Reviews

This book was definitely heavy but really good. I liked how the story was told through the main character Nahr like she was telling us the story. Going through each part of Nahr's life and seeing what she did to survive and who she was in each place she lived was really cool. I liked how even though this story is fictional, it could have been a real life experience. This made Nahr and all the characters real in my mind while reading. I don't usually read lit-fic, but I'm glad I read this.

dinasamimi's review against another edition

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5.0

Excellent storytelling, joining Abulhawa’s world with the very real history of the volatile Levant (and adjacent) regions. I love to read about uniformly underrepresented Palestinian perspectives. Nahr was a great vessel to examine the ripples of war and displacement and apartheid. This left me hungry for more of Abulhawa’s voice and firsthand Palestinian stories.

kbusemeyer's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative relaxing medium-paced

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

3.25

The Cube chapters were probably my favorite part of the book. I think because there’s so little to work with in the cube, the descriptions and adaptations Yaqoot makes for herself to pass time is really interesting (like Attar or how she still tries to find ways to be defiant).

I think this is a really shocking book to go into blind because the first sections are just heartbreaking with SA all over the place. And that set me up to think that every single section was going to be like that, which while it had their own conflict, didn’t feel anything like that caliber.

I think seeing Yaqoot get more involved with the resistance and also just how she develops the connection with Palenstine that she never really had at the beginning since she grew up in Kuwait, is really touching. I almost kind of hated the ending though with the fact that Bilal and Yaqoot (open for interpretation) reunite while Jumama was tortured and taped and Ghassan died. Obviously they went through so much of their own trauma, but it feels like as close to an HEA as this book would get.

After the first section, I found some of the writing starting to feel not great to me. Or maybe it’s more that the author chose to expand more on certain things while glossing over other parts in order to get to the next point she wanted to say, but also leaving in random extraneous details. The relationship with Bilal’s mom never felt that connection until much later because we only get told “oh they tended the garden together” and somehow we were supposed to believe that Yaqoot sees her husband’s mom, that she’s there to divorce, as another mother. Meanwhile a detail about the mom leaving from the wedding is kept in for, seemingly, no reason.

There were definitely parts that I enjoyed more than others - the olive grove scenes and the initial dates with Bilal, but sometimes I found it hard to read with all the telling and not showing. I think it’s a really good look at how things were (and are) and especially the view they have of America vs Saddam, etc. super interesting and obviously different than we are told.

Content Warnings

anisahh17's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

bubbelfia's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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