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fkshg8465'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
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Child death, Death of parent, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Death, Grief, Gore, Racism, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Genocide, War, and Xenophobia
purely_romantic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I finished this book minutes before writing this review so forgive me if this is not as polished, nor as coherent. A stream of consciousness is perhaps more appropriate because I cannot review *Mornings in Jenin* as if style and plot and narrative structure were at the forefront of my mind. I do not care about technicalities because I can only speak about how this made me feel. About how I am crying even as I write this, and my grief for an entire people is too large for words, too large for my body.
Language fails me at this moment as I try to describe what reading this book at this particular moment in time feels like. At some points, the images described on the page of people wailing at the sight of their dead families, mothers crying over their children’s corpses, children being shot as they played were blurring with the real footage I see every day. There is no separation of fact from fiction, only a grim, bleak reality of endless grief and rage.
I cannot care about literary analysis while reading this because to do so is to create a cognitive distance entrenched in me by Western academic disciplines that requires I observe from afar. I reject that practice at this moment. While I have in no way experienced these levels of pain and fear, there is a generational sense memory I carry in my bones that knows colonial violence, that knows how a heart can break when my land is ravaged, that feels like shattering when my people are hurting. Through these four generations of characters, each who experiences the same violence over and over again, Abulhawa creates the sense of an endless cycle of occupation, of stolen land and dreams, a never-ending nightmare of lost loved ones and homes, with only smatterings of reprieves that could be pierced by a bullet, by a bomb at any moment. Yehya’s pain was Hasan’s pain was Dalia’s pain was Yousef’s pain was Amal’s pain was my pain. It should be all our pain to watch other human beings suffer like this.
And yet, through all this horror, my god did I feel the characters’ unceasing pride and love for their country. The fondness for their homes, the laughter and joy at being around family, the intricacies of large, community-based cultures that I recognize in my own society, shone through like a beacon. The cheeky pranks of children, the matchmaking relatives, the sounds of older family members’ never-ending advice and instructions knitted the fabric of ancient traditions and customs, livelihoods and sacred love for their home. I am so grateful I was allowed to look into these moments of joy and endurance, that I see still in the faces of the adults and children of Ga*a.
Saying I’m glad this book exists feels strange because these horrors should have never happened. But I am. I am privileged to know the people of Pa*est*ne through the journeys of these characters, to find moments of connection and to bear witness to their past and present. I pray for a day when writers and artists need only write of their love for their olive trees and orange trees, of the sea and their bustling cities, of their families and the nuances of Arab culture, and don’t have to beg for the world to see them.
CWs: war; gen*ci*e; eth*ic clean*ing; injury and death in graphic detail; forced exile and displacements; grief; mentions of tor*ure, assault and beatings; kidnapping and child abduction; oppression, racism and xenophobia and Islamaphobia
Graphic: Grief, Death, Genocide, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Gun violence
katharina90's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
"How does one live in a world that turns away from such injustice for so long? Is this what it means to be Palestinian, Mother?"
"For if life had taught her anything, it was that healing and peace can begin only with acknowledgment of wrongs committed."
Graphic: Death of parent, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Violence, and Child death
Moderate: Torture and Confinement
Minor: Rape and Alcoholism
emzireads's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Genocide, Colonisation, Child death, and Grief
readwmichelle's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death of parent, Colonisation, Death, Child death, Islamophobia, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Violence, Police brutality, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Torture, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, and Rape
nodogsonthemoon'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Genocide, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Religious bigotry, and War
Moderate: Kidnapping, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Dementia, Violence, Rape, and Police brutality
mksmgts's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Genocide, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Murder, Racism, and War
internationalreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Torture, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Death of parent, Child death, Animal death, Colonisation, Blood, War, Violence, Racism, Medical content, Hate crime, Grief, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Death, Antisemitism, and Alcoholism
writingcaia's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
It’s hard to transmit all I’ve felt during it, even now after a few hours.
This book is not only informative and deeply meshed into the history of Palestine, the culture, the family ties, the smell and love of that country, it is also a very open window into the invasion/occupation and conflict with Israel, the camps, the ethnic cleansing, and all the atrocities of the apartheid since.
Although this is the fictional story of a Palestinian family going back three generations when they’re first taken from their ancestral home in 1967 and forced into the Jenin refugee camp travelling time and countries to end in 2003, this is still based on hundreds of real stories that happened during those 40 years.
A book that I now consider a must read to all that want to understand humanity at its most intense level of experience, from love to hatred, loss and despair to hope, from war to art.
The writing is poetic and deeply resonating, and the way it tells of the love of country and people even through such severe loss is humbling and takes you on a journey inside your own feelings as you follow those in this tale.
I cried, despaired, and raged, and still feel the aftershock of all the information, all this history, all these feelings, this is definitely not a book for the faint hearted still I cannot recommend it enough, and will be doing so forever more.
Graphic: Confinement, Dementia, Excrement, Genocide, Hate crime, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child death, Islamophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Mental illness, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Sexual violence
Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Miscarriage
annreadsabook's review against another edition
- 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
While the novel primarily focuses on the life and lived experiences of Amal Abulheja, a girl born to Palestinian refugees who were ousted from their ancestral home during the Nakba, it also follows her entire family's trajectory, contemplating the ramifications of displacement and dispossession for her friends and loved ones.
I honestly am not sure that I have anything meaningful to add here because this book conveys everything so powerfully. However, I was particularly struck by Abulhawa's ability to convey the unending trauma experienced by Palestinian adults and children alike amidst the more universally relatable experiences such as childhood crushes and lasting friendships; the isolating sense of not only being an immigrant, but living abroad while one's family is suffering and struggling back home; and being brown in the United States (particularly, Philadelphia, where life is often viewed as being bifurcated between Black and white experiences). Finally, I found myself thinking about the immense privilege I and other people have of being able to wait until we are in a good headspace to delve into this book, while those living through such traumatic, heartbreaking circumstances don't have the ability to easily distance themselves from such pain and turmoil.
Anyway, all of this is to say that Mornings in Jenin is an absolutely stunning, but challenging, novel, and I think that everyone should place it on their reading lists if they haven't done so already.
Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, War, Genocide, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, and Child abuse