Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood

Why does Ibtisam choose to begin her memoir in 1981? How does her utilization of a frame narrative affect the reader?

Describe Ibtisam’s relationship with her mother both as a teenager in the frame story and as a young child. How would you characterize their relationship? Compare and contrast the mother-daughter relationship with Ibtisam’s relationship to her father. How are the two different? Are there ways in which they are similar? What impacts does each relationship have on Ibtisam as a young child? As a teenager? Discuss.

Ibtisam calls her brothers the “heroes of [her] childhood” (v). Why do you think she feels this way? Give examples of some events in Ibtisam’s life in which Basel and Muhammad acted as heroes for her.

How does Ibtisam’s use of free verse poetry inform her memoir? Why do you think she chose to include poetry? What effect do the poems have on the reader?

Ibtisam writes that her losses are “written on [her] heart” (19). Describe some of the things Ibtisam has lost. How does each loss affect Ibtisam?

Although Ibtisam does not detail the politics behind Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, the Six-Day War she lived through and the war of 1948 that her parents and grandparents endured had widespread ramifications for Palestine, Israel, and the wider global community. What were some of the effects of the wars for the various countries involved? How did the wars affect countries that did not participate in the hostilities? Perform additional research if necessary to fully answer this question.

Ibtisam credits Alef for helping her piece together the “splinters” of her life. What do language, writing, poetry, and letters mean to Ibtisam? Why are they so important to her?

Why do you think Ibtisam chooses to remember painful memories instead of following Mother’s advice and forgetting? How does the act of remembering and writing and sharing her memories change Ibtisam?