Book Review Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe.

I wish I had read this book before my visit to Belfast in 2016.  I would have seen the city and the events that took place here in a clear light.  This well researched non-fiction book truly opened my eyes to the thirty year “Troubles” in Northern Island and dives right to the heart of the bitter and deadly conflict that gripped the people of Northern Ireland for decades.

But this conflict goes back further.  Generations and generations of people on both sides have faced off.  In fact I have just finished reading Ken Follett’s Column of Fire, where the Catholics and the Protestants were killing each other in the 1500’s.  Well, from 1972 to the late 1990’s they continued to kill each other in Northern Ireland.

Although the Irish Republic Army (IRA) claimed to always be fighting for a unified Ireland and the exit of the British, in reality the horrific conflict comes down to faith and years of family indoctrination.

This is not an easy book to read. Both for its graphic nature but also for the minutia of detail laid out in the chronological telling.  Some readers might throw in the towel.  I stuck it out because I found the nature of what happened in Ireland interesting for it’s similarity to every other conflict around the world, both past and present.  Always at the core of every conflict is one group who believes they are better than another.  It comes always down to this.

I was taken by a quote I just read that I think applies to this topic – 

God made so many kinds of people. Why would he allow only one way to serve him?” – Martin Buber

I learned a lot from this book.  A story that needed to be told.  A story of a still unresolved issues.  A story of unsolved murders with known murderers still walking free.  A story with little justice or gratifying closure for thousands of people who lost loved ones, who lost property, who still today live in fear of retribution.  

You should read this story to understand what happened here.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Five stars for Say Nothing

Read last weeks’s review of Love Thy Neighbor.

My current read – The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes.

Love Thy Neighbor: A Muslim Doctor’s Struggle for Home in Rural America.

I actually cried reading this book. People can be so cruel. And ignorant. It broke my heart. This is a true story.

In 2013 with an open heart to serve, Ayaz Virji moves to rural Minnesota to serve at a country hospital, where American doctors don’t want to be. He brings his family and looks forward to building a life in this community with his wife and children.

But then Donald Trump was elected and out of the woodwork of rural America emerged the racism. Virji’s family was faced with anti-Muslim remarks and his patients began to question whether he should be in the country.

Just as he was about to flee for the safety of his family, a local Christian pastor invited him to speak at her church about the misconceptions of Muslim practice and belief.

You want to hope that this open dialogue would make everyone realize we should all just love each other and get along. But it doesn’t. In fact it gets very rough and difficult as Virji finds himself speaking to churches around the state.

My heart goes out to this author and the trials he faced. This book might open some eyes to tolerance, but unfortunately I doubt it will. Rascism is deep and embedded and heartbreaking.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Five Stars for Love Thy Neighbor by Ayaz Virji. Read last week’s review of My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry.

My current read – The Giver of Stars

I recently reviewed Backman’s Bear Town, and wasn’t very complimentary. But in My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She is Sorry I am once again a fan. A really lovely feel good story in the vein of A Man Called Ove.

Seven-year-old Elsa is very mature for her age. Her little brain is far and away past most kids in her class. And her friendship with her sometimes “crazy” Grandma plays a key role in Elsa’s unique way of looking at the world, even as a seven-year-old. Elsa’s grandmother tells her a story about the Land of Almost Awake, a mysterious wonderland of good and evil.

But when Elsa’s Grandmother dies, Elsa embarks on a mysterious treasure hunt orchestrated by her Grandmother before her death. A series of letters apologizing to people in her Grandmother’s life will bring Elsa to a unique understanding of the remarkable woman her Grandma was, and how the Land of Almost Awake is not a fantasy afterall. In fact it is a real place and has been right under Elsa’s nose all along.

Backman’s writing pulls at your heartstrings and you will fall in love with Elsa and her eclectic collection of companions as Elsa learns from her incredible Grandma (in life and death) how kindness and courage are the greatest strengths, especially for people who are little bit different.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Five Stars for My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrick Backman. Read last week’s review of The Silent Patient.

My current read The Delight of Being Ordinary.