Reviews with content warning for Rape - Minor Detail

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Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

477 reviews

muchlibrary's review against another edition

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emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

This is such an incredible piece of literature. Non-linear history, unreliable narrators, research barriers, and so many small details that make a sad yet beautiful story. I had avoided this book because I heard it started with a brutal rape and murder, but Shibli manages to tell this story without the voyeurism I usually anticipate in writing about rape or violence.

This is a difficult story, yet there is still humor and a wryness in the contemporary narrator's journey. I especially appreciated the utter Leo-ness of fixating on an early August birthday, and even dwelling on the potential narcissism involved, which she made a compelling argument to support.

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dejanae's review against another edition

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emotional informative 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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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readingpicnic's review against another edition

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4.5

I've had to sit with this book for a few days after finishing it so that I could try to do it justice in a review. The first half of the book centers around the subject of interest in the latter half of the book, the Palestinian girl who was gang-r*ped by Israeli soldiers and then murdered. The main character in the latter half of the book, a journalist, becomes interested in the girl's story after realizing that her death date was exactly 25 years before the MC's birth date, which caught her eye and generated a need to know more about this girl. The two parts of the book connect in pieces that the MC doesn't even realize because she doesn't have access to the information from the first half of the book, and it's essentially lost knowledge/history. She wishes to feel some connection to the girl who died while not realizing that some of her actions and sensory experiences are replicating what the girl went through, and this strong desire for connection coupled with the not knowing the connections do exist really devastated me. Some examples I wrote down were the dog howling/barking haunting the MC, and the dog also seemed to be a ghost at one point on page 94? There's also a scene on page 92 where the MC spills gasoline on herself after saying that she wishes she could stay in the area longer to get a clue as to what the girl endured, even though her reeking of gasoline for the remainder of the book is part of what the girl endured at the hands of the soldiers. In the first half of the book, the parts where the main soldier in charge was frantically crushing every bug in his room every night and was losing his mind a bit also fucked me up a lot. The imagery of barriers, both physical and metaphorical was very powerful in this book, especially with the way the MC worried over them in every interaction. One quote that really stuck out to me was "By the way, I hope I didn't cause any awkwardness when I mentioned the incident with the soldier, or the checkpoint, or when I reveal that we are living under occupation here" (56). I saw a TikTok explaining greenwashing before reading this book, and I'm really glad that I went into it with that context since I saw it come up again and again with mentions of Canada Park and Israeli soldiers saying that they were going to revitalize the land because Palestinians didn't know/didn't care to take care of it (not fucking true btw).
The last few pages of the book felt so aimless and wandering as the MC realizes that she truly cannot find the lost history of the girl and that her journey cannot have a satisfying ending because of all the barriers that prevent her from this knowledge. The ending of the book was shocking, but also not shocking due to the violence of this book and the almost expected violence by Israeli soldiers. The only part of this book that I wasn't a huge fan of was how it's written with every single action spelled out if that makes sense. Like, if a character got out of a vehicle, then every single part of that action was detailed from start to finish. I'm sure there's a reason for this method of storytelling, but maybe I can't see what it is in relation to the overarching themes of the book right now. Overall, this is such a necessary read.
Also, side note, I saw that someone added this to the Autistic Reads Challenge, and I agree that I was contemplating while reading this whether the main character of the second half was autistic and/or neurodivergent due to her thought processes, but I wasn't sure whether that was intentional on the author's part. I hesitate because she may process the world in these ways and think in these ways due to trauma and the circumstances in which she lives under occupation and has to be on high alert and think through interactions carefully, but acquired neurodivergence and disabilities due to trauma are valid, so I'm on the edge with this.

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peckreadsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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namitree's review against another edition

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reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Felt incredibly tense and uneasy particularly due to the gradual build up of tension after the seemingly mundane repetition early on in part 1. Although short, it was an impactful, harrowing, and unique read that I won't be forgetting any time soon.

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maiahhtratchh's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

I love sad and emotional novels and yet never in my life have a read a book that caused such dread that the contents of this book settled deep in me like a stone. Current events and the books proximity to Rafah do play heavily into how impactful it was but, even without that, this novel would still evoke such strong emotions in me. The first part actually gave me nightmares of this happening to my loved ones. If anyone is wanting to read about the Palestinian experience, specifically a more historic view point, I would recommend this book. I am glad it was so short though because I don’t think I could’ve handled much more of the intensity specifically in the last two pages it really got to me. I wanted to read it twice in a row because of how short it is to fully catch everything but I think I need to take a break and read something lighter.

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