Award: Awesome Indies: APPROVED
Categories: Literary Fiction, Mystery
Tags: conflict, Palestine, Palestinian refugees, refugees
Series: Kalandia Series
Publisher: S & H Publishing
Author: Dixiane Hallaj
Life in a Palestinian refugee camp is filled with poverty, and hopeless frustration at the best of times—and 2001 is far from the best of times. Muhammad, already scarred by violence and tragedy, is plunged into depression when the frequent curfews make it impossible for him to find work. He can no longer face the thought of crossing the military checkpoint, but all available jobs are on the other side. His inability to provide for his family drives him to despair. He decides to spend the only coin remaining to him—his life. CHECKPOINT KALANDIA is the story of one man’s journey to the depths of human despondency.
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Reviewed by Awesome Indies
November 4, 2014
Checkpoint Kalandia is a powerful and absorbing read, a book for our times, and one that everyone should read. It takes you into the heart and minds of a family living under Israeli occupation, and brings home the reality of the terrible constraints placed on their lives. This could be a totally miserable book, but the strength and support shown by family members gives it hope and honours the great spirit of a people who have suffered for so long because of a poorly considered decision by politicians with no understanding of or relationship to the region.
If you think the Palestinians are an angry people, this book challenges you to consider how you would feel if placed in the same situation. How would you handle it? Can we really blame them when their frustration boils over? These are ordinary people, like you and me, placed in an extremely difficult situation, and Ms Hallaj handles the subject matter with skill and sensitivity.
A must read for anyone interested in powerful and moving literature.