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mcoffey1998's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
the ending… i literally had to go back and read again bc i was like “no this can’t be it?? but that’s what happens when someone dies. their story just.. ends. this book is graphic and will make you uncomfortable so be warned. but also with things like this you’re not supposed to feel comfortable. free palestine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
cramer2c's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Colonisation
beccaattiffanys's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
papayat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Even though I gave this book a high rating, I don't think I will ever be able to read it again. Graphic and heart-wrenching.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Torture, and Colonisation
sarahrandall's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Blood, Sexual violence, Death, Murder, Kidnapping, and Rape
acnaib's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Gun violence and Genocide
thebookofbanana's review against another edition
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is a book of two halves.
The first half is a harrowing depiction of a psychopathic soldier slowly overwhelmed by the stinging heat and suffocating humidity of an arid climate that is not his. It seeps into his body and his mind, releasing his inhibitions to make way for his natural cruelty. No longer governed by any formal laws or human morals, he repeatedly commits acts of unspeakable violence against an innocent. The writing is all from his perspective, leaving a fair amount of the details to the spiralling imagination of the reader, while doing just enough to make them realise exactly what is happening and how the victim is feeling.
This is, just another in a long line of similar atrocities, so common place that they’ve stopped eliciting a real response. In fact, what catches the eye of the Palestinian woman who is the protagonist of the second half of the book, is that this forgotten, minor detail of history took place on the same date as her own birth, albeit 25 years earlier. Unable to suppress the urge to know more, she sets off to investigate the incident.
I couldn’t help but feel like there’s a slight drop in quality between the two halves, as the second is told in such a didactic way that it felt like less of a story and more of procedural recounting of events, filled with details of living under the occupation that are absolutely important to convey and were definitely informative, but so crammed into the story that it left it feeling like reading a patronising history book for kids.
Still, I don’t want to take away from the importance of the novel too much. For the average layperson looking to learn more about the Israeli colonisation of Palestine, and the ongoing horror for the Palestinian civilians, then you will find this book useful. It’s just a shame that the second half wasn’t written very well.
The first half is a harrowing depiction of a psychopathic soldier slowly overwhelmed by the stinging heat and suffocating humidity of an arid climate that is not his. It seeps into his body and his mind, releasing his inhibitions to make way for his natural cruelty. No longer governed by any formal laws or human morals, he repeatedly commits acts of unspeakable violence against an innocent. The writing is all from his perspective, leaving a fair amount of the details to the spiralling imagination of the reader, while doing just enough to make them realise exactly what is happening and how the victim is feeling.
This is, just another in a long line of similar atrocities, so common place that they’ve stopped eliciting a real response. In fact, what catches the eye of the Palestinian woman who is the protagonist of the second half of the book, is that this forgotten, minor detail of history took place on the same date as her own birth, albeit 25 years earlier. Unable to suppress the urge to know more, she sets off to investigate the incident.
I couldn’t help but feel like there’s a slight drop in quality between the two halves, as the second is told in such a didactic way that it felt like less of a story and more of procedural recounting of events, filled with details of living under the occupation that are absolutely important to convey and were definitely informative, but so crammed into the story that it left it feeling like reading a patronising history book for kids.
Still, I don’t want to take away from the importance of the novel too much. For the average layperson looking to learn more about the Israeli colonisation of Palestine, and the ongoing horror for the Palestinian civilians, then you will find this book useful. It’s just a shame that the second half wasn’t written very well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, and Sexual violence
fionafsw's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-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
5.0
This book has two parts. Part I is told from the perspective of an Israeli army officer in 1948 who leads an operation to rid the Negev of Arabs. He enables and participates in the gang rape and murder of a Palestinian girl. Part II is told from the perspective of a Palestinian living in Ramallah 25 years later who learns about this and sets out to find out more. The book ends with her ultimately also being shot in the back by Israeli soldiers in the desert.
Part I was understatement done to absolute perfection. The austerity of the writing and lack of embellishment highlighted the author's mastery of creating scenes and tension. The feeling of vague foreboding never goes away, even as you wonder what it is exactly that you are worried about. At the end of Part I, I could see why the book had won an award.
Part II was written in such a vastly different voice and style, it was like being splashed with cold water. It was hard to believe I was still reading the same book by the same author. The voice was jarring, discordant and stressful to listen to. Narrated in first person, you never get much context or detail or explanation; instead, you get submerged in what feels like neurosis.
