Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa

29 reviews

madelinedalton's review against another edition

I wanted to love this and tried to trudge through for over a week, but in the end, I just couldn’t do it. I found myself constantly skimming pages, which isn’t a great sign. 

My main criticism of the book is that the characters feel very hollow. I don’t feel like I have a great sense of who they are as people—they are vessels to carry the plot and political turmoil along, and the plot itself is quite slow. 

To be completely fair to the author, I have been in a reading slump for months and don’t have the mental capacity for books about heavy, complex topics like this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Confinement, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Blood, Physical abuse, Rape, Colonisation, and Xenophobia

Minor: Fatphobia and Antisemitism

nineinchnails's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this was another heartwrenching book from abulhawa. there's something about the way she weaves a story that really draws me in. just like Mornings in Jenin this deals with some very topics, so it was hard to read huge chunks in one sitting. despite being a work of fiction it's very clearly grounded in and inspired by real historical (and current) events so it's hard to "enjoy" this for its story without feeling an immense sense of grief for the countless victims of israel. the main character was initially fairly detached from and unmoved by palestine, and experiencing her (re)discovery of her homeland was incredibly touching. the writing in general was beautiful, and both the setting and the pacing were very intriguing. despite all the horror and trauma the characters find community with one another and i found myself almost forgetting how painful the rest of the book was at parts. 

i particularly enjoy more character driven novels so while i noticed a change in pace later on, i didn't ever feel like it dragged before that point - this might be a slight issue for some readers. i'd recommend this to anyone and everyone but there is a big focus on sexual violence in the first part of this novel, so i think it's worth checking the trigger warnings before you pick this one up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Grief, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Physical abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Death, Child death, Deportation, Infertility, Adult/minor relationship, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Gun violence, Classism, Abortion, and Bullying

Minor: Death of parent, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Vomit, Miscarriage, Islamophobia, Cancer, Racial slurs, Infidelity, and Ableism

Prostitution/Sex work

lizziaha's review against another edition

4.25

This is a story that spans years, and yet feels like only a very small part of the overall story. It reads like a memoir, and I honestly had a hard time reading it. It was hard to wrestle with how my opinions and pre-conceived notions occasionally differed from Nahr’s. And it was difficult to witness such human suffering. My brain kept trying to negate the seriousness of the events of this book because they are fictional, so I had to keep reminding myself to Palestinians face this and more at the hands of Israel. It made reading this book a very involved process for me. Which is why I think it is a book that is essential to the canon, and should be read and studied more widely. The characters all felt very complex and flawed, and abulhawa gave them space for that. There were some moments of real beauty and lyricism in the written word. Particularly in depictions of the Palestinian culture and people. From the river to the sea 🇵🇸

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Deportation, Grief, Rape, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, War, Racism, Medical trauma, Murder, Blood, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Ableism

Minor: Antisemitism, Bullying, Cancer, and Death of parent

shieldbearer's review against another edition

This book was beautifully written but it didn't grab me the way "Mornings in Jenin" did. There is a lot of heavy, nuanced plotting here, but there are also several ways the plotting falls short, When looked at as a work of fiction, this simply does not do it for me. Part of it is that I can't get invested in the romance. A similar work that I preferred a lot is "Minor Detail"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Cursing, Sexual violence, Ableism, Alcohol, Infidelity, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Deportation, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Infertility, Abortion, Antisemitism, Outing, and Pregnancy

01ivia's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Antisemitism, Grief, Hate crime, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Cancer

rachelfayreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, War, Violence, Xenophobia, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Rape, Racism, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Infertility, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Genocide, Deportation, Confinement, Colonisation, Abortion, and Antisemitism

mona_liest's review against another edition

dark

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

Check TWs!
First part of this book was hard to read but in the end I was glad that I did finish it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Rape, and Confinement

Moderate: Blood, Torture, and Police brutality

Minor: Vomit, War, Alcohol, Antisemitism, and Racial slurs

electrachet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

To me, this book is not just about the Palestinian experience, but also about the resilience of women in the face of oppression. It explores themes of survival, family, and different types of love. What stood out to me the most was the focus on self-love, as I observed Nahr's journey of developing love for herself and gradually opening up and showing more of her heart. My favorite part of the book was this tenderness of the second-half in Palestine where she was surrounded by love despite great suffering and that love helped her heal from

some of the sexual abuse and trauma of her early life in Kuwait

. Up until that part, I was loosing interest a bit, especially with the lack of nuanced Israeli characters. I understand Israel's crimes and I'm not naive of the role of Israelis in serving a government so callous, especially considering the current assault on Gaza. But I still am wary about what happen when that righteous anger against occupation turns against anyone who is Jewish (esp considering that many of the comments that the side characters make are blurring the lines of antisemitism). I think there was an attempt at nuance with

the introduction of James Baldwin and some of his work and I think it could have been an opportunity for greater insight from the characters or even Nahr since we only got Bilal's perspective

. I think in many places I was really wanting more from Nahr's perspective and what she was really feeling or thinking instead of the stoicism of her older self recounting her memories. Anyways, the last 20 pages were a masterpiece, and I wasn't sure what would happen next. The characters and their relationships felt vivid and real. Nahr, in particular, felt like a genuine person. My only other complaint was that the writing was at times truncated and skipped over plot details, but it was mostly very beautiful. Nahr also had some great quotes and monologues.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Violence, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Medical trauma, Grief, Abortion, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Abandonment, Deportation, Infidelity, War, Antisemitism, Lesbophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Physical abuse

souplover2001's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

"to survive by loving each other means to love our ancestors too. to know their pain, struggles, and joys. it means to live our collective memory, who we are, where we come from."

will write a more comprehensive review after work but wow!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Rape, Sexual assault, and War

Minor: Antisemitism and Islamophobia

katialena's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Murder, Police brutality, Colonisation, Islamophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Racism

Moderate: Grief, Violence, Cursing, Alcohol, Drug use, and Torture

Minor: Abortion, Antisemitism, Classism, Miscarriage, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Physical abuse