Did not download to read. pre-approved but not able to read atm. Thank you for the opportunity.

This is a great story. An Israeli girl and a Palestinian boy meet in New York and fall in love. From that sentence, you can tell this isn't going to end well. Probably. Add the fact that this isn't American literature and you'll know right away that all bets for a happy ending are off. This is a love story, but it is also the story of two cultures that are at war. It shows that love is blind, but it does not necessarily win over family and conscience (or whatever it is that makes us question what others will think of our actions). I really liked it and I definitely recommend it.

a beautiful story about a subject I'm really into - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It's a beautiful story in many ways, but while I admit I may suffer from Western narrowmindedness, the characters really drove me up a wall at times.´
The ending is also quire fitting yet disappointing.

I did not finish this book as I did not engage with this story at all.

All the Rivers has dreamy prose, lavish detail, and a tragic "Romeo and Juliet" romance between a Jewish Israeli woman and a Palestinian man (imagine a Clinton supporter falling in love with a Trump backer on the morning of November 8, 2016!) Although set in the aftermath of 9/11, the story seems more relevant today that it would a mere fifteen years ago. Banned in Israeli schools for promoting relationships between Jews and Palestinians (a move that actually led to increased publicity and sales) All The Rivers is a short but thought-provoking novel that will appeal to "against all odds" romantics. The ending could have gone several ways, with the author aiming for the one with the biggest emotional punch, but sadly it feels contrived and doesn't really do justice to the fragile story of Liat and Hilmi.
ril 2017

A chance meeting in a New York City cafe. The push and pull of a love that cannot be denied.

Liat, an Israeli translator from Tel Aviv, has the opportunity to spend six months in Manhattan while working on her master's degree. Liat has served in the Israeli army. She defends Israel and justifies its politics. Liat misses the sea.

Hilmi, a gifted Palestinian painter from Ramallah, lives in Brooklyn,having entered the United States on an artist's visa. He cannot drive a car, shoot a gun or swim. He dreams of a first visit to the sea. Hilmi prays for reconciliation between Palestine and Israel.

Liat and Hilmi embark upon a love affair they know to be finite. A temporary love is all the more precious. Their clandestine encounters are hidden from family and friends. The star crossed lovers could choose to throw caution to the wind, abandoning family and live in New York. After all, they have many commonalities including a shared Middle Eastern heritage. Each one, however, is filled with hatred and fiercely patriotic when debating about their respective homeland philosophies. Do they have the courage to pursue a life together?

Although it is true that all the rivers empty into the sea, it is a sad commentary that when friends from Israel visit Liat, she feels the necessity to state that she is dating a really nice Greek guy. Perhaps it is best to enjoy the stolen adventure, the moment in time.

"All the Rivers" by Dorit Rabinyan is a very timely novel. Romeo and Juliet, the Hatfields and McCoys. A different setting perhaps but the same issues and misunderstandings. An excellent, thought provoking tome.

Thank you Random House and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "All the Rivers".

Perhaps it's the translation but there was no feeling or passion as I read this story about a passionate relationship that was forbidden by circumstances. Perhaps it's because ways to make it work were obvious to me. Either way, it's a good story, but the writing didn't speak to me.

Beautifully crafted novel, but sometimes easy to get bogged down in the lush descriptions. I wouldn't really compare this to Romeo and Juliet, though, because it is not about two naive teenagers. It's about two adults falling in love, knowing what they're getting into from the start. It's about two adults falling in love, knowing what they're getting into from the start. It's about falling in love and knowing someone is the right person.

The idea of being out of one's home and in a place of in-between appeals to me greatly, and I felt that in this book.

Not an easy book to place down, especially in one's mind.

“I just can. I can see you’re a good girl.”

I think about what my father would say about his good girl if he knew I was getting on a train with a strange man, an Arab, someone I only met a few hours ago.”

