Scan barcode
sarahalesbrittain's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: War, Rape, and Death
felishacb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
You see the pain and never-ending grief of displacement through the lives of this Palestinian family and their descendants, spread across the world from Paris to Boston to Lebanon to Jordan. But rarely home. Their refugee status is a shadow throughout, understood differently by each generation as time passes, but it never overpowers the dignity of their very human existence, their sometimes flawed choices and everyday tensions.
I was engaged throughout the story, but I have to admit the emotional revelations in the last chapters of the book stabbed at my heart. This book will stick with me.
She misses Mustafa. Like a city after a tsunami, the earth is altered without him. Wrecked.
**
'Motherhood doesn't suit me,' she once confessed to Budur, drunk. 'I don't have the stomach for not knowing what's next.'
**
"'Punch me,' he wants to yell at Mustafa. 'Tell me to fuck off. Hit me in the face. Pick up that goddamn suitcase. Walk down the driveway.
I would have followed you.
I would have followed you.
Take me with you. You can save yourself. We can both live.'"
Graphic: Grief and War
Moderate: Torture, Murder, Pregnancy, Islamophobia, and Death
geeoriginal's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
Minor: Death, Colonisation, Rape, and Grief
shay43geek's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: War, Violence, and Death
eas2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Violence, War, and Death
Minor: Racial slurs
taratearex's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This book shows generational trauma, living throughout the diaspora, living through multiple wars, how loss changes us and affects us. And it really shows how loss of home, losing your homeland, completely and utterly changes you and your entire life and that reverberates throughout years and generations. The loss of memories and knowledge was haunting throughout. Really beautifully done. I cried a lot. I stayed up too late to finish this because I couldn't put it down.
The audiobook is great, I listened while sometimes following along with the physical as that helps me with multi POVs and changing timelines, it was helpful to be able to reference the family tree in the front of the book.
Graphic: Xenophobia, Grief, Violence, and War
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Sexual assault
annamay1021's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Islamophobia, and War
salemander's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Colonisation, Genocide, Islamophobia, Rape, Racism, Death, and War
dragongirl271's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Racism, Dementia, War, Xenophobia, and Self harm
Minor: Rape, Torture, Police brutality, Violence, Sexual violence, Death, and Domestic abuse
katharina90's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
The story pulled me in from the first page, but towards the end I felt less connected to the characters.
I found myself wanting to return to the POV of previous family members rather than focusing on the younger generation.
Graphic: Dementia and Colonisation
Moderate: Grief, Confinement, War, Sexual content, Body shaming, Torture, and Death
Minor: Alcoholism