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lisawreading's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, what a crazy read! I can't say I've ever come across Israeli science fiction before, and I enjoyed the heck out of this one.
The initial premise is intriguing -- and based on true events. Back in 1904, the Zionist Congress, led by Theodore Herzl, sent an expedition to Uganda to explore land that had been proposed as a site of a future Jewish state. In our (real) world, that didn't work out particularly well, and the idea was shelved in favor of pursuing a homeland in the "holy land", resulting in modern-day Israel. In the world in which we begin Unholy Land, the Africa expedition was a success, resulting in the birth of Palestina, a Jewish homeland located between Uganda and Kenya. Certain of our realities exist in this world as well -- native populations displaced by the creation of the state, resulting in ongoing border crises and refugee camps, a border wall, debate over the Right of Return, and never-ending peace negotiations.
But wait! There's more. Certain people are able to travel between alternate realities, including one like our own, one in which the entire Middle East is at peace and unified after the horror of a limited nuclear event which destroyed Jerusalem, and other, more exotic and frightening worlds. There are Kabbalistic elements involved which mingle with discussion of quantum physics, and it's all packaged up inside a very noir-feeling detective/spy plot.
I was fascinated by the descriptions of life in Palestina -- the language, the culture, the food, the geography. The author does an incredibly inventive and persuasive job of making it seem like a real and viable country, while also demonstrating that in this world or any other, certain problems and challenges and misfortunes seep through no matter what.
The entire plot is somewhat mind-boggling, and I think I'll need to let this one percolate for a bit and then return and read it all over again. It's a quick read, but with plenty to think about. Highly recommended.
The initial premise is intriguing -- and based on true events. Back in 1904, the Zionist Congress, led by Theodore Herzl, sent an expedition to Uganda to explore land that had been proposed as a site of a future Jewish state. In our (real) world, that didn't work out particularly well, and the idea was shelved in favor of pursuing a homeland in the "holy land", resulting in modern-day Israel. In the world in which we begin Unholy Land, the Africa expedition was a success, resulting in the birth of Palestina, a Jewish homeland located between Uganda and Kenya. Certain of our realities exist in this world as well -- native populations displaced by the creation of the state, resulting in ongoing border crises and refugee camps, a border wall, debate over the Right of Return, and never-ending peace negotiations.
But wait! There's more. Certain people are able to travel between alternate realities, including one like our own, one in which the entire Middle East is at peace and unified after the horror of a limited nuclear event which destroyed Jerusalem, and other, more exotic and frightening worlds. There are Kabbalistic elements involved which mingle with discussion of quantum physics, and it's all packaged up inside a very noir-feeling detective/spy plot.
I was fascinated by the descriptions of life in Palestina -- the language, the culture, the food, the geography. The author does an incredibly inventive and persuasive job of making it seem like a real and viable country, while also demonstrating that in this world or any other, certain problems and challenges and misfortunes seep through no matter what.
The entire plot is somewhat mind-boggling, and I think I'll need to let this one percolate for a bit and then return and read it all over again. It's a quick read, but with plenty to think about. Highly recommended.
pilebythebed's review against another edition
4.0
Israeli author Lavie Tidhar gives a fairly lengthy prologue to explain the inception of his most recent book. Back around the turn of the century, Zionists in Europe were looking to Ottoman controlled Palestine as a potential homeland but negotiations stalled. Looking for an alternative solution within the British Empire resulted in a proposal to establish a Jewish homeland British East Africa, land in Kenya that bordered Uganda. The idea split the Zionist movement, with many holding that there could not be an alternative homeland for the Jews. An expedition in 1905 to explore the area and report back did not support the idea and the scheme was rejected. The rest, as they say, is history. In Unholy Land, Tidhar wanted to consider what would have happened if the plan had gone ahead.
When the book opens, pulp science fiction author Lior Tirosh (a fairly obvious stand-in for Tidhar himself) is flying back from Berlin to his homeland of Palestina, nestled between Uganda and Kenya. He is flying home to visit his ageing father, a famous general from earlier wars. As he arrives the narrative switches and it appears that Tirosh is being followed by local security forces. When an old friend dies in his hotel room, Tirosh feels obliged to investigate, slowly falling into the role of one of his pulp novel detectives.
In the history that Tirosh inhabits, Jews established Palestina in the early twentieth century and while there were world wars, the Holocaust never happened. But the tide of history is hard to shake and in this funhouse mirror reflection of our own reality, Palestina has been at war with neighbouring Uganda and Kenya, the army walks the streets of the capital Ararat city where the Jewish population are facing bus bombings from displaced African groups, and the government is building a wall along the border to control the movement of workers. Tidhar digs deep into the parallels and differences between this world and our own.
But then, not far into the narrative it turns out that his alternate history is just one of many and that there are operatives who are able to move between different versions of reality and history. These planes of reality are called sephirot after the Kabbalistic idea of different planes of existence.
In Unholy Land, Tidhar wants to have his cake and eat it – he wants to examine an alternate history but also explore with multi-world theories at the same time. And he pretty much succeeds. Along the way he manages to revel in some pulp fiction tropes as his author protagonist finds himself living in the plot of one of his novels. That plot revolves as much around the threat to the multiverse as it does around Tirosh’s personal quest.
