A Rift in Time
Travels with My Ottoman Uncle
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
An engrossing family memoir that shines a light on Palestine’s history, offering a wise, sobering view of how radically conditions there have changed since the late Ottoman Empire, from the award-winning author of We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I.
Raja Shehadeh’s great-great-uncle Najib Nassar, a journalist born in 1865, spent the first 4 decades of his life under the Ottoman Empire. Ruled by a Muslim Sultan, the region nevertheless saw the coexistence of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and a freedom of movement unthinkable in the present-day Middle East. On a 2-year quest to discover Najib’s fascinating story, Shehadeh follows his footsteps through what are now Lebanon and Israel, tracing the fall of the Empire after World War I and the disastrous British Mandate.
A family memoir written in luminescent prose, A Rift in Time also reflects on how Palestine—in particular the disputed Jordan Rift Valley—has been transformed. Most of Palestine’s history and that of its people is buried deep in the ground: whole villages have disappeared, and names have been erased from the map. Yet by seeing the bigger picture of the landscape and the unending struggle for freedom as Shehadeh does, it is still possible to look toward a better future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this vivid family memoir first published in the U.K. in 2010, Palestinian human rights activist Shehadeh (We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I) retraces an early 20th-century journey taken by his great-great-uncle Najib Nassar. An outspoken critic of the Ottoman empire's involvement in WWI, Nassar went into hiding for fear of retaliation from the government, traveling through the Levant. Following Nassar's footsteps, Shehadeh describes how his own journey is hampered by restrictive borders that have since been created following the establishment of the state of Israel and its subsequent territorial expansion via war and settlement. He paints vibrant character portraits of those he meets along the way, drawing parallels with Nassar's equivalent run-ins, and reflecting on how he, like Nassar, expects to be arrested by the powers that be due to his criticism of the state. Shehadeh's narrative creates vibrant imagery out of simply told stories; he writes captivatingly about his and Nassar's mutual interest in farming and water, and how it relates to their relationship with the land. Shehadeh makes keen, cutting observations regarding how that relationship is challenged by the checkpoints, zoning regulations, and roadblocks he encounters on his journey, which "conspire to make Palestinians feel that this land is no longer theirs." It's a transporting travelogue with a sharp political edge.
