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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
The rating is strictly for the writing style which was tedious and shouldn't have been as overly descriptive. It should've focused more on the characters and their feelings and actions. However, I think it's an important read about the horrors of war and colonization.
This novel is short but deeply impacting. Shibli and Jaquette demonstrate how the narrative, history and “minor details” of conflict are controlled, manipulated and obscured by the victors. The book is split into two halves.
The first half hauntingly recounts just one of many horrific incidences of the first Arab-Israeli War. The writing is disconcertingly lacking in emotion and speech. The distant third person narrator clinically and scientifically describes only the actions of a nameless characters, including the cruel, repetitive rape of a young Bedouin girl.
The second half is set in modern day Palestine with echoes of the past. The first person and, again, nameless narrator is an autistic woman, recounting her anxious thoughts in a continuous, single paragraph. She negotiates the hostile realities - checkpoints, bombs, changing maps, a generally repressive atmosphere - of living in occupied territory in order to uncover the truth of what happened to a girl decades ago. Throughout this narrative, I felt a rising and nagging feeling of discomfort that culminated in the final scene.
The first half hauntingly recounts just one of many horrific incidences of the first Arab-Israeli War. The writing is disconcertingly lacking in emotion and speech. The distant third person narrator clinically and scientifically describes only the actions of a nameless characters, including the cruel, repetitive rape of a young Bedouin girl.
The second half is set in modern day Palestine with echoes of the past. The first person and, again, nameless narrator is an autistic woman, recounting her anxious thoughts in a continuous, single paragraph. She negotiates the hostile realities - checkpoints, bombs, changing maps, a generally repressive atmosphere - of living in occupied territory in order to uncover the truth of what happened to a girl decades ago. Throughout this narrative, I felt a rising and nagging feeling of discomfort that culminated in the final scene.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Genocide, Rape, Murder, Colonisation
Moderate: War
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Genocide, Rape, Murder, Colonisation
Moderate: War
challenging
informative
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Rape, Murder, Colonisation, War