That mix makes Unholy Land provocative and mind bending but also gives it some emotional heft. A combination that, while it does not always work, provides a fascinating and insightful read.
When the book opens, pulp science fiction author Lior Tirosh (a fairly obvious stand-in for Tidhar himself) is flying back from Berlin to his homeland of Palestina, nestled between Uganda and Kenya. He is flying home to visit his ageing father, a famous general from earlier wars. As he arrives the narrative switches and it appears that Tirosh is being followed by local security forces. When an old friend dies in his hotel room, Tirosh feels obliged to investigate, slowly falling into the role of one of his pulp novel detectives.
In the history that Tirosh inhabits, Jews established Palestina in the early twentieth century and while there were world wars, the Holocaust never happened. But the tide of history is hard to shake and in this funhouse mirror reflection of our own reality, Palestina has been at war with neighbouring Uganda and Kenya, the army walks the streets of the capital Ararat city where the Jewish population are facing bus bombings from displaced African groups, and the government is building a wall along the border to control the movement of workers. Tidhar digs deep into the parallels and differences between this world and our own.
But then, not far into the narrative it turns out that his alternate history is just one of many and that there are operatives who are able to move between different versions of reality and history. These planes of reality are called sephirot after the Kabbalistic idea of different planes of existence.
In Unholy Land, Tidhar wants to have his cake and eat it – he wants to examine an alternate history but also explore with multi-world theories at the same time. And he pretty much succeeds. Along the way he manages to revel in some pulp fiction tropes as his author protagonist finds himself living in the plot of one of his novels. That plot revolves as much around the threat to the multiverse as it does around Tirosh’s personal quest.
That mix makes Unholy Land provocative and mind bending but also gives it some emotional heft. A combination that, while it does not always work, provides a fascinating and insightful read.
rocketiza's review against another edition
1.0
I should have put this down as soon as I realized it was about multiple realities and not just one really interesting alternate history, because it goes down the hole faster than a turd down a toilet.
magratajostiernos's review against another edition
5.0
"El mundo es la suma de lo que podría ser, lo que podría haber sido y cómo podría haber sido"
Esta es básicamente la mejor historia de realidades paralelas que he leído.
Además, es una novela que juega con el lector una y otra vez, que lo engaña con esos narradores y su juego de espejos, que empieza siendo un noir clásico de detectives (aunque el detective es un escritor de poca monta en este caso) y que gira sobre sí mismo para convertirse en algo muy distinto y muchísimo más fascinante (tendréis que leerlo para ver el nivel de locura y maravilla).
Y luego está el contexto, la ambientación, esa autocrítica hacia el pueblo judío destinado a cometer los mismos errores aún en otros universos. En África también se construyen muros y caen las bombas...
Es una historia que se nota que tiene mucho del autor, que también es escritor, también nació en Israel y también vivió en África. Hay muchos pasajes completamente impactantes y que impresionan, y también momentos en los que te da la risa por esa mirada tan cínica y cómica del autor en todo lo que hace.
Tierra profana es una de esas novelas que simplemente te vuelan la cabeza, te atrapan y obsesionan, de esas para debatir, reflexionar, de las que no quieres salir y que cuando se terminan te gustaría volver a empezar.
"Porque finalmente esta es la huella mas clara que ha dejado Tidhar en nuestra literatura: una osadía sin límites que lo lleva a explorar las fronteras de múltiples géneros y al mismo tiempo enriquece nuestros anaqueles. Las novelas de Tidhar son inteligentes e intrépidas, y en algunos años, cuando muchas de las historias de multiversos hayan caducado, creo que Tierra profana mantendrá su poderío narrativo". Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Esta es básicamente la mejor historia de realidades paralelas que he leído.
Además, es una novela que juega con el lector una y otra vez, que lo engaña con esos narradores y su juego de espejos, que empieza siendo un noir clásico de detectives (aunque el detective es un escritor de poca monta en este caso) y que gira sobre sí mismo para convertirse en algo muy distinto y muchísimo más fascinante (tendréis que leerlo para ver el nivel de locura y maravilla).
Y luego está el contexto, la ambientación, esa autocrítica hacia el pueblo judío destinado a cometer los mismos errores aún en otros universos. En África también se construyen muros y caen las bombas...
Es una historia que se nota que tiene mucho del autor, que también es escritor, también nació en Israel y también vivió en África. Hay muchos pasajes completamente impactantes y que impresionan, y también momentos en los que te da la risa por esa mirada tan cínica y cómica del autor en todo lo que hace.
Tierra profana es una de esas novelas que simplemente te vuelan la cabeza, te atrapan y obsesionan, de esas para debatir, reflexionar, de las que no quieres salir y que cuando se terminan te gustaría volver a empezar.
