Gaza: Beneath the Bombs – comments , reviews and coverage

You can also become a ‘fan’ of Gaza: Beneath the Bombs here on Facebook.

See here for a transcript of Sharyn’s Press TV interview in August 2011, talking about Gaza: Beneath the Bombs and the Defend the Rescuers project.

RedOsiris reviewed Gaza: BTB in February 2011 after buying a copy at a book event. Read her review here…

In December 2010, Ian Sinclair (who reviewed the book for Peace News and Znet, see below), picked Gaza: Beneath the Bombs as one of his ‘page-turners of the year’ in the Morning Star. Thanks Ian!

In a 21st December 2010 blog post, Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Territories, wrote: “…reported in a series of powerful recent books on the occupation that rely on the power of storytelling to convey the actualities of social and political set of conditions. I would recommend highly the following recent books for capturing with compassion and concreteness the daily suffering and insecurity of Palestinian lives, thereby supplementing the more analysis and presentation of the practices reported upon so tellingly in the HRW Report. In my view these books extend the story being told in the [Human Rights Watch] report about life in Area C of the West Bank, even though their geographic focus is Gaza or another dimension of life in the West Bank:… Sharyn Lock (with Sarah Irving), Gaza Beneath the Bombs (London, UK: Pluto Books, 2010).”

Interview with Sharyn and Sarah after their appearance at Edinburgh International Book Festival, 14th August 2010. By Mark McLaughlin of Edinburgh Evening News.

Interview with Sharyn Lock on Press TV’s Remember Palestine, May 22nd 2010

Review in the June/July 2010 Issue of Red Pepper: “details…that reveal big Palestinian generousity and Gazan humour. Pick up this book, read it, fold over the pages that tug, and go retell those tales.”

Review in the May 2010 issue of Peace News: “The narrative pace is relentless, her description of the bombing of al-Quds hospital, her de facto home during the war, being particularly moving…a harrowing and humanising eyewitness account of US- and UK-backed Israeli aggression that puts the mainstream media to shame.” (Also reproduced on Znet).

3rd May 2010: review from the Jordan Times. “Lock gives voice to besieged Palestinians. While media reports, at best, tend to portray Gazans as an undifferentiated mass of victims, in “Gaza Beneath the Bombs”, the reader meets lively, resilient and tenacious individuals.”

27th April 2010: review on the ‘Between the Lines‘ blog of Ludwig Watzal, author of ‘Peace Enemies‘ (Jerusalem, PASSIA). “Sharyn Lock leads the readers deep into the hell of Gaza and provides a human visage to abstract victims of state brutality.”

26th April 2010: review on Friends of Al Aqsa website by Shabaana Kidy: “an invaluable tool for the average person who seeks a better understanding of the impact of the attacks, upon the civilian population of Gaza. She sparks a desire in the heart of the reader to take an active role in the search for justice.”

20th March 2010: Tablet Review by Edward Stourton: “She deserves great credit for her courage.”

19th March 2010: review in Middle East International by Michael Jansen, Humanising the Inhuman: “This book should be appended to the Goldstone Report as witness testimony.”

10th March 2010: review by Bristol artist and writer Cliff Hanley: “this well-written, lively account also contains a very useful index. One for the reference bookshelf, after your first read-through. If you think you know what happened in Gaza, try this and think again.”

28th February 2010: review on IslamOnline – “Rather than simply focusing on statistics and political processes, Lock’s writings give those living in Gaza a face — she honors their humanity.”

23rd February: and another 5* Amazon review… “I have a new found respect for this courageous woman, the book is outstanding, had me both in smiles and tears and its a privilege to know and work with this remarkable person!”

23rd February: another excellent Amazon review, from the delightfully named BookBeetle. “I warmly recommend this book: it should be read, presented to our MPs, and widely discussed.”

22nd February: Review and comment from Bristling Badger, who came to the Manchester launch. “Her writing was clear, intelligent, compassionate and fearless.”

Review in Manchester’s Mule newspaper, 27th January 2010. “… offers us an image of modern warfare that gets lost in the computerised Star Wars-like images projected from our TVs…. a must read.”

Interview with Israeli peace activist Kerem Blumberg about the opening of photo exhibition “Occupation and Resistance” and the New Zealand launch of Gaza: Beneath the Bombs, on Wellington’s Radio Access, 27th Jan 2010

Interview with Sharyn Lock on Press TV’s Remember Palestine, January 26th 2010

Review by Hebden Bridge environmentalist and photographer Jason Elliott, 24th January 2010

The book’s first review on Amazon… 24th January 2010. “An enlightening work by a very brave woman.”

“Very well written… interesting, powerful, uplifting and very funny. Mabrouk for producing such an excellent and useful work.” Frank Barat, Organising Commitee, Russell Tribunal on Palestine

Interview with Sharyn Lock by Emdad Rahman, 22nd January 2010 issue of LondonBangla.

“Blogging Beneath the Bombs” by Arwa Aburawa: interview with Sharyn Lock in Electronic Intifada, 30th December 2009