Reviews with content warning for War - Minor Detail

Reviews tagging 'War'

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

325 reviews

mreadsbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

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tamarant4's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

... there was nothing really unusual about the main details, especially when compared with what happens daily in a place dominated by the roar of occupation and ceaseless killing. [loc. 748]

A short, powerful, harrowing novel, in two halves, that examines helplessness, brutality and occupation. The first half of the novel is set in 1949 and follows a squad of Israeli soldiers, focussing on their commander, who's suffering from a festering insect bite. In pain and hallucinating, he perpetrates horror: the slaughter of a group of Bedouin and the gang-rape and murder of a young woman. The commander is never named: nor is the girl. Her dog follows her, howling, as she's driven to her death.

The second half of the novel shifts in tone. A young Palestinian woman, never named, is determined to investigate the murder, which happened exactly 25 years before she was born. Her life is described in minute detail. (I suspect she's neurodivergent). She borrows a colleague's papers so that she can circumvent the travel restrictions and visit the IDF Museum, and the site of the Bedouin girl's death. It's a military zone. A dog is howling. She is shot.

The matter-of-fact, emotionless tone of the first half of the novel is deeply unsettling: we are told nothing about the emotions of those involved, or what happened afterwards. The young woman's narrative, which forms the second part of the book, is full of her fears of crossing borders, especially borders that she doesn't recognise. Perhaps this lack of confidence in her response to social cues is what makes me think that she might be neurodivergent. Or perhaps it is the only way she can stay sane in an occupied country, in a place where her culture has been destroyed like the villages that pepper an old map she uses, but have left no trace in the land through which she travels.

The detachment and restraint of this novel, and the clarity of the translation, made it a superficially easy read: but like blood into sand, or petrol into clothes, Minor Detail has sunk into me and affected my world view.

The story is based on a documented incident: the commander in question stood trial.

Fulfils the ‘A Book Set In A Place That Has Experienced Genocide’ rubric of the Something Bookish Reading Challenge. Palestine is still experiencing genocide: I don't think it has ever stopped, and since the Hamas-led attack on Israel it has become catastrophic. In 2023, Shibli won the German LiBeraturpreis, an annual award for women authors from the Global South, for this novel: the award ceremony was cancelled due to the October 7th attacks.

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haidaway_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

Raw and haunting.

I struggle to think of the right words to say to describe the experience reading this book. I still don't think I have them. It's short, but so impactful in such a minute and understated way that you don't even realise its impact until you sit with it for a while and think about what you just read.

The book sets itself in two parts, the first following a cold, distant and systematic voice of an Israeli platoon leader from the time of the Nakba, and the second following an overwhelmingly emotional voice of a modern day woman living in Ramallah. Minor Detail is aptly named, as the book dives into the many minor details that shows parallels from the multitude of experiences in the recurring war in Palestine. It touches on both the distance and intimacy behind these very small details and leaves such a lasting, haunting impact.

I don't think I can put together enough words to give a proper review if I'm being honest. It is simply a book you have to read for yourself and experience.

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brittknee52's review against another edition

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dark informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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eve81's review

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Content Warnings

coolfijiwater's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

kal1namal1na's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Short but powerful, about two women from different times and how those times haven't changed much at all, trying to give meaning to the violence done to them.

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harley_n66's review

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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lucymcgoosey's review against another edition

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informative sad tense fast-paced

4.75

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cygnet_'s review

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challenging dark reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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