Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories Paperback – 31 July 1998

I’ve been trying to get the book for a while now and so happy to have read it in the first week of my purchase great book highly recommended

Lovely, touching stories

I've had this page open all day, and I still don't know how to start.I don't know what to say about this book that hasn't already been said. I don't how to describe this book in ways different than the ways it's already been described.This book is personal to me, so very personal, because I am a Palestinian, born and raised in the United Arab Emirates. I am a Palestinian, who only stepped foot in Palestine only once in my life - a year ago. I am a Palestinian, who was born to Palestinian parents, who have never been to Palestine. I am a Palestinian, whose grandparents fled Palestine in 1948 - the year of the Nakba. In fact, my mother's family lived and grew up in Kuwait. So, Men in the Sun, specifically, was a story that touched me deeply. It was a story that broke my heart, because I may have found a home away from home, but many others haven't. Men in the Sun clearly and bluntly describes that horrible journey that many people have taken or attempted to take in their efforts to try and find a better life for them and their families.This was my first Ghassan Kanafani read, and I was told that it would hurt to read this, and it did. The brilliance of Kanafani's work is that it never points a finger at one particular villain. It's implied, but it's never spoken plainly. Instead, he shows you different aspects of the struggle that Palestinians go through. Struggles that they've experienced, and still experience, in the Arab world. He shows you - probably from his own personal experience - how other Arabs treat Palestinians.Of all the stories, Men in the Sun hurt the most. The ending was brutal and it hits you so hard. You know things aren't going to end well, but it still jolts you to see HOW and WHY things end the way they do. The silliness of the entire situation, the absolute ridiculousness of men, their conversations, their play at authority and power. The irony of how one man's literal emasculation is actually the reason that a delay occurs at the border crossing, which becomes the reason for the demise of three men. You cannot be sure how to feel about this man, whether to blame him or not, as he seems genuinely saddened, but at the same time, his only concern is money and does not shy away from stealing their possessions after their deaths.The last paragraph in which he asks a question that we all thought to ask was probably the most powerful, "The thought slipped from his mind and ran onto his tongue: "Why didn't they knock on the sides of the tank?" He turned right round once, but he was afraid he would fall, so he climbed into his seat and leaned his head on the wheel. "Why didn't you knock on the sides of the tank? Why didn't you say anything? Why? - The desert suddenly began to send back the echo: "Why didn't you knock on the sides of the tank? Why didn't you knock on the sides of the tank? Why? Why? Why?"The other stories are just as powerful, and talk about refugees who have already left Palestine and how that has impacted them. The last story is the only one different from the rest. While all stories talk about Palestinians leaving Palestine, A Letter From Gaza tells the story of a young man who returns to Gaza to visit his family, but then decides to stay there and not go back to Kuwait where he has a job that could lead him to California, the land of freedom and opportunity. It is written in the form of a letter to a friend, as he tells him that he has decided not to meet him in Sacramento after all. That he has decided to remain in Gaza with his family, that his true place is there, at home.Beautifully written, beautiful story-telling, this book is a must-read and a reminder to all Palestinians that we should not stop knocking on the sides of the tank. That we should continue to make noise. To not forget.

Ridiculously overpriced. It was more of a pamphlet than a book. £17 was way too much for this.