Wild Thorns

I finished the book finally and I haven't fully decided what I think. I like the contrast between Adil and Usama. The difference in their opinions and ideals and how each thinks the other is going about fighting the occupation by the wrong means. Usama was a poet as a boy, he died a poet and inbetween he seems to have tried to convince himself he was another person, one without dreams and feelings. Adil was, I think, my favorite. He seemed at times to see past the propaganda of both the Jews and the Arabs. He was caught in the middle and trying to accomplish what he could and still maintain some understanding and dignity. And yet he drinks to forget his feelings of anger and injustice. I love the scene where he carries the Israeli child on his back with the weeping widow following him, all cultural taboos and barriers forgotten and broken. They are all just people grieving and struggling in a difficult time.
I wonder about some of the messages about the individual and the society and the negative implications of a capitalist society where everyone but those at the very top of the chain are being used and abused. Everyone out for their own interest and everyone being taken advantage of, not a very uplifting picture.
The idea of a picture of a rose, an ideal, perfection, being protected by thorns. I wonder this ideal of perfection, this freedom that they are all fighting or hoping for. Is it represented in some way by the character Adil, or is it an idea that is never fully disclosed, something that the reader must comprehend and understand from their own experience.

With that said, I hope everyone had a nice weekend. =)