Isn’t it sad that there is so much hatred laid upon us, depending what side of the road, or country we are born on/in? We are so very divided, and we forbid our loved ones happiness with another because of our political views, and even our ethnicity. It’s not that simple, isn’t that always the argument? All the horrific crimes our ancestors committed upon each other becomes this poisonous fear, this curse we pass on to our offspring. Here is a raw truth- no one is ‘the good one’ nor ‘the right one’.

This is forbidden love in the extreme, an Israeli young woman and a Palestinian man. When Liat allows Hilmi to see her bible, given to her when she was in the Israeli army he tells her, “Yeah, well.” He nods sadly. “Just like in Hamas.” He puts the bible back on the nightstand. “With the Kalashnikov and the Koran.” She immediately takes offense, hotly denying the similarities, of religion and war. But the self-righteousness of her own side, the ridiculousness of the tiresome fight seeps out of her. This is how we get to such a place of hatred. Two people that should hate each other, have fallen in love. Is it doomed? Do you have to wonder? When she learns Hilmi went to prison while she was a soldier, she cannot believe it was for painting a flag on a wall in Hebron. Soured that he was treated as a terrorist, so young too, explaining how colors were against the law- she is seeing her people from his perspective. Maybe love can do that, open your eyes to what goes unnoticed in your country, your home.

You can take any country at war with another and know without a doubt that even your own people do heinous things. To blindly believe your people alone are always on the side of right is madness. To believe that all people that come from a country are inherently evil seems a way to exonerate your own evil deeds. There is so much intolerance here, and guess what- I see it in my own country, I have seen it in countries I have traveled to and lived in. People live to divide I suppose, but they can come together too. Sadly, most people aren’t willing to lose their family for love, and how sad that is the choice they are often given.

We know Liat’s family is never going to accept Hilmi, an artist that was raised by an atheist father or no- no way. Is it because he is Arab or is it because he isn’t Jewish. She doesn’t want her parents to know, and her sister thinks this should just be some adventurous fling, certainly not someone she will risk bringing into the family. Soon she isn’t even telling her Israeli friends the truth about the man she is dating. This story causes some discomfort for both sides, I am sure, exposes things that are likely ignored. This line was intense, full of meaning. “How strange the reversal is- seeing us from the outside, looking in from the neighbors’ window, seeing ourselves from the hidden side of the mirror.” Would that we all could do this, how much of the world change, how much would we all question our staunch beliefs. This novel is political and the love is fresh, fast and doomed. If you want to play around and change the ethnicity of the characters, you do so or reverse the roles, the point is- good and bad is a clouded thing. What do we have in common? The ability to love and accept , sure maybe it can change and save us but sadly we also have blinders on. We often do not want to see the other side of any argument that goes against our own truths.

One is an idealist, the other a Zionist and where can they meet in the middle? What the reader can is see that through their differences, even equal hatred , they are more tightly bound. They are neighbors, they sleep with the enemy. They are stuck! Even meeting his family it’s “You Israelis”, both Liat and Hilmi have to carry everything their “people” do and think, defend or deny. That would be a constant were they able to join forever. Thinking on this, plop your American self in another country and eventually you too will encounter someone that holds everything Americans have done against you. It may be quietly, less violently but it’s there all the same. Families can really get in the way, even if we can rise above our differences, it is a fresh hell to have to defend your love to your family and friends, to bring children up in hostility, children that are part of both worlds. Is it easier to just enjoy the moment and move on?

What if there isn’t a choice, ever? Is there ever really a choice for Liat and Hilmi? Which side is wrong? Is love ever wrong? Can it be?

This is more than just forbidden love, I cannot imagine the fight for a Palestinian and an Israeli in love. By chance I recently read an article in The Telegraph about this very book being banned in classrooms of Israeli. From what I gathered in the article neither side is thrilled about the prospect of mixed marriages between the two. I didn’t even know Jews are not allowed to marry non-Jews in Israel. I imagine this novel is a much hotter topic in the two countries than here in the USA. But, I am reminded of past forbidden couplings through time in our own land. Easy to imagine, well not us, but there are still a lot of forbidden relationships, or ones our families would disown some of us over.

Why can’t we all get along? We can try, if other people would just let us. Provocative literature here, enough that it was banned elsewhere.

