I found this book fascinating. The author visits various walls that are separating people and examines the psychology of living with a physical barrier. He weaves the stories of people who live near walls in Africa, Ireland, North America together in a compelling way ... although I would have liked to know even more about the people he met.

I also would have liked to see maps, and have just a bit more context or history provided.

This book is very though-provoking: about how walls create an "us" and a "them" and may prevent the devleopment of alternative solutions to conflict; about how seemingly small decisions can change your life (see the story of Teena's wrist tattoos); and even on how invisible walls can affect us.

Definitely worth reading. ( )

3.5 stars

Marcello di Cintio decided to travel to various walls/fences/borders to not only see them, but to talk to the people living alongside them and others about how the walls affect their lives. Included in this is some history and politics about how and why the walls went up. Some of the places di Cintio visited included the Western Sahara, the Israel/Palestine border, India/Bangladesh, Cyprus (there is a wall that divides the city), Arizona/Mexico, Belfast, and even one in my (and the author's) home country, Canada (in Montreal).

This was interesting. People are affected in so many different ways – farmers are divided from their fields in some cases, Protestants divided from Catholics, the US is trying to keep out Mexican immigrants, and in Montreal, the wall simply divides one of the affluent areas from a poor immigrant neighbourhood. I have to admit that I found the “Western” areas more interesting (Belfast, US, Canada), but I think that's – in part – because I feel more able to “picture” them, as I've never been anywhere where the military is guarding walls or borders with guns and such... though Belfast sounds super-scary, as the violence seems to continue there for no reason. One thing I think I would have liked in the book was maps, so I could “see” where these walls were, exactly. Overall, though, a good, interesting read on a different kind of topic. ( )

What does it mean to live against a wall? In an effort to answer this question, Marcello Di Cintio travelled around the globe to meet people living on both sides of walls in places such as the West Bank, the border between India and Bangladesh, the U.S. - Mexico border, and Belfast.

A fascinating piece of non-fiction, Di Cintio's book is part travel writing and part exploration of why we build walls, whether the walls ever do what they were intended for, and how individuals living on either side are affected. Di Cintio's voice is compelling, weaving together diverse experiences of individuals from different continents into a single book. While it does feel episodic initially, Di Cintio does sythesize his experiences at different walls (occurring over three years) as the book progresses and ultimately makes the argument that humans might build walls but we also have the ultimate urge to tear them down. ( )