Published by Atria Books on February 13, 2018

As the title suggests, Sadness is a White Bird tells a sad story. It is a powerful story that addresses a young man’s moral dilemma when he is asked to give loyalty to one family (Israel) while disregarding his membership in a much larger family (humanity). The story’s power comes from the impossible situation its protagonist confronts when he is asked to choose between his best friends, who are clearly not his enemy, and the demands of the IDF, which insists that unarmed Palestinian protestors are dangerous enemies of Israel.

Transplanted from Pennsylvania to Israel, Jonathan considered himself a “discerning soldier” when he patrolled Palestinian villages with the IDF, trying not to adopt the bigoted mindset that characterized many of his fellow soldiers. Some of the soldiers with whom he patrols call him a “bleeding heart.” They belittle him for treating Palestinians decently and for trying to help his fellow soldiers understand their point of view. His missions are not always what he expected when he began his conscription, as when he helps quash a demonstration of dissenting Jews (with tear gas, as opposed to the bullets and grenades that are reserved for Palestinians).

As a teenager in Israel, Jonathan’s best friends were two Palestinians, Laith and his sister Nimreen, who had lived in Ohio and therefore shared with Jonathan the experience of living as young Americans. The story provides flashbacks to those times, narrated by Jonathan as he tells his story to an absent Laith. Jonathan predictably falls in love with Nimreen, and the scenes of their evolving intimacy and teenage desire are a bit sappy — the only weakness in a strong novel. From the tone of the letters and certain events in his past, however, it is not clear whether Jonathan has stronger feelings for Nimreen or for Laith. That question comes into focus later in the novel.

Jonathan’s flashbacks also educate the reader about Jonathan’s experiences with anti-Semitism and childhood bullying in Pennsylvania, and his training in the Israeli paratroopers, which the bullying may have motivated. The flashbacks also provide insight into the family background of Laith and Nimreen, and of a visit Jonathan made to his grandfather in Greece. The novel’s power is rooted in the oppression that each family has endured.

That power gains full force in the present, when Jonathan’s service in the IDF showcases his conflict between his loyalty to the soldiers with whom he serves and his belief that Palestinians have cause to protest Israel’s resistance to their call for freedom. Not surprisingly, before he is drafted, conflict arises between Nimreen and Jonathan because he will not join draft resisters who refuse to help Israel oppress Palestinians. Returning to the United States would be an easy way to resolve the dilemma, but Jonathan struggles to understand whether that would be an honorable solution. Jonathan is young and he craves the approval of his family (both his immediate relatives and the larger family of Jewish Israelis), not just Nimreen’s.

The novel points to the ways in which people are the same (which are fundamental) and the ways in which they are different (which are shaped by history and experience). The story suggests that understanding individual and cultural differences without losing sight of our commonality is the key to overcoming the hostility and violence that are bred by fears and prejudices and by honest differences of political opinion.

At the same time, the novel tests the adage “love conquers all.” It is possible for Jonathan and Nimreen to love each other, but can that love survive when Jonathan joins the IDF? The novel doesn’t back away from the question or answer it with a Pollyannaish view of love.

The story builds toward a dramatic moment that might turn friend against friend, but it builds drama upon a foundation of honesty rather than melodrama. The reader expects that moment to arrive, but the story’s climax is no less powerful for that. It is easy to admire Jonathan’s courage when he stands up to IDF propaganda and insists that the truth about the dramatic moment be known, despite the government’s attempt to fix blame on Palestinians for Jonathan’s misstep and to shelter the IDF from well-deserved criticism. At the same time, it is easy to sympathize with Jonathan, a young man who has no desire to be courageous or to make moral choices, who just wants his life to return to a simpler time when love and friendship were not imperiled by political conflict. Readers who appreciate novels that opt for a realistic portrayal of difficult struggles rather than a simplistic "we're good, they're bad" perspective will find much to admire in Sadness Is a White Bird.

RECOMMENDED

3.5 Stars* (rounded down)

Jonathan is 19 years old, when, at the start of the novel, he is incarcerated in an military prison, for what we do not know. Writing letters to someone named Laith, pouring his heart out. And so it begins.