Publication Date: April 25, 2017

Random House

2.5 Rounding up only because the ending caught me by surprise. I totally predicted a different trajectory [possible spoiler alert: same result, different cause].

From the blurb: "A prizewinning bestseller, but banned in Israeli schools for its frank and tender depiction of a taboo relationship, this is the deeply affecting story of two people trying to bridge one of the most deeply riven borders in the world."

At the very beginning of the book I thought there was great potential. Two people meet in New York City: Liat, an Israeli graduate student [woman] and Hilmi, a Palestinian painter [man], both 28. She's from Tel Aviv. He's from Ramallah. Only 40 miles apart. And so you know where this is headed.

The book starts with Liat's interrogation by the FBI--they come to her apartment in Brooklyn. OK--where is this going? Could be great. BUT. This plot line GOES NOWHERE.

Heavy-handed politics don't enter until late in the game--when families and/or friends become involved [for the most part]. In the meantime, slog through about 200+ pages--the love story [which is only ok].

About 25 pages from the end [well, before], my foreboding sense of an unhappy ending was confirmed.

I really don't see how this could have been a bestseller. So I'm not recommending.

I enjoyed this book, perhaps because of my love for Israel.

A great story, a romantic tale and though I am not a romantic person I do appreciate good writing. My usual pet peeve, there is too much indecipherable foreign language. Arabic, and Hebrew. The little bit of Hebrew I know did not help me and the Arabic was a total loss. Not to say the story is improbable but from the few weeks I spent in Israel I saw no love for the Palestinians. The Israeli people were cordial to the Palestinians but I can’t picture an Israeli woman in an intimate relations ship with a Palestinian man. It seems too much cultural difference exists and I do not mean religious difference. There seems to be too much inherent animosity and intolerance. Even so this does not distract from the story but rather adds to it in a sort of “forbidden fruit” scenario. I must give high marks for the descriptive content regarding New York City and I praise the concept as a measure of hope. Who knows? Easy to recommend this book as an enjoyable five-star treasure.

At the heart of this compelling and moving novel is a simple love story – although a love story between an Israeli and a Palestinian is never going to be simple. A young Israeli woman, Liat, is studying in New York. A chance encounter brings her into contact with Hilmi, a Palestinian artist who is also in New York temporarily. Beyond the divisions that permeate society in Israel they are free to fall in love and be together, although the very real political situation back home is never very far from their thoughts. Liat even more than Hilmi knows that their relationship would cause intractable problems for them at home and the sense of impending separation haunts their time together. I’m not sure how much the author intended this to be a political novel, but it inevitably is one. And the Israelis don’t come out of it at all well. Even Liat, with whom our sympathies inevitably lie to some extent, seems far more inhibited by the divide between them than does Hilmi – although perhaps he is portrayed as an artist to reflect a more free-spirited attitude. Certainly Liat is petrified of admitting the relationship to her family, whereas Hilmi and his family accept Liat without question or prejudice, in spite of what the family has had to endure at the hands of the Israelis. Hilmi, although in no way an activist, was imprisoned for drawing graffiti as a teenager and the Israeli soldiers are depicted as cruel and sadistic. Most of the Israelis Liat knows in New York are loud, argumentative and dismissive of the Palestinians whilst Hilmi and his family are far more gentle. It seemed fairly obvious to me who the author considers the “bad guys” here. It is clear from the start that their love affair will not continue after their return to Israel, but Rabinyan cleverly avoids any predictable or clichéd outcome, whilst maintaining the tension right until the end. The novel received considerable attention when it was banned from the Israeli school curriculum over concerns that it could encourage relationships between Israelis and Palestinians and could damage the “identity of the nation” – a misguided decision if ever I heard one, as it merely ensured increased sales. However, the very fact that it was considered controversial in this way says a lot about the defensive posture of Israel on many levels, reflected here in Liat’s own position. All in all, I found this an engaging, thought-provoking and very enjoyable novel, well-written, well-paced, with interesting and convincing characterisation and authentic dialogue. Highly recommended.