"Porque finalmente esta es la huella mas clara que ha dejado Tidhar en nuestra literatura: una osadía sin límites que lo lleva a explorar las fronteras de múltiples géneros y al mismo tiempo enriquece nuestros anaqueles. Las novelas de Tidhar son inteligentes e intrépidas, y en algunos años, cuando muchas de las historias de multiversos hayan caducado, creo que Tierra profana mantendrá su poderío narrativo". Silvia Moreno-Garcia
jantonaitis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A very timely novel about alternate versions of Israel and the Zionist experiment. Regardless of your politics, if you have an interest in the subject you will find it fascinating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
Moderate: Colonisation
Minor: Cultural appropriation
peripetia's review against another edition
4.0
gelsysuslibris's review against another edition
4.0
Lior Tirosh, un escritor de novelas pulp, viaja de Berlín a su país de origen, Palestina, que se encuentra en África cerca de Uganda, para visitar a su padre enfermo. Una vez allí se ve envuelto en el asesinato de un amigo de la infancia y en la desaparición de su sobrina. Tirosh no es consciente de que hay dos personajes que le están siguiendo, Bloom y Nur, cada uno por sus motivos.
Cuando empecé a leerlo iba con un poco de miedo, por una parte todo el tema de los universos paralelos me atraía pero me daba miedo que fuera una lectura demasiado exigente. Cierto es que es un libro al que le tienes que dedicar atención y leerlo sin prisas, hay que estar un poco atento a los detalles de la narración para poder ir atando cabos. Es un libro extraño, complejo, y que da tantas vueltas y toca tantos temas que, sinceramente, es difícil escribir una reseña.
Una de las cosas que me ha llamado mucho la atención el uso de varios tipos de narradores, que al principio te descoloca un poco pero tiene su sentido. Así como que se trata de un libro de ciencia ficción, una ucronía con viajes a través de diferentes universos a través del misticismo de la Cábala judía. Habla del pueblo judío y de su identidad, pero creo que se puede extrapolar al ser humano. Y a la vez tiene una fuerte crítica y nos habla de la colonización, de los errores del ser humano que se repiten a lo largo de la historia.
La verdad es que me ha sorprendido gratamente y lo he disfrutado muchísimo, saboreando cada una de sus páginas y aunque creo que he captado bastantes cosas, siempre queda esa sensación de que seguro que te has perdido algo por el camino.
He sudado intentando hacer esta reseña, es mejor que leáis el libro y lo entenderéis.
"El mundo es la suma de lo que podría ser, lo que podría haber sido y cómo podría haber sido".
Cuando empecé a leerlo iba con un poco de miedo, por una parte todo el tema de los universos paralelos me atraía pero me daba miedo que fuera una lectura demasiado exigente. Cierto es que es un libro al que le tienes que dedicar atención y leerlo sin prisas, hay que estar un poco atento a los detalles de la narración para poder ir atando cabos. Es un libro extraño, complejo, y que da tantas vueltas y toca tantos temas que, sinceramente, es difícil escribir una reseña.
Una de las cosas que me ha llamado mucho la atención el uso de varios tipos de narradores, que al principio te descoloca un poco pero tiene su sentido. Así como que se trata de un libro de ciencia ficción, una ucronía con viajes a través de diferentes universos a través del misticismo de la Cábala judía. Habla del pueblo judío y de su identidad, pero creo que se puede extrapolar al ser humano. Y a la vez tiene una fuerte crítica y nos habla de la colonización, de los errores del ser humano que se repiten a lo largo de la historia.
La verdad es que me ha sorprendido gratamente y lo he disfrutado muchísimo, saboreando cada una de sus páginas y aunque creo que he captado bastantes cosas, siempre queda esa sensación de que seguro que te has perdido algo por el camino.
He sudado intentando hacer esta reseña, es mejor que leáis el libro y lo entenderéis.
"El mundo es la suma de lo que podría ser, lo que podría haber sido y cómo podría haber sido".
violetaalseide's review against another edition
No era el momento para leerlo. Demadiado complejo, necesitaba algo ligero. Posiblemente vuelva a intentarlo más tarde.
j_wrathall's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this. It is pulpy, and this is clear in the prose - also 'meta' and self-referential, but enjoyably. It doesn't need to be stated, the value of alternative history in this case - well explored. More could be said but better not to have become too overwrought. More a vignette of a thought experiment and fancy than a novel. The afterword brings it together.
Thank you, Aatqa!
Thank you, Aatqa!
bionicturtle64's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This was not what I expected in a very good way.
I was under the impression this was simply an alt-history story where the Zionist Congress approved the plan to settle a Jewish homeland near Uganda instead of Palestine. And this is that novel - Tidhar writes excellent and fascinating world building to bring state of Palesntina and its version of world history to life.
But this also a story of multiversal world-hopping which reminded me of This is how you lose the Time War. At times, the prose could be intentionally confusing and vague, but did so show the blurring of realities.
At its heart, this story wants to grapple with the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Whilst I would have enjoyed a book just about the alt-history setting, what Tidhar does with this premise is really unique and impactful.
That being said, it doesn’t always work. By nature of its story parts were confusing to follow, making this a harder read at points. As well, the main driving force of the main character’s missing cousin was dull, if I’m being honest. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this.