Jonathan returns to Israel with his family after having lived abroad, specifically so that he can serve his Country. Unexpected he makes fast friends with two Palestinian twins: Nimreen and Laith - and the three become inseparable. This friendship, it conflicts with his belief system and his need to serve. Yet it is the most natural thing in the world as he, Laith and Nimreen are one in the same. Yet nothing is ever that simple. At least not in times of war.

At times, lovely, poignant and sad, though somewhat slow moving, “Sadness is a White Bird” is a beautiful coming of age story about the fragility of friendship and family. It is told with compassion and love.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and Moriel Rothman-Zecher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on Goodreads and NetGalley on 4.15.18.

Lyrical debut novel about an Israeli teenager, Yonatan, who befriends Palestinian twins Laith and Nimreen just prior to his entering the draft to defend the occupied Palestinian territories. The trio share a brief but intense friendship that is complicated by the bitter divide between Arabs and Jews in Palestine.

The author has a decided viewpoint here, but that's his prerogative and it didn't detract (for me) from the story or the sheer strength and beauty of his writing. I loved all of the characters, especially gentle and sensitive Laith. I appreciated the humanity Rothman-Zecher brought to a conflict as old as time that will probably never, ever be resolved.

Highly recommend to readers who enjoy books about different cultures and those who appreciate stellar writing.

Thanks for NetGalley and Atria books for an ARC of this novel. My review, however, is based on the hardcover version.

This is probably the hardest review I’ve ever had to write, for several reasons. First, I fully acknowledge how important this book is, particularly if people want to understand the types of dilemma that progressive leaning Israelis go through when trying to reconcile themselves to the realities of the country they love, which doesn’t always act honorably towards their minority citizenry. There are sections in this book that were very difficult to read, especially because I know how truthful they were. However, I also know that those same depicted incidents weren’t (and still aren’t) the whole story, and thankfully, Rothman-Zecher does include some passages that point this out. Despite that, what worries me is that some people might gloss over or even ignore the more positive counter-stories and focus only on the negative ones. I know that sounds a bit vague, but I really don’t want to get into any specifics. Leave it to suffice that I had to stop reading this novel about half the way through because I felt that there was too much bias on one side portrayed here, and that depressed me. In fact, I almost gave up on finishing the book, but someone I trust convinced me to go back and finish it, and I’m glad I did.

This doesn’t mean this still isn’t a poignant book, because it is. However, there are several sections in the second half of the book that mitigate some of the more demoralizing parts in the first half, so it didn’t feel like this novel was a type of one-sided propaganda. Even so, one of the other reasons why I had a hard time with this novel was how disjointed it all felt. Rothman-Zecher writes in a stream-of-consciousness style, that can be very confusing, particularly when he brings the past and the present together without warning. Some of the timeline mixtures do get certain prefaces, but even with these, there were still times when found it difficult to understand what was happening, and when these events were taking place. Perhaps some of this disorder could have been solved had Rothman-Zecher substituted some of the first-person letter to Laith with sections that used a different literary mechanic.

That said, I must admit that Rothman-Zecher does have a way with words and I believe him to be a very talented writer. I found this to be a very lyrical work of fiction, which is highly poetic at times and not just because he quotes some beautiful lines by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish (including from "A Soldier Dreams of White Lilies," one line of which is the title of this novel), as well as the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai (not my favorite, but that’s beside the point). The overall atmosphere that Rothman-Zecher succeeds in giving us here is one that I can best describe as being a frenzied dream, which is generally effective, if a touch exaggerated at times. In fact, there are many places in this book where Rothman-Zecher’s language is so evocative, you’ll want to re-read them, just to savor their beauty, even when they describe something distasteful or ugly. All of this fully enhances the feeling of not knowing how to cope with such deeply conflicting emotions, which I believe is the essence of what Rothman-Zecher was trying to portray here. For this alone, Rothman-Zecher deserves kudos, and I still recommend reading this book, although I’m afraid the drawbacks I mentioned above force me to give this book only three and a half stars out of five.

