Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

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

5 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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Deportation

nineinchnails's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Colonisation

Moderate: Xenophobia, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Deportation

Minor: Incest and Classism

Ethnic cleansing and False imprisonment

bcope84's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Deportation

aerialwhitney's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Hate crime, and Forced institutionalization

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and War

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Incest, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Ableism, Infidelity, Mental illness, Slavery, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism