Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - Minor Detail

This book has two parts. Part I is told from the perspective of an Israeli army officer in 1948 who leads an operation to rid the Negev of Arabs. He enables and participates in the gang rape and murder of a Palestinian girl. Part II is told from the perspective of a Palestinian living in Ramallah 25 years later who learns about this and sets out to find out more. The book ends with her ultimately also being shot in the back by Israeli soldiers in the desert.

Part I was understatement done to absolute perfection. The austerity of the writing and lack of embellishment highlighted the author's mastery of creating scenes and tension. The feeling of vague foreboding never goes away, even as you wonder what it is exactly that you are worried about. At the end of Part I, I could see why the book had won an award.

Part II was written in such a vastly different voice and style, it was like being splashed with cold water. It was hard to believe I was still reading the same book by the same author. The voice was jarring, discordant and stressful to listen to. Narrated in first person, you never get much context or detail or explanation; instead, you get submerged in what feels like neurosis.

At first, this annoyed me. There goes that rave 5-star review, I thought. I missed the sober calm tone and pace of Part I, even as horrible atrocities are being committed. I thought the author had missed the mark completely in the second act.

Then I read some reviews and realised that this was intentional (duh). The permanent panic, fear, indecisiveness, and sense of whether you're losing your mind are some of the effects of wiping out a country off the map, renaming places, rewriting memories, and erasing an entire people. There is loss of everything, not just of land but of collective history and memory. Nakba was and continues to be a severance that has untethered the Palestinian people.

This 'catastrophe', this tragedy, this trauma, this illegal displacement, this ethnic cleansing, this genocide of the Palestinian people - this is history that continues to play out today, over 75 years later, in as violent and unconscionable a way as never before. Israel and its supporters, shame on you. And to those of us sitting at home in countries supplying Israel with money and arms to carry out this genocide, too lazy, apathetic or afraid to speak up and do something, we are complicit, and we have blood on our hands. Shame on us.

Coincidentally, Nakba Day is on the same day as the anniversary of my dad's death. And coincidentally, the central event of the book, the day that so grips our Part II protagonist, not least because she was born 25 years later to the day, is my birthday.

Content Warnings

haisaikaren's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-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

3.0

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brynalexa's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

The first part was extremely emotional to read. It’s very hard to put yourself into a camp of bigoted colonizers for 50 pages. The second part was two parts lovely and one part dread. It came together in the end. Very moving.

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quietabyss's review

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challenging dark fast-paced

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

5.0

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caprivoyant's review against another edition

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It feels like someone broke their heart open and put it on paper to write this book.

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maddiereadswords's review against another edition

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4.5

A book that is equal parts heavy and powerful. Check the trigger warnings before reading, but god is it worth a read if you can handle it.

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annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

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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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