“There’s nothing ‘not political’ in Palestine, habibi.”

Jonathan grew up in the United States, but now his family is in Israel, the land of his mother’s birth. He’s visited Auschwitz where much of his family died, and he can’t wait to turn eighteen so that he can train to be an Israeli paratrooper. Enough with being ‘people of world’, he figures; he wants to be a Jewish warrior, the ‘people of the sword,’ and exact some payback. A friendship with two Palestinian teenagers complicates his life in ways he didn’t expect. I received an advance review copy of this exquisitely rendered story free, courtesy of Net Galley and Atria Books in exchange for this honest review.

Twin siblings Laith and Nimreen are Palestinians, but long days at the beach and twilit evenings spent with Jonathan, getting high and telling ridiculous jokes, blur the social boundaries observed by most Jews, and by most Palestinians. With the absurd idealism peculiar to young people that haven’t run up hard against life’s limitations, Jonathan thinks that he can have both, that he can become an Israeli soldier and keep his friendships separate from his new career. His friends know better, but still they love him.

There’s only one way to tell a story like this one, and that’s as a tragedy; that’s exactly what Rothman-Zecher does, but he does it better than anyone else I can imagine. This doomed friendship becomes more deeply intimate the closer the day comes when Jonathan must report for duty. Ultimately it becomes a bizarre love triangle in which our young protagonist has a sexual relationship with both of them—though fortunately not simultaneously. For a good long while this lodges in my craw, and as the story continues, I am too revolted to focus. As brilliantly written as this story is, I was headed in the direction of a four star review in protest; that was true, anyway, until I recognized the allegory. Then I was over it.

Nimreen is a teenager too, but she lives with the partitioned state every damn day of her life. She knows that Jonathan can’t have it both ways, but she hopes against hope that he’ll change his mind, that he won’t go into the service. And as Jonathan and his friends try to do anything, go anywhere where there are other people, we see exactly how polarized this place has become. They can’t hitchhike together; there are so many places where either Jonathan isn’t safe, or Laith and Nimreen are not permitted. He goes through a checkpoint where, without his suspicious-looking friends, he would simply have been waved through, and he finds out what it’s like to have one’s homeland invaded.

Rothman-Zecher does a splendid job of depicting exactly how difficult this question is. If I ask myself, have Jews been systematically robbed of their possessions, their homes, and sometimes their lives across not just hundreds of years, but across centuries? I know the answer is yes. I knew it before, but this story drives it home in a way that is visceral. And do Jews deserve to have a home that nobody can ever, ever take from them again? Again, the answer is absolutely yes.

But then we look at the Palestinians, indigenous people living in the Third World at a bare subsistence level. Their homes are almost all they possess, and does anyone have the right to march in, evict them from this place and chase them away from their homes, their families, their livelihoods? Oh hell no, of course not.

In this epic story, Rothman-Zecher bridges the scholarly with the deeply personal, fulfilling a task that can only be achieved by excellent fiction. This searing debut has put this writer on the map definitively and marked him as a new voice in literature.

Highly recommended.

My Review: 4.5 stars

Sadness Is A White Bird is a special book. That’s how one of my FB followers described it on my Tell Me What You’re Reading Tuesday prompt. Something about the word special called out to me and I started it immediately. Yes, it is special as well as a heart-wrenching look into the conflicted emotions of a young Jewish man about to sign up for the Israeli Army.

Told in one long letter, we learn from the start that he’s in a military prison, which prison and why he’s in prison is yet to be learned. With beautiful prose, he shares his story of his relationship with two Arab friends, twins, a boy and a girl. Watching how they live, how they’re alike and how they differ begins to challenge our protagonist’s feelings and beliefs. His pride in Judaism and his family’s history as Jew’s from Greece are now becoming less and less important as he falls deeply into their world.

They imagery is stark, the time periods don’t go in order, the sex is graphic, yet this story will have you thinking for days. The author brings the POVs of the conflicting sides to the forefront, with no sugar coating. We can then understand what Jonathan is feeling and trying to piece together.

