A review by kamckim
Balcony on the Moon: Coming of Age in Palestine by Ibtisam Barakat

4.0

This is a beautiful follow-up to TASTING THE SKY. On the surface, it's simply a biography of a Palestinian girl pinning her hopes and dreams on writing to lift her above the war, poverty and oppression she faces. Barakat is able to write the truth without asking for pity, which is difficult to do when talking about Palestine. By focusing on character development, the author avoids over-indulgence in history, allowing most of those details to be seen in the character of her father, who lives with a great sense of loss. The book could also be seen as a feminist manifesto for Palestinian women. Not only Ibtisam but also her mother commit themselves to education as the way toward personal peace and human dignity. Barakat is a world-class writer, committed to the power of words, a motif that started in TASTING THE SKY and continues to this day. I can't wait for her next book to learn about her college adventures.