An Improbable Friendship: The Remarkable Lives of Israeli Ruth Dayan and Palestinian Raymonda Tawil and Their Forty-Year Peace Mission
By: Anthony David / Narrated By: Denise Chamberlain
Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
An amazing book about two truly amazing women
Up front, let me just point out that another reviewer thought the narration of Denise Chamberlain was wholly and completely unacceptable. I s’pose I’ve just gotta take his/her word for the woman mispronouncing names and places as I am almost enTIREly ignorant of the whole Israel/Palestine issue until a couple of decades ago. Yes, I was indeed that shallow growing up. Many was the time that the book referred to some horrific event that SHOULD have been in the realm of my awareness given my age at the time, but I’m ashamed to say: I was oblivious and uncaring. Things in Europe were a bigger deal, and even then I’m afraid I wasn’t very much engaged. Now, what I CAN say about the narration is that Chamberlain has a tendency of pronouncing a name or place or thing one way, then she says it differently the next time it comes up. And bless her heart, ‘twould appear she has a sigNIFicant problem with philosopher names. Poor dear.
Then too, there’s one verrry long stretch within the audiobook where it’s obvious that a lot of audio edits were necessary. Plenty of changes in production sound that are jarring and unfortunate. Little things like that, it turns out, make me quite peeved. But I’ll shut up about that and will let you know that she does voices well (And a different reviewer said she had friends from the area who spoke exactly as she does), and she delivers the main narrative with a good amount of energy and emotion. So no problem there.
And now onward to the story. When the Publisher’s Summary (Yeh yeh yeh, I’m still reading those before I listen, dunno what’s wrong with me) states that the book’s about the pasts of both Ruth and Raynonda, it’s not kidding. Don’t expect the friendship to occur in anything but fast-forwards until the two meet… about five hours, halfway in. Don’t get me wrong: I am totally into history, and heaven knows I did the Oblivious Git thing when it came to the history of the people and places of the time, but I thought that the friendship between the two women was the most dynamic part of the book.
But I did find myself intensely interested in what shaped the two women, especially Raymonda. Though Ruth’s life is compelling as written, it’s the trials and tribulations that Raymonda went through as one who is on the losing side, what with interrogation and death threats occurring, that is awe-inspiring. I dunno, I suppose that Ruth, again: As written, seems less tried. She did have to live with Moshe Dayan’s relentless womanizing, his rages, the way he added to/shaped their children’s upbringing, and she was indeed very much a champion of women and the impoverished, finding employment and empowerment for new immigrants, but really. That pales in comparison to a woman, Raymonda, using a tape recorder as her “Kalashnikov” to fight injustice, and it’s in no way like a car bomb blowing up in front of the house.
It was hilarious how the book chronicled sooo many spats the women had with each other, each based on their basic loyalties. And it was, I’ve used the word before but really: AWE-inspiring! the way they’d continually find common ground and would remember the huge respect they had for each other.
I’m not sure, but I thiiiink the Palestinians come out looking better, and I’m not sure that that’s an unbiased opinion. I mean, author Anthony David doesn’t exactly gloss over atrocities Palestinian terrorists committed, but the narrative rather speeeeds by as executions being carried out on people who were simply riding a bus are discussed, with the statement: People who have nothing to lose will… Whereas atrocities the Israelis committed are rather hung on. So either there’s a bit of a bias, or Israel really does have a lot to answer for. Anyway, don’t expect anyone coming out looking innocent. And it’s just that which makes the fact that both Ruth and Raymonda were wishing desperately for a single-state homeland rather than two states so gosh darned inspirational. If THEY could approach not just discord but histories of extreme violence and still wish to live side-by-side, cheeks firmly turned, I mean, wow! How extraordinary is that?!?
Also, the book, in asides from Ruth and Raymonda, does indeed humanize Moshe and Arafat. Moshe doesn’t come out so well, looks petty, but at least we’re reminded that Ruth married a farmer, not a warmonger. And Arafat, after some extremes, does indeed come out looking as though he honestly and truly wished to work within the process, to work for peace. Plus it’s charming how mother-in-law Raymonda took to bypassing all of Arafat’s guards to see him without his say or anything. While mothers-in-law can be pushy, my bet is that Raymonda simply would NOT take “No” as an option to her wishes.
You don’t have to be well-versed in the history of the region, of names, dates, facts… OBVIOUSLY if I could keep up, so will anybody else. But you do need to be ready to feel great amounts of frustration, irritation, even outraged anger.
But if two such women could meet during a heated exchange and come to love the other, who the heck am I to get tetchy?!?
Still, I think you’ll find yourself feeling extremes of SOMEthing.
And isn’t that the glory of listening to audiobooks?
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.