At nineteen, Jonathan’s passion for what he believes is immense in measure. When that becomes tested, he begins to flounder as he wrestles with his feeling. This is a literary novel and one in which you savor some of the sentences by their beauty and meaning. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Jonathan, at 19, is the narrator of this novel, told in letters written to his friend Laith from military prison in Israel.

This novel is about the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine, but on a much more personal level. It is about family and family history, and how that molds our path. It is about friendship and the barriers that arise, how far intimacy can go when it confronts your identity. I found it overall to be just a bit too long, but enjoyed the read.

Jonathan moved with his family to Israel, where he is getting ready to join the military. In his younger years he befriends Palestinian twins, after his mother meets their mother at a protest.

Jonathan is Jewish, and is finding his identity inside Israel where he is the majority, an experience he hadn't had in the United States. His new friendships are tenuous, and he instinctively hides his friendship with Laith and Nimreem from his Israeli-Jewish friends. (Laith and Nimreem, coincidentally, also consider themselves to be Israeli but have to endure far more curfews and checkpoints than Jonathan does.)

At one point he goes to Greece to explore his family's roots, and he uncovers still-present racism, hatred, and learns more about the deaths of his family members, and the destruction of their lives there. This is a part of who he is and why he wants to be in the military, but there is a bit of idealism in his sense of duty, of military service. Nimreem knows this and confronts him in various ways, from yelling to poetry (the work of Mahmoud Darwish is important in this novel, and the title comes from one of his poems), but it takes him more time and experience to understand what she is trying to say.

Review posted at BookBrowse: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index.cfm/ref/pr236928

A powerful and exceptional story told from 19-year old Jonathan’s perspective, a young man preparing to serve in the Israeli army, yet sitting in a jail cell with plenty of time for contemplation and reflection. His letters and journaling are expertly written by Author Rothman-Zecher. Heartbreaking and stunning are the first words that come to mind. They capture the spirit, thoughts and feelings of a this young man from 2 years past to present, the Palestinian-Israali conflict and the effect it has on his relationship with Palestinian twins Laith and Nimreen. This book is a treasure, clearly has a message about political conflict and packs a punch.

Lovely book that likely won't change any minds about Palestine and Israel but is well written and definitely worth a read. Rothman-Zecher is trying to reach people and spread a positive message by telling the story of Jonathan, a young American, and his new friends, brother and sister Nimreen and Leith. Nicely written. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's always nice to read a novel which tries to bridge a huge gap.

I have so many feelings swimming through my head after finishing this novel. Beware it is a heavy subject that will garner strong feelings. I thought Johnathan’s narrative worked perfectly in allowing the reader to feel firsthand the experience of this conflict on those living through it. Is it hopeless to think that peace will ever exist in this region? I hope not.

*Added note... something that has really annoyed lately is that it seems like almost every book I’ve read recently has included ‘detailed’ sexual relationships. I appreciate sexuality where it’s relevant, but excessive details are not needed in most cases and end up taking away from the story.

Sadness is a White Bird examines both sides of the Israeli Palestinian conflict through the eyes of a young American Israeli man, Jonathan. Born in Israel but raised in the United States, his family returns to Israel to be with his ailing grandfather while Jonathan completes high school and joins the army. While a student, he becomes close with the twin son and daughter of his motherçs Palastinian friend.

The story opens with Jonathan in a military jail….what brought him to this situation? Well written and lyrical, this is a story of friendship, allegiance and duty. The ending may be a bit unsatisfying to some, but I think it apt for the historical and political context of this conflict.

This book will make you think, feel, and want to discuss.

Years ago, I remember watching a documentary about friendships between young adults enduring this political crisis, Like that film, this novel will also stay with me for a long time. The writing was beautiful, the characters incredibly real, the political crisis acute, and the relationships between all the characters were not only surprising at times, but deeply intimate and conflicted. I don't want to give anything away, but when I got toward the end, my first thought was no, don't let the injured be (him).Then, as the ending revealed more (and less), I realized how perfect an ending this really was for the novel. Damn, what a beautiful novel about loyalty and growth.

