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4.41 AVERAGE
4.41 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Loved the writing and content of this book, and really enjoyed the vulnerability and connection to Palestine. Sometimes it lost me a little when it got too academic, but otherwise highly recommend.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Genocide, Racism
Moderate: Colonisation, War
Minor: Fatphobia
challenging
emotional
informative
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
An emotionally devastating memoir told in verse, "The Hollow Half" exhibits an intersection of Sarah Aziza's personal life, her family story, as well as the history of her the Palestinian people, all told with devastating clarity.
The writing style is beautifully lyrical, evoking strong emotions of empathy through verse after verse. Aziza does not shy away from the dark and candid moments, speaking bluntly to her struggles with eating disorders and the Palestinian genocide. Each moment of her own personal struggle is told through vignettes of doctors office visits and relapses, interspersed with an unfolding of her parents and her grandparents history, encapsulating the parallels and struggles in each moment.
And within each element of her life, Aziza allows for an immeasurable amount of nuance that serves to show a level of reflection and internal processing of the strife she has gone through. Her reflection on her eating disorder touches upon fatphobia and it's roots in anti-Blackness, her reflections on being gatekept from Palestine touches upon the Nakba and the upheaval of Palestinian people after the Great War, her reflections on her own identity addresses her own white passing privilege at having been born blonde, and each of these reflections are told in beautiful lyrical verse, encompassing a wealth of emotion in each line.
There is so much more I could say about how incredible this memoir was, but I fear the showering of accolades will become overly repetitive! All in all, this was a phenomenal story, but I would highly recommend for readers to check content warnings before reading!
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Beautiful. Tragic. Visceral.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Racism, Rape, Violence, War
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced