Jerusalem: The Story of a City and a Family

A family history of involvement in some of the early days of the creation of modern Israel. From a pro-Israel/semi-pro-zionist perspective. The drawings are well done, the writing is ok too. While the authors make an attempt to represent some of the horrors of war, they clearly also have a fascination with combat and heroics. About half the pages are dedicated to some kind of battle, conflict, shooting or blowing up of things. ( )

An epic story about three generations swept up in tumultuous, violent historical events in the years 1940-1948.
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The story of the Halaby family and their experiences in Jerusalem 1940-1948 as British Palestine is on the verge of becoming the State of Israel. The story is very engaging and heartfelt, but the times were thus so that's not too surprising. The scenes that deal with human interaction (rather than battles) are well worth the read, but unfortunately the art is such that I had an extremely hard time telling the characters apart and it became a struggle to follow the different storylines. I'd recommend it for someone who already has a grasp of the historical events, but I think the politics would be hard to follow unless you know, for example, the difference between the Irgun and the Haganah. ( )

The story of a Jerusalem family in a turbulent time, the 1940s, when war, faith and politics cause division among family members. ( )

The year is 1940. The place is Jerusalem. And there is war all around. Not only is World War II continuing and taking away the men and boys of Israel to fight Hitler’s armies, but Jews and Arabs are fighting once more within Jerusalem. This story follows three generations of the same family, 15 members in total, from 1940-1948, through war, through jail, through faith, and through death. This is a story that will not let you go.

This has been one of the most difficult books for me to review, not only because of the content (which at times draws close to some buried family secrets) but also because of the way the story is told. Boaz is a filmmaker at heart and it shows in how he writes and plots his stories as he moves from one person to the next and then back again to pick up the characters tale. It’s a powerful and interesting way to create a story, but at the same time there were times I got lost and needed a scorecard to keep up with the characters (of which thankfully there was one in the front.) It took me two read throughs to see the entire story, which is probably more my reading style than that of Boaz's writing. That aside though, this is a powerful story and is one that you’ll want to read again and again to see what you might have missed. Although Boaz fictionalized parts of the story, much of it still has the feel of a biography which makes it even more interesting to read.

Nick’s black and white illustrations make it feel like we’re watching one of those old classic black and white films and gives the film a sense of heaviness, of reality that grounds the story and helps keep it real. We watch as the characters grow and change during this 8 year time period and come to life. Although the illustrations are relatively simple, Nick adds details to keep visual interest that will keep the reader looking for visual imagery that enhances the story.

This is one of those books that you need to have a box of tissues next to you and a computer handy so that you can lookup aspects of the history, not to verify anything, but to enhance your understanding of the story and the places discussed. And once you get done...read it again. And then pass the book onto someone else. I give the book 4 out of 5 stars.

ARC provided by Gina at FirstSecond ( )