The Drone Eats With Me is a Gazan author's journal, written during the 2014 Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. The journal offers insights seldom discussed (in Western media): the lives of regular Gazans during the numerous conflicts with Israel. Given that this is one man's journal and his reporting of the conflict, don't read this book at an overall history of the event; it one-sided as it written by a man under the gun (or drone).

Like any first hand retelling of a life during war, this tale paints vivid pictures of a life under siege most of us would rather not have to contemplate. The manner in which the Israelis attack Gaza leaves its inhabitants guessing everything about their existence: where to get food? Is there food to be gotten? Should I remain in my home? Where in my home is safe in the event of a rocket? Is the refugee center even safe?

Drones, tanks, ships and F16s all batter the city taking with it thousands of lives and the buildings that make the city itself. The book can be repetitive at points; this is both a strength and weakness. The repetitious telling of attacks and the loss of life numbs you to it for a while; however the repetition becomes a strength when you see the footnotes on each page which list the names of those killed in each attack, giving humanity to the dead, not reducing them to mere statistics. The author has a great passage on how the constant news coverage simply focuses on the number of those killed in each attack, turning say 3 families killed by a rocket, into 16 fatalities. The author's goal is to prevent himself and his family from becoming numbers.

In addition to the loss of life, the author forces the reader to share in his daily dilemmas such as how to explain to your children what is happening (and that they will be safe, knowing they could be taken from this world at any moment) as well as conserving water, hoping for electricity, etc.

The Drone Eats with Me paints a vivid picture many of us do not have to imagine: a city under siege in which the remaining buildings echo the constant humming of the various drones always flying over everyone. ( )

Imagine war; all of the images from the news, crumbling buildings and crying faces. Now imagine that you are in the middle of it, trying to live while dodging bombs and bullets, not sure if you will ever get a moment’s peace again. For 51 days, that was the regular routine of novelist Atef Abu Saif, author of five novels and numerous newspaper articles, as he lived through the 2014 Israeli offense against the Gaza Strip. His latest entry in the canon of Israeli-Palestinian conflict writing, “The Drone Eats With Me: A Gaza Diary,” is a personal and often fearless account of Saif’s life during wartime. If there is a bias in his writing that would not be evident in his more measured newspaper writing, it is the bias of the maligned civilian who has found himself an unwilling target of powers beyond his control and comprehension.

You can read my full review of THE DRONE EATS WITH ME at the Current independent student newspaper website. A reviewer copy of the book was provided for free by the Goodreads giveaway program and Beacon Press; no other compensation was offered for this review, nor was a review required to receive the book. ( )

The diary of Atef Abu Saif makes me cry. Because I remember the destruction and the sorrow and also the terror. He does not about Hamas and its archaic rule because it's a human story, not a political campaign. I think a story like Atef's is important so that people can relate to each other, not seem themselves as separate from the violence. Regardless of where they are in the world or whether they are holding a gun in their hands, or not. ( )

It is very difficult for people who do not live in Gaza or a constant war zone to comprehend how very difficult life is for the the children and families who do live and grow up in such a violent and deadly environment. Reading this book provides the reader with some of the experiences and traumas that become part of every day life. Everyone should read this book in an effort to understand that life's challenges are very extreme and difficult in some parts of the world. While I worry about providing food, shelter and safety for my children it does not include daily bombings and enemy soldiers. Even after reading the book it's very difficult to imagine the author's struggle to survive. ( )

93. [The Drone Eats With Me: A Gaza Diary] - [[Atef Abu Saif]] – 2016

- LTER;
- GeoCat - Northern Africa & Middle East;
- Dec TIOLI #16: Read a book with the word peace in the text;
- Global Reading: Palestine

Opening quote:”When war comes, it brings with it a smell, a fragrance even. You learn to recognize it as a kid growing up in these narrow streets. You develop a knack for detecting it, tasting it in the air. You can almost see it. Like a witch's familiar, it harks in the shadows, follows you at a distance wherever you go. If you retain this skill, you tell that it's coming – hours sometimes days, before it actually arrives. You don't mistake it. “ – attribution in Arabic p. 1

”Since 1948 – before that in fact, since the British mandate began in 1917 – Gaza has barely gone ten years without a war; sometimes it's as little as two years. So everyone carries their own memories of conflict: wars stand as markers in a Gazan's life: there's one planted firmly in your childhood, one or two more in your adolescence, and so on … they toll the passing of time as you grow older like rings in a tree.” p3

In June 2014, Israel began an attack on the Gaza strip which would last until the end of August that year. Author [[Atef Abu Saif]] started writing a diary of that time, which turned into a blog and then a book. This is his story in diary form.

Abu Saif describes raid after raid on what can only be called civilian targets within the town he lives in . He talks about the total disruption of everyday life; the fear of never knowing when the next attack will come and whom among your acquaintances and family will be killed horribly or hideously maimed.

He describes in detail drone warfare, where Israeli drones constantly hover above them, controlled by operators hundreds of miles away. The operators can target whatever they like – as Abu Saif describes it, it's much like playing a video game for the drone operator. Unfortunately, any movement on the street can easily be targeted day or night.

The strength of the diary format is that everything is immediate – incidents, emotions, reactions. The weakness is that it becomes almost redundant. Destruction after destruction. Death after death. One simply cannot take it all in, and the mind becomes numb to the continuing dreadfulness.

This is the diary of an Arab Muslim man. He mentions his children, his parents and other extended family, his friends and neighbors but his wife hardly at all, except to call to find out what she needs from the market. He himself copes with the day to day horrors by taking a daily risky journey to an internet cafe as an emotional respite to escape the fear and tension in his home. I can't help wonder about his wife – what were her coping mechanisms? How did she fare?

I learned quite a bit about the history of Palestine and the Gaza strip. And by extrapolation, I learned a lot about what the ongoing continuous warfare in other Arab countries must feel like, and to understand the current flood of refugees from the countries in this region.

3.7 stars ( )