Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa

7 reviews

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

vanessamariebooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Favorite of the year. Highly recommend, especially for bookclubs or High School English classes. My thoughts here: https://www.youtube.com/live/jHkbo3kEbbg?si=AQwDiPhqLPCpTQey

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, War, Death, Homophobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Violence

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Ableism, Dementia, and Outing

cass_lit's review against another edition

3.5

This was a beautifully written story, and Nahr is such a complex and realistic character to follow for these years of her life. The book starts with her in an Israeli prison and then jumps back in time to tell us how she got there, with snippets back in the prison starting new sections of the book. It made it a little confusing at first not knowing the names she was thinking about, but I think it made it all the more special once we were introduced to these characters and got to slowly realize what they meant to Nahr. 

Definitely check the trigger warnings. As an addition to all of those you’d expect from colonization, occupation and detainment by Israelis, etc — I’ll also warn that this book a few times seems to conflate all of Judaism with Zionism, which is obviously not the case and which I didn’t love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Abortion, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Colonisation, and Torture

Moderate: Homophobia and Outing

cecilialau_'s review against another edition

5.0

This book is full of heart. Of longing, displacement, confinement, tragedy, love, heartbreak, horrors, revolt, strength, emotion, grace, dignity, humanity, inhumanity, honesty, empathy, and I (clearly) could go on.
The story it tells is utterly profound, and I am so grateful to have read it. All the horrors of occupation, oppression, misogyny, murder and injustices included - bc it is the truth.
I was infuriated by the violence and volatile, undignified humiliation tactics and pure evil that Palestinians face.
What a historical, enlightening and powerful tale.
There were maybe two pages that I wanted to move past a bit quicker, but I was completely spellbound by the complexity (simply put) of love and life from the perspective that we are afforded with this novel.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Alcohol, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Blood, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Gun violence, Homophobia, Genocide, Body horror, Grief, Outing, Child death, Torture, Vomit, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Confinement, and Murder

candournat's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, War, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Terminal illness, Cancer, Violence, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Outing, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Homophobia, Drug use, Colonisation, and Abortion

books_coffee_n_red_wine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

There is no better review than the one on the back of my edition “Reads like a riot act against oppression, misogyny, and shame” - Fatima Bhutto. A phenomenal book that will follow me forever. As an Irish person I am well aware of the Palestinian struggle but this book has allowed me to explore that struggle with a deep and profound focus on how life continues to struggle on despite all else especially in regards to women and how they live under such oppression. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Abortion, Sexual violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: Antisemitism, War, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Police brutality, and Misogyny

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, and Outing

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

This book was such an emotional rollercoaster and such a difficult read. But wow. It was so incredible, raw, graphic, hopeful. I found it to be incredibly difficult and sad to read at the beginning through so many of Nahr's experiences. As the story goes on, there is more and more hope. 

I think it was a hard read because you know even though this is fiction, there are people with stories like this, people like other characters in the book. 
Definitely recommend but check the trigger warnings. 

I will admit that it has a slower start and I struggled with the pacing and the plot at the beginning, just with it being such graphic and difficult experiences written for a long portion. But as the story evolved and broadened it made more sense why it started out that way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Outing

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Vomit