This is a very strong debut novel from Moriel Rothman-Zecher. It addresses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a touching and humanizing way, with a young protagonist questioning his personal beliefs, family history, and role in the ongoing violence. My only critique of the book is that it takes a while to hit its stride, but has the reader firmly in its grip by the end. Overall, a powerful narrative and definitely worth a read.

Extraordinary! I had started this book 2 days ago...a day after having surgery....loved it immediately...but between lots of extra sleep - it wasn’t until today, when I read most of it in a final sweep sitting. For those whom I owe messages to - forgive me — this novel became impossible to put down.

We know Jonathan is in an Israeli military jail at the start of this novel.....
This story absolutely takes your breath away - so incredibly well written -
Many of my own memories came rushing back to me when I was young and foolish hitchhiking in Israel with my Israeli boyfriend - who asked me to marry him - ( I said no)...and a group of friends - going up into the mountains in places where Palestinians lived. We took pictures of families living in tents...remembering risks ....and crazy fun days.....also remembering when I studied at the University of Haifa.
But this book does something soooo brilliant- the best I’ve ever read -about a soldier questioning his heritage, his loyalty to his tribe.
It’s SO PERSONAL and REAL.....I LOVED IT!

The characters - the relationships - and the dialogue create such crystalline truth that our hearts ache!!! Fridays in this book will never be forgotten.

“We did see each other the next Friday, Laith, and the Friday after that, and the one after that, until it became a quasireligious ritual that none of us atheistic wanted to desecrate. Almost every Friday night for the next eight months. These Friday nights
with you and Nimreen became the highlight of my weeks, surpassing even the late evenings with Avichai and Rinat and the others, where our conversations focused more and more around our upcoming draft dates”.

There was something very special between Jonathan,(or called Yonatan), and twins, Laith and Nimreen. Jonathan kept his Fridays —and friendship with the two sisters from his other friends for a long time.
As to whether or not Jonathan‘s secrecy was precautionary having the foresight to see that ugliness could arise given that they were Palestinian and he a Jew..... or if he was fooling himself into believing that if he kept the two worlds separate then he might never have to choose between the two.....was the tightrope he walked.

On those Fridays the three of them laughed constantly, smoked at least a kilogram of marijuana, enjoyed the beaches, sometimes they went to Brit al-Asal, to the Twins family’s house. Another time they had lunch at his family‘s place in Pardes Ya’akov— but much of the time they just wandered.... hitchhiking.....having so much fun taking care of each other.
Laith and Nimreen were well on their way to making Yonatan an honorary Palestinian.
Jonathan thought about how his friends or grandfather- Saba Yehuda -would react if they knew that Jonathan felt complemented, validated, and elated to be part of the siblings world. Another part of him felt strange and bad. He was not a Palestinian. He also didn’t actually want to become one.

Saying much more - as to what happened - and why Jonathan is in prison would be too much of a spoiler.

Definitely one of the best books out this year....political upheaval has never felt more in your face.

Sadness is a White Bird is a beautiful and sad story of Jonathan, who is in a military jail in Israel. Much of the book is addressed to Laith and serves as a letter of love/apology to Laith and his twin sister, Nimreen. Prior to joining the Israeli army, Jonathan befriends Laith and Nimreen, who are Palestinians; his new friends lead to a great conflict for Jonathan, who has always identified prominently as a Jewish man and Israeli.

He finds himself torn between a) his love for his family, his family's expectation that he join the army to defend Israel, and his identification as an Israeli and b) his love for his Palestinian friends who show him the impact of Israeli occupation through their shared times together and when Nimreen introduces Jonathan to her grandmother. In particular, Jonathan's conflict is underlined by the traumatic stories of displacement and death experienced by his grandfather, Yehuda, and Laith and Nimreen's grandmother, Selsabeel. These stories were heartbreaking.

Additionally, woven throughout the book are snippets of poetry that Nimreen and Laith share with Jonathan. I was so pleased to be introduced to these poems, including Identity Card and A Soldier Dreams of White Lilies, both written by Mahmoud Darwish.

