keep in mind that I am not a literary critic. I have not read many "protest" books to compare it to. But I think I would call Discontents a "protest" book. Although it was published in July of 2011, it seems to echo many of the ideas that we see in the Occupy protests that are covering the globe at the time of this writing (Oct 2011). Emory Walden has to retreat underground because of his role in the movement, but feels like his story must be told. To do this, he reaches out to an old high school friend and Discontents is the result.

Emory Walden writes a blog that is read by many people who are discontent with the current state of the government. After he returns to the US from Europe, he is approached by an older man who is physically unable to support the protesters, but wants to do his part by helping Emory. The idea is to help Emory mask his identity and thus "fly under the radar" so to speak. In this way his message won't be compromised by the threat of exposure. This leaves him free to support the growing movement of people in the streets, but also leads to complications with the few people who know him by his true name.

Discontentsis a mystery/thriller with politics, subversion, infiltration and the "Agency", with a little romance thrown in to add a more personal perspective. The style of writing was a little distracting to me at first, but not after the first chapter or so. I'm not sure if this is because I adjusted to the authors style, or if the story just began to flow more easily after it got going. I suspect a little of both. It will definitely make you think, especially about the role of government and corporations in our lives.

Discontents is definitely worth the read!

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