Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

153 reviews

teaselkie's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, War, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Gun violence

Minor: Animal cruelty

caprivoyant's review

It feels like someone broke their heart open and put it on paper to write this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Murder, and Rape

maddiereadswords's review

4.5

A book that is equal parts heavy and powerful. Check the trigger warnings before reading, but god is it worth a read if you can handle it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Death, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, War, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Sexual violence, Murder, Racism, and Rape

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.5

i found the clinical tone of the first part challenging, in contrast to the extreme readability of the second part with its masterful choice of narrator. the motifs seemed sparse, even for a novella, and a little heavy-handed, especially in the first part. but overall it was a worthwhile, important, haunting read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Colonisation, Death, Child death, Sexual assault, War, Murder, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Gore, Animal death, and Torture

lilaceous's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

characters - ⭐️

plot - ⭐️

engaging to read - ⭐️

would recommend - .5⭐️

would read again - ⭐️

tough read. i had to put it down at one point because it was so visceral and upsetting. i’m still thinking about the main protagonist days later. if you’re looking for palestinian stories of israeli occupation, this is definitely an impactful one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Child abuse, Rape, Death, Sexual violence, Gore, Gun violence, Body horror, Colonisation, and Sexual assault

kimran_rana's review against another edition

sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Racism, Genocide, Murder, Rape, War, and Colonisation

rebeccadiv's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

There's no way I can rate this. Read content warnings before pick this up.
Free Palestine 🇵🇸

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body horror, Gore, Rape, Animal cruelty, Violence, Colonisation, Genocide, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and War

onthesamepage's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

It astonishes me how Shibli manages to paint such a complete picture of life under colonization in such a short book. The prose isn't flowery at all but very straightforward, and yet it packs a punch. The book is split into two parts—the first part deals with a group of Israeli soldiers as they patrol a segment of the desert, and capture (and rape) a young Palestinian woman. The second part follows another Palestinian woman, many years after the rape, who reads about this incident and becomes obsessed with retracing it. Both parts hit hard for different reasons, but I found myself especially affected by the latter one. The character read as neurodivergent to me, and following her in her daily life, with all the restrictions and fears and anxieties imposed upon her by the colonial state, was heartbreaking.

I truly can't recommend this enough, but do check out the content warnings before starting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Genocide, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Rape

joumana's review against another edition

medium-paced

5.0

It took me a while to finish this book. It is only about 110 pages, but it took me time to go through some of the pages that describe unspeakable violence. 
The author does an excellent job talking about the occupation, the Nakba, and the erasure of history. 
The book is called Minor Detail, and is pretty short, like an unassuming minor book, but it holds a lot of power. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, War, and Colonisation

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, War, Racism, Violence, Rape, Xenophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Colonisation