<spoiler> There is one part of the book that didn't work for me. I expected that Jonathan had committed some transgression to end up in military jail. When I learned that he had shot a tear gas canister into a crowd and hurt Laith...instead of being heartbroken, it pulled me momentarily out of the story, as it seemed like too extreme of a coincidence. </spoiler>

I was hovering between 4 and 5 stars and I've finally settled on 5 stars for Sadness is a White Bird. At this point, it seems that the majority of readers were swept away by this story. I too loved it, although I don't think that I reached the same transcendent levels as others.

When we’re young, we see all the things we want to change, believing those changes to be easy to accomplish. We find, define our own idea of beauty, we find, define the idea of what we want our “home” to be like, to feel like, a place where our values are part of our lives, our days, where we find acceptance of those values among those we love. Living in harmony. Finding forgiveness from others, from ourselves – hopefully, ultimately – for those we’ve hurt, offended. If we’re lucky, we find love, and build upon that love so that it lasts a lifetime.

This story is told through letters written by Jonathan, who spent some of his youth in America, but returns to Israel where his grandfather, who lived through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, convinces him of the honor and duty inherent in serving Israel. Led by the words of his grandfather, Jonathan becomes devoted to his grandfather’s dreams of recapturing some of that which he lost when they were forced to leave Palestine. At the same time he is befriending twins Laith and Nimreen, Palestinian Arabs.

“Through the corridors of sleep
Past the shadows dark and deep
My mind dances and leaps in confusion.
I don't know what is real,
I can't touch what I feel
And I hide behind the shield of my illusion.
So I'll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end,
And Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall.”
-- Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall – lyrics by Paul Simon

Laith and his twin sister, Nimreen, became his voices of the other side of the political divide, although not in the beginning, but as time goes by the friendship becomes strained. Loving someone whose ideologies are so far apart complicates their relationships, Jonathan is convinced he is right to follow the plan his grandfather had outlined for him for so many years, and Laith and Nimreen are equally convinced of their view being right.

“The mirror on my wall
Casts an image dark and small
But I'm not sure at all it's my reflection.
I am blinded by the light
Of God and truth and right
And I wander in the night without direction.
So I'll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end,
And Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall.”
-- Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall – lyrics by Paul Simon

Through these letters, thoughts, journal entries, he writes to Laith, recalling memories of times long ago to this friend he feels he’s lost along the way, sharing his thoughts and feelings. The setting, as he writes this, is in an Iranian military jail cell, four days after his nineteenth birthday. The story of how he came to be there, of everything that precedes this, everything that led to this point in time told in flashbacks of time.

It's no matter if you're born
To play the King or pawn
For the line is thinly drawn 'tween joy and sorrow,
So my fantasy
Becomes reality,
And I must be what I must be and face tomorrow.
So I'll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end,
And Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall
-- Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall – lyrics by Paul Simon

I loved the inclusion of some lines from the poem that the title of this book is based on, “A Soldier Dreams of White Tulips” by Mahmoud Darwish, and another poem, “My Mother Baked the Whole World for Me“ by Yehuda Amichai. I loved that it included the fact that there are 26 words for love in Arabic, including ‘Al-Jouah,’ a “love that leaves you with a feeling of, like, deep sadness,” now I have a word for what I feel after reading this amazingly lovely, yet incredibly sad story.

A beautifully rendered, poignant story, part coming-of-age, partly a story that shows the ravages of war on those carrying out the orders of those waging it, the idealism behind the scene, and the devastation - physical, mental and emotional - of actually being in the battle. This is also, in part, a love story, but certainly not your average love story.


Pub Date: 13 Feb 2018

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Atria Books

4 hearty stars!

Okay. So apparently I’m a person who holds a grudge. I realize a grudge makes me pretty huffy and grumpy, so I was sitting there annoyed as hell at the situation—mad at both the book and my snit. Grudges are uncool and they can ruin things.

I was dying to read this book, as my friends had chirped and chirped about it, flying around my To Be Read shelf, persuading me to grab this one next. “Oh goodie!” I chirped back. I’m on it.

