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We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir
Top of the pile
83
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
71/100Critics
94/100Scholars
Author:
Raja Shehadeh
Publisher:
Other Press
Date:
March 28, 2023
Aziz Shehadeh was many things: lawyer, activist, and political detainee. He was also the father of author and activist Raja. In this memoir, Raja Shehadeh unpicks the snags and complexities of their relationship.
What The Reviewers Say
It is here that the book finds its tragically imperfect fulfillment of the wistful title: The painstaking diligence of the father’s work is reciprocated by the son’s unwavering attentiveness. It is a friendship of sorts.
A powerful rebuttal of the current attempt to sever today’s situation in Palestine from its roots.
As a young man Raja failed to recognise his father’s courage. Nor did Aziz appreciate Raja’s efforts to campaign for human rights.
This is a tragedy within a tragedy, of a father and son who, despite their similarities, failed to understand one another, against the backdrop of dispossession of the Palestinian people..
