Reviews with content warning for War - We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir

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We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir by Raja Shehadeh

8 reviews

laurareads87's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I is an account of the lives of two men: Aziz Shehadeh, a lawyer who fought for a Palestinian state and the right of Palestinians forced from their homes to return, and his son Raja Shehadeh, the author, also a lawyer, who in this text grapples with his relationship with his father and his influence on the author's own trajectory as a lawyer and activist. Raja considers the distinctions both men have, at different times, made between legal work, political work, and human rights work, and the similarities between some of their experiences that they never got the chance to discuss. Aziz was murdered in 1985, and at the time of publication the author still had not successfully obtained the release of the documents pertaining to the police investigation that was shut down before it was finished.

Content warnings: war, colonization, forced displacement, deportation, murder, forced institutionalization, violence, grief

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biobeetle's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

4.75

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nineinchnails's review

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challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

this felt like more of a biography of his father than a memoir at some parts and some of the the legal/political language was a little confusing but those are really my only issues with this. this was heartbreaking to read and there was so much history with just this one family. i was surprised to find out just how influential and interesting raja's father was and it was really refreshing to read about the experience of a palestinian christian family. raja is in his 70s at the time of writing, the same age as his father was when he was assassinated, so we get a really long time period covered between the 2 of them. highly recommend to everyone since it's so short but especially to anyone interested in learning more about the occupation!

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applesaucecreachur's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

Both a detailed historical account of the 20th-century Palestinian liberation struggle, and a family's revealing memoir, We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I opens at the death of the author's father and unfolds into a recollection of his life's work. Aziz Shehadeh committed his life and law practice to his people and their nation through righteous lawsuits, articles of meticulous takedowns of Israeli legal practices (and the politics of Arabs who advocated for Palestine to "work with" Israeli rule), and dogged attention to the puzzle's many moving parts. His determination persisted despite popular opinion, the revocation of his license to practice law, his political imprisonment, and his family's objections to his seemingly self-destructive commitment to the cause. This final point is the one the author returns to throughout: The emotional distance he felt from his father, and the regret that he did not understand the man who raised him until after his death; then, he learned of his father majorly through writings both published and unpublished.

I will note that this is the first book I've read on Palestinian history, and in its detail and primary focus on the politics of one man, it is not the most approachable for those with a beginner's level of knowledge on the history of Palestine and of Israeli occupation. This aside, I greatly appreciated this book. Shehadeh illuminates the complexity of Palestinian and Arab politics amidst the occupation and at the same time, paints a pained and loving portrait of his family. It is a story of devotion to one's people, be they national or in the same book-crowded home.

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