And right away, the lyrical language, the intriguing hero, the first-person narration, the tone, the prison setting—all of this grabbed me, and I was all smiles and strut. Just look at that Joy Jar!

Ah but then the grudge was born . . .
Wait a minute, all of the sudden there were long Hebrew and Arabic conversations. Sure, everything was translated, but all of these secret sentences were a total distraction, plus they broke up the cool flow, the cool rhythm.

I like to look at words, folks. I like to swallow them and wallow in them. But it’s a no-brainer that I have to understand the words, otherwise they get caught in my throat, useless and prickly. And of course I didn’t understand the Hebrew and Arabic words. Why so many sentences in other languages? The fact that there were two languages made it harder, translations coming fast, back and forth, as conversations in two languages took place. Total confusion for me.

I knew I’d never remember one single word, so my reading enjoyment went right out the window. Tons of sentences full of letter combos that made no sense. As the foreign phrases multiplied like a virus, I found myself getting really pissed. It started to ruin the story for me. I realize that the author was going for authenticity, but the story was plenty authentic without it. And then my grudge started. Oh I was stubborn in my pissed-ness. I wanted to scream “Stop it! English, please!” I want words that I can understand, without the interruption of lines of translation.

So every time a foreign sentence appeared, I steamed. I lived for the English sentences, the flow that charmed me. I would look at upcoming pages and my mood would be affected by whether I could see foreign words or not. OMG, I realized that I was holding a grudge! I didn't want to forgive the author for what he had done to me. Nope, I refuse to be pulled into this wonderful story, so there!

But you know what? Miraculously, as I got more and more seduced by the story (which happened relatively fast), my grudge disappeared. Maybe the author cut back on the Hebrew and Arabic dialogue, or maybe I just didn’t even see it anymore. I was so relieved that I had ditched the grudge! I felt like I had become a grown-up, I had matured, had settled down like a good citizen, a good reader. Personal growth and all that, lol.

Oops. I better tell you what the book is about and delve deeper into that overstuffed Joy Jar, before I tell you about the other item on my Complaint Board (because yes, I’m sad to say there is yet another gripe, and it’s a two-parter!).

What’s this book about?
This is a modern coming-of-age story set in Israel. It’s about a young Jewish guy, Jonathan, who falls in love with Arab twins, a young woman and man. Jonathan ends up in a military prison, and it’s from his cell that he talks in his head to his Arab lovers, reviewing their intense relationship, reminiscing about the good old days, thinking about stories they had passed around, and explaining his struggles (understatement) and how he ended up in military prison.

Before I return to the dreaded Complaint Board, let me tell you that the Joy Jar is filled to the brim. Actually it’s overflowing.

Joy Jar

-Beauteous essentials. I know I’m repeating myself, but I need to make it clear that there is more joy than whine in my feelings about this book. The characters, the setting, the tone, the pace, the plot, the climax, the first-person voice—all just beauteous. This writer is a great storyteller.

-Ah, the language. What we have here are gorgeous sentences, lyrical and rich. This author definitely knows how to seduce you with words. (I’m sitting on my hands: I would love to let you see some of sentences, but I can’t because I read an advance copy and I’m not supposed to quote.)

-Emotional creatures. It’s always magic when the characters are so well portrayed that their emotions, both what they feel inside and what they show outside, are explosive, and you totally buy it. This guy Jonathan, oh he is so verklempt, and with good reason. I loved this conflicted, morally complex character.

-Boing, rubber-band tension. In real life, tension is so bad, but in a book, it’s soooo good! Because there are two worlds here, that of the Jews and that of the Arabs, that are fighting over land, there is always underlying tension between this group of three lover-friends. It’s palpable, and though it made me unchy—their intense and sometimes strained conversations, their trips together through a war-torn land—it kept me completely hooked. Will they get through checkpoints? Is it really a good idea to hitchhike together? Will they be able to stay friends? Stuff like that. Oh, if that rubber band breaks. . . .

