Hafsa's Reviews > Out of Place

Initially, Edward Said's memoir was a bit slow-moving. I guess I expected him to speed through the major events in his life up until the time he started writing it--but he focused mainly on his childhood and school days. It's fascinating to me that he still remembered such marked details--names of teachers, other students, etc.

His narrative jumped around a bit and was repetitive at times, but just reading about his life, his thoughts, his analysis on his relationship with his family, etc was fascinating. He is so frank and honest, esp. when talking about his own weaknesses (and perceived weaknesses). One of my favorite lines is advice his Aunt gives him: "If you think of everything you must do as present before you, to be done all at once, you'll cripple yourself. Time obliges you to do them in sequence, one at a time, and this, dissolves the burden almost immediately."

Wish he was alive to write part two--one that focused on his graduate school years, his early years as a professor, and how he became active in Palestinian advocacy.