Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

24 reviews

bellavictoria's review

dark emotional sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Child death, Rape, and Violence

carojust's review

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Adania Shibli shows us the darkest side of humanity, a reality we can't ignore, in painfully beautiful and stark writing. 

The first half feels blurry, sweltering, full of smells and you feel yourself fearing, unsure what this character will do. He ends up doing the worst, and you see that you're witnessing hell. 

The second half is a complete character, POV, timeline and tone shift, told through an autistic-leaning narrator who describes, in complete detail, her world as a Palestinian in recent years. With no sense of emotion, she talks about bombings that she works and sleeps through. We follow her as she retraces the events from the first half. 

Shibli artfully weaves details and symbolism from both timelines into each other. It has a heartstopping effect, when you see that things haven't changed. The ending emphasizes this. 

Please read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, War, and Injury/Injury detail

brigg_sy's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

The best book I do not recommend, it is incredibly sad and devastating. Such a tough, but great, read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Death, Genocide, and War

maxgdy's review

challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, and Colonisation

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

4.5

i found the clinical tone of the first part challenging, in contrast to the extreme readability of the second part with its masterful choice of narrator. the motifs seemed sparse, even for a novella, and a little heavy-handed, especially in the first part. but overall it was a worthwhile, important, haunting read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Torture, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

robinks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Phew, this little novel packs a punch. Adania does a masterful job of narrating from the perspectives of two very different characters. What happened and continues to happen in Palestine is horrific. #FreePalestine

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

alexisgarcia's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

sudden, abrupt, and utterly devastating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

herelieshenry's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A difficult, gutting, but incredibly important read. Not only relevant, not only important, but also incredibly well-written and impactful. The writing is very intentional in its largely objective perspective, straightforward and effective with a strong sense of place and mood.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Rape, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Islamophobia

Minor: Ableism, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Deportation

carriedbythecosmos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, and Colonisation

hanhantap's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Racism