Oh, that last third of the book…I love you! The last part of the book is electric; all boldface exclamation marks!!! There’s an event that is so powerful, so full of emotion and tension, it blew my mind. There’s also a juicy twist at the end.

Okay, I’m sad to have to go back to the Complaint Board, but I can’t just ignore it, can I? This naggy-saggy gripe sort of breaks down into two parts:

-Don’t teach me a thing or two. This was somewhat of a message book, which is a huge minus for me. I don’t like it when there seems to be an agenda to teach me a thing or two. I find it pedantic, condescending, and distracting (in that it moves away from plot). This happens both in conversations and in old war stories about relatives who have suffered. The stories did affect the main character’s outlook and actions, so in that way, they were useful and pertinent. For me, though, they seemed lecture-y. Luckily, the message-y part wasn’t loud, plus it served a purpose (affecting the main character), so it did not ruin the story for me.

-Politics? Political history? Let me hide! The book was too political for me. My eyes tend to glaze over when military history is the deal. Still, the story was so riveting I didn’t much care.

So yes, I’m a big whiner. This isn’t news. I have to say, though, that all of these complaints do not override the power of this novel, no way. The main character is morally complex, and I just love it when a book is about conscience. And it made me think about conflict and how it hurts, about loyalty and love, about the atrocities of war, about fear and fearlessness, about the innocence of youth.

It’s an amazing and brilliant book that is a 2017 favorite. I’m so very glad my friends chirped. A special thanks to Esil, whose chirp was in the form of a recommendation sent my way.

(By the way, I love the cover. And once you read the book, you’ll see that it has a lot of meaning.)

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

Oh, wow, this book was so gorgeous and moving and amazing! (Sorry I'm not more enthusiastic about it.)

Jonathan has just turned 19 and is serving in the Israeli army, a responsibility he has taken very seriously. Yet when Sadness is a White Bird begins, Jonathan is in a military prison, telling his story as a letter of sorts to one of his best friends. But how did someone so eager to serve his country wind up in prison, doubting whether military action against the Arabs is the right thing to do?

Although he was born in Israel, Jonathan and his family lived in Pennsylvania for a number of years before he persuaded them to return to their homeland so he could serve in the army, as required of all Israeli citizens. Jonathan's grandfather, who was from the Greek city of Salonica (also known as Thessaloniki), saw his entire community wiped out by the Holocaust, and through his sorrow, played a role in the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel in 1948, so Jonathan sees military service as a family inheritance.

When he meets brother and sister Laith and Nimreen, twin children of one of his mother's Palestinian friends, the three become immediately inseparable. Through their weekly adventures, they talk, share poems (and joints), and Jonathan begins to see what life in Israel is like for Arabs. While his first reaction is to defend his country's efforts to protect itself from militant Arabs, Nimreen and Laith try to explain Palestinians' allegiance to the same country, yet view their treatment by Israelis as persecution not protection. It's not long before Jonathan wonders if he really believes in the country he will be defending, whether it is possible to love your country yet question its motives at the same time.

The story weaves back and forth between Jonathan's time with Nimreen and Laith and the growing love he has for both of him, and his time in the military, leading up to the actions which land him in prison. Nimreen and Laith don't understand why Jonathan is still so adamant about serving in the military when he has begun to see that blind allegiance is not the only path, and it strains their relationship. Jonathan is torn between pride in his country and the comradeship he finds in the army, and knowing one day he may come in direct conflict with people dear to Laith and Nimreen.

This is an absolutely beautiful and poignant book, in part a coming-of-age novel, in part a story of self-discovery, as well as a story about how our idealism and naivete change as we grow older. This is a story about longing and belonging, about how sometimes there is a gap between what is expected and what is right. Moriel Rothman-Zecher does such a wonderful job taking you along Jonathan's path of self-discovery, feeling the things he feels, and he keeps you in suspense as to why he is in prison, and whether the letter he is writing will ever reach its intended audience.

I absolutely loved this book and found it very surprising at times. The characters are so memorable, and Rothman-Zecher's storytelling is so lyrical and beautiful. It will be some time before I get this one out of my head, not that I want to.

NetGalley and Atria Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!