- Hardcover: 464 pages
- Publisher: Yale University Press (3 Mar 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0300141505
- ISBN-13: 978-0300141504
- Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 17.4 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 620,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness
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Review
"... has been described by an Arab scholar as "one of the five must-read books on the Middle East"." --Contemporary Review, Winter 2008
"[it] is a rich tapestry of the personal, the literary and political, skilfully woven by a sympathetic writer." --Ian Black, Guardian, 27th June 2009
"...[My Happiness is an] ambitious book ... a rich and impressive work of research..."
--Carol Cook, Haaretz, 5th July 2009
"(Hoffman's) research skills ... enables the reader to grasp a mass of historical, political and social detail... "
--www.societytoday.com, 20th April 2009
`...beautifully written...not only the biography of a remarkable man; [but] an act of reclamation against the erosion of memory.'
--Eric Ormsby, Times Literary Supplement, 11th December 2009
A beautiful and insightful biography.' --Deborah Smith, Jewish Renaissance, January 2010
`[A] beautifully written biography.'
--Eric Ormsby, Times Literary Supplement, 27th November 2009
"[it] is a rich tapestry of the personal, the literary and political, skilfully woven by a sympathetic writer." --Ian Black, Guardian, 27th June 2009
"...[My Happiness is an] ambitious book ... a rich and impressive work of research..."
--Carol Cook, Haaretz, 5th July 2009
"(Hoffman's) research skills ... enables the reader to grasp a mass of historical, political and social detail... "
--www.societytoday.com, 20th April 2009
`...beautifully written...not only the biography of a remarkable man; [but] an act of reclamation against the erosion of memory.'
--Eric Ormsby, Times Literary Supplement, 11th December 2009
A beautiful and insightful biography.' --Deborah Smith, Jewish Renaissance, January 2010
`[A] beautifully written biography.'
--Eric Ormsby, Times Literary Supplement, 27th November 2009
Review
"Veering between biography, history, journalism and memoir, this painstakingly researched work is ... unpretentious, principled and utterly charming."
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Adina Hoffman's book explores the life and times of Palestinian poet, Taha Muhammad Ali who lived through the establishment of the State of Israel. What makes her book unique is the quality of her research, the shrewdness of the questions asked. Not only has she developed a deep understanding of the poet's work, mentality and background but she has also endorsed (or refuted) every statement by reading the Israeli archives. Inevitably profoundly moving, this book never lapses into hysteria or manipulates the reader into pity. The rejection of the United Nations' original resolution to divide the land provokes the deepest regret. What an opportunity lost! And how, one wonders was the wise advice of Martin Buber and Rabbi Judah Magnes to choose the bi-national option so easily ignored?
AS one reads, one shares pain which is a direct consequence of this early political and moral blindness. And then, one longs to read the poet's works.
This book is convincing and deeply thoughtful and the author deserves much thanks.
AS one reads, one shares pain which is a direct consequence of this early political and moral blindness. And then, one longs to read the poet's works.
This book is convincing and deeply thoughtful and the author deserves much thanks.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Palestine and Israel since the 1930s through a poet's life
29 Mar 2009
Format:Hardcover
You might think that a biography of a poet who writes in Arabic of whom you've never heard is not a book you need to read. But in the case of "MY Happiness . . ." you'd be wrong. That's because this is, in addition to being a satisfying biography of one man, the best introduction I can think of to Palestinian and Israeli history since the 1930s. With an astounding command of documents in at least three languages (Arabic, Hebrew, English) in archives all over the world, and based on interviews with both Palestinian refugees and the Israeli soldiers who ousted them from their homes, Adina Hoffman has pieced together an immensely convincing and refreshingly unbiased account of how a place changed from being the homeland of one people to the homeland of another. It is so specific, so filled with detail and first-hand accounts that it reads more like a novel than a biography. Taha Muhammad Ali himself is an immensely likable if unlikely poet, and Hoffman resists the impulse, endemic to literary biography, of trying to convince us her subject is "major." She is content to convince us of his interest as a poet, his greatness as a human being, and the complexity of his fate. Adina Hoffman lives in Jerusalem and, with her husband, a translator and poet, runs a small press that publishes poetry from the Middle East. Her own writing is wonderful.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Gorgeous and moving book
18 Jun 2009
Format:Hardcover
Like the poet whose life and times she evokes, Hoffman is interested in the human side of things: the touch and texture of places to which neither modern-day Israelis nor the poet himself can return; the intricate delicacies of human interaction that make the poet, his family and their history the worthy subjects of such a meticulously researched biography. Imbricating sources which range from Israeli military documents to old 1930s newspaper microfilm to records kept by the British to local literary journals to oral histories shared by Palestinians, Hoffman has performed painstakingly thorough and balanced research on a life and times-- this is no mere biographical sketch of a single poet-- which is edifying and inspiring at once. Without a hint of cliche or the kind of demonizing of either side that are all too common in narratives from this part of the world, Hoffman achieves in her book exactly what has made American audiences of all stripes stand mesmerized by the poet, Taha Muhammad Ali. Together with Muhammad Ali's poetry (Never Mind, published by Ibis Editions, and So What, Copper Canyon Press), this book should be read by anyone who wants to feel (and not merely hear in sound-bytes) this part of the world, from up close.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Remarkable Subject, Remarkable Author
20 Jun 2009
Format:Hardcover
I loved reading this gracefully written book. A traditional art form - the life and times biography - at its best. With wisdom, grace and clarity, Adina Hoffman introduces her readers to the lived experiences of an individual man, and also the people -- Palestinians and Israelis -- who surrounded him, in tormented times. I felt introduced to a world I had not previously known. Tucked into the political story is a subtle literary history of Palestinian poetry that opens up new cultural understandings. More, my comprehension of the tragedies of Israel/Palestine has been sharpened by these pages; I predict that "My Happiness..." will make readers across the political spectrum stop in their tracks and reconsider some of their assumptions. This is an eloquent book that makes an ethical difference.
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