ON THE PLEASURES OF LIVING IN GAZA review

"Journalist and humanitarian worker Almoghayer (Shell Shocked) offers a hopeful yet devastating portrait of the Gaza Strip before the latest war. The book begins as a series of profiles of locals, including Nermine, a young fashion designer attempting to share her art with the world despite Israeli blockades; Ibrahim, a Christian who dresses up as Santa Claus for local children; and Aisha and Ashraf, a lovestruck couple finally able to wed after winning a lottery. Almoghayer’s use of the present tense for his reportage is especially effective, transporting readers to the recent but startlingly distant-feeling past and preserving the small moments of delight and generosity that make up the Gaza he remembers. The author bolsters his account with analyses of globalization and cultural changes sweeping modern Gaza despite decades of Israeli blockades and blackouts, alongside tantalizing descriptions of traditional local meals and activities. However, pleasure and positivity are ultimately tamped down by reality: the book’s final chapters abruptly shift to a narrative of the author’s own 2015 captivity in Gaza after being kidnapped by members of a local ISIS faction. The book’s epilogue and endnotes also hauntingly recontextualize much of the resilience portrayed in its earlier sections through the lens of the current war in Gaza and Israel’s campaign of destruction. This bittersweet account, while swelling with optimism, preserves a record of many tragically lost people and places"