Reading Response: Suad Amiry's writings

I really enjoyed the two chapters from Suad Amiry's book Sharon and My Mother-In-Law.  Her humor was a pleasant reprieve from the discussions of the past few weeks.  Not only does Suad incorporate a light-hearted approach to life, it seems, but is able to convey this quality during not-so-light-hearted times...during conflict.  I really enjoyed her ability to share the main thread of the story, such as the humor in trying to obtain a gas mask, or a rabies vaccination for a 'Jerusalemite' dog, while using the  background information to paint the rest of the story.  While she creatively weaves a really interesting tale, she shares enough other information to make me wonder what was going on in her surroundings.  That's where her writing fascinates me...bringing smiles with wisps of daily living, kind of like Erma Bombeck's style of writing, yet raising apprehension at what might happen due to her surroundings.

Her ability to "take one step to the side of life" is really interesting...."stepping out of the frame and observing the senselessness of the moment"...I wonder if that might be a useful ability for more than surviving the Israeli occupation she described...maybe it would allow more time to think a situation through...kind of like Tevyah in The Fiddler on the Roof...didn't he do that?  Suspended everyone in time for a moment while he sang and tried to sort out his reactions?...come to think of it, I don't think it helped him at all.  Although he "stepped out of the frame and observed the senselessness of the moment," I don't see where the outcomes were affected by this moment of reflection.....but maybe this stepping to the side allows one's humor to sort through the atrocities... not making sense of them, but possibly surviving in spite of them.....like Tevyah's conflict of tradition versus reality in the face of persecution...Suad Amiry also tries to maintain the logic of life during the Israeli occupation of her home.  

After all, isn't it attention to the details of life that keep us going?  I think so...I really wanted to know if she got her gas mask, or her puppies got their rabies vaccination...and I wonder if she was able to be relieved of the infamous mother-in-law problem in a win/win way?  Were the mother-in-law and Suad both happy?  Why would this even matter in the face of the age-old conflict taking place in their lives, forced as a way of life upon thousands?  It matters... it allows us to take that step to the side, to bring life down to that micro-level that we all can relate to...that aspect that goes beyond tradition or daily routine...presented as something to laugh about...through humor...yes, I really liked her stories in our reading!