[JQN]∎ PDF Gratis Collaborator of Bethlehem Matt Beynon Rees 9781569474426 Books

Collaborator of Bethlehem Matt Beynon Rees 9781569474426 Books

Download As PDF : Collaborator of Bethlehem Matt Beynon Rees 9781569474426 Books

Collaborator of Bethlehem Matt Beynon Rees 9781569474426 Books

Rees doesn't bring anything of the background and history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict to this book, which in a way is a good thing because the focus is on the story itself. There is no Israel physical presence except for one soldier who enters the story momentarily and behaves in a businesslike fashion. Omar Yussef himself is a good man, though flawed. He is just trying to do his best as a teacher in a school in a refugee camp but finds himself caught up in political situations which he wants none of but has no choice but to do his best to help his friend, a christian, who is wrongfully accused of being a collaborator.
This book is very well written; Rees sets the scenes very vividly and his characterizations are well done. He presents the corruption of the Palestinian officials and their underlings and thugs in an accurate fashion and depicts the demoralization of the people because of this. I found the book to be depressing because of the hopelessness of the local political situation with the result that even though it was a good read, I don't think I'll be reading any of the sequels.


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Collaborator of Bethlehem Matt Beynon Rees 9781569474426 Books Reviews

Those are some of the questions that confront Omar Youssef, a teacher in his mid-50s as he struggles daily to convince his students at a UN school in Palestine's West Bank that the cult of violence is as dangerous -- if not more so -- than the injustice of the Israeli occupation. Youssef must also deal with torn loyalties in this gritty, gripping mystery, when he realizes that saving a friend or pursuing justice may can't involve the Israeli authorities. Indeed, for a novel set in the West Bank and addressing squarely some of that region's most intractable political problems, the Israelis are noticeably absent from the drama. Instead, the plot of this book revolves around the tensions within the Palestinian community, which Rees does a superb job of delineating.

When a young man -- a rebel and 'martyr' -- is gunned down outside his home, all assume that he was betrayed, and that the culprit is a Palestinian Christian, a former student and close friend of Omar's. Omar can't bring himself to believe it, and the plot unfolds from there. Rees is obviously very familiar with life in the Arab West Bank, and does a tremendous job of portraying it from the nuances -- the mannerisms, the phrases -- to the bigger themes, such as the importance of tribe and relationships (the fact that fathers, on the birth of their eldest son, become known as Abu (name of son) as an honorific becomes an important turning point in the narrative). He doesn't shy away from violence or even tragedy, all of which are too much part of the real backdrop in which his fictional characters exist -- indeed, tough as it was to read parts of this book, I still realized that ducking these issues, softening the events and the plot, would have been a dishonest choice by this acute storyteller. Rather, he makes the plight of many Palestinians -- the silent majority, perhaps? -- more acute by his fascinating portrayal of Omar Yussef. Even as the teacher deplores what his students are learning outside the classroom ("there was such violence even in his girls that it shocked him. No matter how he tried to liberate the minds of Dehaisha's children, there were always many others working still more diligently to enslave them"), stubbornly tries to remain a voice of reason.

It's rare to find a mystery novel that transcends its genre and that doesn't avoid the ugly realities of life or somehow 'pretty them up'. There are disturbing moments in this book, but they aren't there for effect, as in some slasher novel, but because that is the reality of the world in which Rees has set his characters. In a way, it's like reading the newspaper or magazine articles -- but really getting inside the lives of the people in the region, and coming to grips with their limited options and understanding some of their conflicts and decisions. We too often see the rest of the world in black and white; here's a book that emphasizes the shades of grey. Even Omar Yussef is no textbook hero -- he's an alcoholic who's been on the wagon for years, but whose hands still shake, to the scorn of the self-righteous and devout Muslims around him.

Recommended very highly to anyone who likes a gritty mystery full of detail and compelling characters; those who appreciate that life has no easy answers. (Not for anyone who is a cozy mystery addict, however...)

I promptly went out and downloaded onto my the next three books in the series, as well as an earlier non-fiction book by Rees that I hadn't run across before, but that explores some of the same themes that I saw pop up in this novel.
"The Collaborator of Bethlehem" is an astounding book in many ways. Above all, it's an insightful look at what happens to a society that has lost control of its daily life--when violent force becomes stronger than reason and order. Most people in this kind of situation hunker down and try to make themselves invisible until things get better. A few see opportunities in crisis to gain at the expense of others. Only a few refuse to surrender their humanity and morals and shun collaboration with disorder. Matt Beynon Rees' protagonist, Omar Yussef, is one of the rare breed in the third category. He is the anti-collaborationist, who lives in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, where collaboration is seen by the population as a means of survival. For some it's collaboration with the Israelis to control Palestinian militants, for most others it's a collaboration of silence that allows corruption and violence to flourish in the name of Palestinian autonomy.

Omar Yussef, a free-thinking Palestinian school teacher abhors all that has happened to his very oppressed people, but refuses to give up on hope for the future, and surprisingly, refuses to blame the Israelis for all Palestinian problems. Through his protagonist, the author also expounds convincingly on how the Israelis have condemned themselves to an unending conflict with their neighbors by continuously working to destabilize Palestinian community and family life which inevitably produces more violence directed against the Israelis themselves.

On top of everything else, "The Collaborator of Bethlehem" is a genuinely good police mystery that holds the reader's attention from page one. This is a very intelligent book, clearly demonstrating Rees' understanding of the Middle East and the complexities the Palestinian/Israeli relationship. You have to wonder whether it would be possible for an Arab or an Israeli to have written such an honest and insightful book. We should all be happy that this is published as the first in a series of mysteries. Bring on number two.
Rees doesn't bring anything of the background and history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict to this book, which in a way is a good thing because the focus is on the story itself. There is no Israel physical presence except for one soldier who enters the story momentarily and behaves in a businesslike fashion. Omar Yussef himself is a good man, though flawed. He is just trying to do his best as a teacher in a school in a refugee camp but finds himself caught up in political situations which he wants none of but has no choice but to do his best to help his friend, a christian, who is wrongfully accused of being a collaborator.
This book is very well written; Rees sets the scenes very vividly and his characterizations are well done. He presents the corruption of the Palestinian officials and their underlings and thugs in an accurate fashion and depicts the demoralization of the people because of this. I found the book to be depressing because of the hopelessness of the local political situation with the result that even though it was a good read, I don't think I'll be reading any of the sequels.