Reviews tagging 'Deportation'

Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa

21 reviews

kiandrareadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, Colonisation, Misogyny, Confinement, Genocide, Police brutality, Grief, and Rape

lizziaha's review

4.25

This is a story that spans years, and yet feels like only a very small part of the overall story. It reads like a memoir, and I honestly had a hard time reading it. It was hard to wrestle with how my opinions and pre-conceived notions occasionally differed from Nahr’s. And it was difficult to witness such human suffering. My brain kept trying to negate the seriousness of the events of this book because they are fictional, so I had to keep reminding myself to Palestinians face this and more at the hands of Israel. It made reading this book a very involved process for me. Which is why I think it is a book that is essential to the canon, and should be read and studied more widely. The characters all felt very complex and flawed, and abulhawa gave them space for that. There were some moments of real beauty and lyricism in the written word. Particularly in depictions of the Palestinian culture and people. From the river to the sea 🇵🇸

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Deportation, Grief, Rape, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, War, Racism, Medical trauma, Murder, Blood, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Ableism

Minor: Antisemitism, Bullying, Cancer, and Death of parent

ddnreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

My heart ache for Nahr and Bilal 🥺🥺
But this book is much more than the love story of Nahr and Bilal (eventhough their love is extraordinarily tender and healing). 

Unputdownable and sharp, Against the Loveless World told a life of a woman who tried to find her way among the generational trauma of colonialism, refugee, and occupation. 

I love how the characters are flawed. How bare and jarring they told their lives. I love the raw honesty, the swearing, the curses.

This is a feminist book in its own way. 

I wept for the love mothers share. Their toughness through the worst of conditions. They're the real world's strongest soldiers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deportation, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Grief, Cursing, War, Colonisation, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Deadnaming, Genocide, Islamophobia, and Misogyny

abeilleabbie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, and Rape

Moderate: Misogyny, War, Torture, Colonisation, Genocide, Sexual harassment, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Racism, Police brutality, Trafficking, Islamophobia, and Deportation

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Abortion, Pregnancy, Sexism, Infidelity, and Infertility

shieldbearer's review

This book was beautifully written but it didn't grab me the way "Mornings in Jenin" did. There is a lot of heavy, nuanced plotting here, but there are also several ways the plotting falls short, When looked at as a work of fiction, this simply does not do it for me. Part of it is that I can't get invested in the romance. A similar work that I preferred a lot is "Minor Detail"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Cursing, Sexual violence, Ableism, Alcohol, Infidelity, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Deportation, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Infertility, Abortion, Antisemitism, Outing, and Pregnancy

rachelfayreads's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, War, Violence, Xenophobia, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Rape, Racism, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Infertility, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Genocide, Deportation, Confinement, Colonisation, Abortion, and Antisemitism

aschmitttyy's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This one was hard for me to get through. I felt connected to the characters and I wanted to see what happened to them, but there were so many different parts to the story that I feel like I lost some of that emotion.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Rape, Colonisation, and Sexual content

Minor: Grief, Abortion, Deportation, and War

brynalexa's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A powerful journey. Perfectly paced and gripping. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Car accident, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Deportation, Drug use, Grief, Sexism, Sexual assault, Addiction, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Classism, Death of parent, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Vomit, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, and Hate crime

Minor: Infidelity, Infertility, Fatphobia, and Dementia

electrachet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

To me, this book is not just about the Palestinian experience, but also about the resilience of women in the face of oppression. It explores themes of survival, family, and different types of love. What stood out to me the most was the focus on self-love, as I observed Nahr's journey of developing love for herself and gradually opening up and showing more of her heart. My favorite part of the book was this tenderness of the second-half in Palestine where she was surrounded by love despite great suffering and that love helped her heal from

some of the sexual abuse and trauma of her early life in Kuwait

. Up until that part, I was loosing interest a bit, especially with the lack of nuanced Israeli characters. I understand Israel's crimes and I'm not naive of the role of Israelis in serving a government so callous, especially considering the current assault on Gaza. But I still am wary about what happen when that righteous anger against occupation turns against anyone who is Jewish (esp considering that many of the comments that the side characters make are blurring the lines of antisemitism). I think there was an attempt at nuance with

the introduction of James Baldwin and some of his work and I think it could have been an opportunity for greater insight from the characters or even Nahr since we only got Bilal's perspective

. I think in many places I was really wanting more from Nahr's perspective and what she was really feeling or thinking instead of the stoicism of her older self recounting her memories. Anyways, the last 20 pages were a masterpiece, and I wasn't sure what would happen next. The characters and their relationships felt vivid and real. Nahr, in particular, felt like a genuine person. My only other complaint was that the writing was at times truncated and skipped over plot details, but it was mostly very beautiful. Nahr also had some great quotes and monologues.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Violence, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Medical trauma, Grief, Abortion, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Abandonment, Deportation, Infidelity, War, Antisemitism, Lesbophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Physical abuse

simolondo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

A must read, especially now given the ongoing genocide but it would have been a must read at any point over the last 75+ years. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Deportation, Genocide, and Emotional abuse