At first, this annoyed me. There goes that rave 5-star review, I thought. I missed the sober calm tone and pace of Part I, even as horrible atrocities are being committed. I thought the author had missed the mark completely in the second act.
Then I read some reviews and realised that this was intentional (duh). The permanent panic, fear, indecisiveness, and sense of whether you're losing your mind are some of the effects of wiping out a country off the map, renaming places, rewriting memories, and erasing an entire people. There is loss of everything, not just of land but of collective history and memory. Nakba was and continues to be a severance that has untethered the Palestinian people.
This 'catastrophe', this tragedy, this trauma, this illegal displacement, this ethnic cleansing, this genocide of the Palestinian people - this is history that continues to play out today, over 75 years later, in as violent and unconscionable a way as never before. Israel and its supporters, shame on you. And to those of us sitting at home in countries supplying Israel with money and arms to carry out this genocide, too lazy, apathetic or afraid to speak up and do something, we are complicit, and we have blood on our hands. Shame on us.
Coincidentally, Nakba Day is on the same day as the anniversary of my dad's death. And coincidentally, the central event of the book, the day that so grips our Part II protagonist, not least because she was born 25 years later to the day, is my birthday.
Part I was understatement done to absolute perfection. The austerity of the writing and lack of embellishment highlighted the author's mastery of creating scenes and tension. The feeling of vague foreboding never goes away, even as you wonder what it is exactly that you are worried about. At the end of Part I, I could see why the book had won an award.
Part II was written in such a vastly different voice and style, it was like being splashed with cold water. It was hard to believe I was still reading the same book by the same author. The voice was jarring, discordant and stressful to listen to. Narrated in first person, you never get much context or detail or explanation; instead, you get submerged in what feels like neurosis.
At first, this annoyed me. There goes that rave 5-star review, I thought. I missed the sober calm tone and pace of Part I, even as horrible atrocities are being committed. I thought the author had missed the mark completely in the second act.
Then I read some reviews and realised that this was intentional (duh). The permanent panic, fear, indecisiveness, and sense of whether you're losing your mind are some of the effects of wiping out a country off the map, renaming places, rewriting memories, and erasing an entire people. There is loss of everything, not just of land but of collective history and memory. Nakba was and continues to be a severance that has untethered the Palestinian people.
This 'catastrophe', this tragedy, this trauma, this illegal displacement, this ethnic cleansing, this genocide of the Palestinian people - this is history that continues to play out today, over 75 years later, in as violent and unconscionable a way as never before. Israel and its supporters, shame on you. And to those of us sitting at home in countries supplying Israel with money and arms to carry out this genocide, too lazy, apathetic or afraid to speak up and do something, we are complicit, and we have blood on our hands. Shame on us.
Coincidentally, Nakba Day is on the same day as the anniversary of my dad's death. And coincidentally, the central event of the book, the day that so grips our Part II protagonist, not least because she was born 25 years later to the day, is my birthday.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Genocide, Murder, and Rape
haisaikaren's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Sexual violence, Rape, and Murder
mirandaleighhhh's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.5
I've read essay compilations from students in Gaza; I've read academic text about the changing definitions of antisemitism, about occupation and surveillance, about the ongoing genocide that began in 1948 - all of it gut-wrenching, needless, and horrifying. But in so few pages, this struck a chord in me that I will not soon forget.
The first part was difficult to read - I found myself shaking and sick to my stomach. The second part is equally as difficult to read but for different reasons. There is nothing that I can say better than this text did - it should be required reading in place of Albert Camus' The Stranger.
The cancellation of the literary prize for this book in Germany for expressing, "antisemitic attitudes" (utter bullshit) is deplorable and disgusting. The violence against the Palestinian people and the erasure of their experiences and very existence must end.
The first part was difficult to read - I found myself shaking and sick to my stomach. The second part is equally as difficult to read but for different reasons. There is nothing that I can say better than this text did - it should be required reading in place of Albert Camus' The Stranger.
The cancellation of the literary prize for this book in Germany for expressing, "antisemitic attitudes" (utter bullshit) is deplorable and disgusting. The violence against the Palestinian people and the erasure of their experiences and very existence must end.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder