Jennifer Dawson

Was this text ghostwritten by Hamas?

Revisado: 04-14-25

If the answer to my above question were given in the affirmative, I would find myself far less disturbed than I am at present. At least, that would make sense, since Hamas has no credible claim to objectivity on the subject. But this writer is not Hamas and indeed insists that he did not approach this fraught topic with native or pre-existing antisemitic sentiments, or with the absurd but ubiquitous and reflexive hostility to and preoccupation with Israel that one finds in everywhere in the Middle East and through much of the Global South as a matter of course. I expected to disagree with the writer's position. I like to read the works of the opposing side and I have read much of the seminal texts of Islamist thinkers (there are some!), What i cannot abide in this text is the pretense of rigorous and judicious reasoning. The author proceeds from the assumption that Israel is committing a genocide, the gravest of all crime against humanity. He accuses Israel of committing exactly the atrocities that have been inflicted upon
on the Jewish nation.

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Great expectations, profound disappointment

Revisado: 01-11-24

The current conflict in Gaza/Israel prompted me to seek out sources and material to improve my understanding. To that end, I recently read A day in the life of Abed Salima, Letters to my Palestinian Neighbour, and Orientalism by E. Said. In my research, this writer and this particular text was frequently cited as a seminal text. Of all the Palestinian and Israel texts I've read over the past 3 months, this is the only one that I couldn't finish. With great effort, I listened to most of it, and it never improved. To be sure, this writer, alone among all the texts, did not bother to challenge his own assumptions, to interrogate or even submit to scrutiny any of his convictions. Perhaps he assumed his audience included no skeptics, a defect from which he could never recover.

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Not a tiresome as expected but....

Revisado: 04-01-23

Much more credible than the Hagiography -adjacent Finding Freedom. Still self serving and tone deaf.

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A Case Study of Narcissism

Revisado: 04-01-23

This does not even remotely resemble an objective, credible account of 'The Harry and Meghan Story.
This reads like an argument for Sainthood for Meghan Markle.
if it is true, as it has been asserted, that Meghan Markle wrote this, or even strongly influenced its contents , then she is a much sicker puppy than I suspected. Indeed, if this is how she sees herself, she is a pathological, malignant narcissist. I feel for those children.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Excellent Expose of a Disturbing Ideology

Revisado: 01-13-23

I am a feminist and a lesbian, happily married and left-leaning, and yet I find the claims and mantras and demands of the Trans Movement profoundly regressive, homophobic, misogynistic and thus profoundly disturbing. This book exposes the ideology and activism of the Trans cult. It is a timely book, and a must-read for anyone concerned with the rights and well-being of women and children, and anyone who values reason and truth.

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esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

An Interesting subject sabotaged by the author

Revisado: 08-22-22

This book has potential. The reader is introduced to several 'interabled' couples who share the story of their relationship and discuss both the ordinary and peculiar challenges and joys of their unusual partnerships. Before listening to this book, I found the idea of a romantic partnership between a caretaker and care recipient unappealing and incomprehensible and those attitudes were confirmed rather than softened.
The author of this book is himself a member of an interabled couple, and throughout the text he discusses his own relationship and compares himself and his wife to the other couples in the book. And herein lies the problem. Mr. Mattlin is profoundly disabled, heavily dependent on his wife (he employs caregivers, at slave wages, to help her) to care for him in the same way as a mother would an infant. She spoon feeds him, washes him, dresses him, toilets him, etc). Despite this, Mr. Mattlin consistently reveals himself to be selfish, preposterously over-confident, demanding, unlikable, and insightful. He both celebrates his dependency (in a grotesque perversion of 'disability pride') and minimises the crushing burden of his care on others.
In a spectacular demonstration of delusion and tone-deafness, he ends the book by recounting his constant flirting with waitesses and other women, admittedly a habit he developed to satisfy his own ego. Waitresses, of course, are the perfect target for such a man, a captive audience dependent on the tips of their customers, and thus unable to categorically reject the crude advances of little men like the author. And in the end, that is the lingering impression Ben Mattlin leaves. He is just a creep in a wheelchair, a mangled and atrophied body and a hideously deformed character, forcing a waitress to conspire with him in his absurd delusions of his own desirability.

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Most enjoyable audiobook out of my 400+ titles

Revisado: 07-26-22

Having seen the film adaption of this book many years ago and remembered only that jf was very depressing, this title remained in my audibls library for 4 full years before I actually got around to listening to it. And now I am sad that if is finished, because I enjoyed it more than any other book in my library. The narrator captured me from the first sentence, and despite the grim circumstances of his life in Depression era Ireland and shocking poverty in which he lives, he left me laughing in hysterics more times than I could count. This is a work of literature brought to vivid and colorful life, and the narration is a triumph, a masterpiece of storytelling. To listen to this book is to get swept away!

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