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n_asyikin_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
CW: racism, xenophobia (mild), colourism, slavery, ableism, child abuse, domestic abuse, stalking, implied eugenics related to ableism
Quite poetical in narration, Celestial Bodies depicts intersectional existence, reflecting how class & wealth modulates the racist & sexist structure in the characters' world. It also explores how the society & its norms shaped one's being. Based on my limited knowledge, the poetry-like writing style resembles the dramatization and lyricism quite familiar in Arab poetry. It also shows how religiosity & spirituality are tightly interweaved into their literature.
I think going into this, one should anticipate reading it as a series of short stories told in rather personalised observational manner. It can be considered containing multiple overlapping stories relating to a big casts of characters narrated nonlinearly. That may caused confusion at times, especially as some of the characters were quite unreliable as narrators, e.g. Abdallah.
But if you see the stories as belonging to each individual characters whom happened to have connections with other characters, I think you can appreciate the book better.
The approach to the storytelling reminds me quite a bit to Orhan Pamuk's and his epic intergenerational stories centering around one family/character, except of course, Alharthi's less of an epic, more of a fleeting summation of one's lived or lingering moment/memory.
I quite liked the aspect to the story that depicts how women were raised into thinking that sacrifices were inherent in their existence. That servitude is expected from them. It could be extracted that anything related to men's well-being (i.e. to love them, to heal them, to change them, to protect them, etc) was stated to be women's responsibility. I thought it did well showing the consequences of being raised in a highly patriarchal society, how it shaped the women holding up the same system that impede them - something I could relate to.
Warning: Slavery is also depicted in the story. There are instances where victims of slavery's view on their given rights to freedom was framed negatively. Though, it is also contrasted by an opposing view through Habib & Sanjar. Also notable is Mayya's colonized perspective in the admiration for the European/imperialist views. That makes for an interesting read, because coming from a formerly colonized country, we too have many such people in our nation. I think Alharthi's intent with both topics are to highlight how sometimes people will fall-in-line & even uphold the system that failed them due to lack of awareness and/or knowledge or even familiarity (think herd mentality); a rather prominent theme in the book.
Regardless, if you like reading an intergenerational story that narrates its cast of characters' introspections, allowing for insights into moments in their lives, this book will be perfect for you.
Quite poetical in narration, Celestial Bodies depicts intersectional existence, reflecting how class & wealth modulates the racist & sexist structure in the characters' world. It also explores how the society & its norms shaped one's being. Based on my limited knowledge, the poetry-like writing style resembles the dramatization and lyricism quite familiar in Arab poetry. It also shows how religiosity & spirituality are tightly interweaved into their literature.
I think going into this, one should anticipate reading it as a series of short stories told in rather personalised observational manner. It can be considered containing multiple overlapping stories relating to a big casts of characters narrated nonlinearly. That may caused confusion at times, especially as some of the characters were quite unreliable as narrators, e.g. Abdallah.
But if you see the stories as belonging to each individual characters whom happened to have connections with other characters, I think you can appreciate the book better.
The approach to the storytelling reminds me quite a bit to Orhan Pamuk's and his epic intergenerational stories centering around one family/character, except of course, Alharthi's less of an epic, more of a fleeting summation of one's lived or lingering moment/memory.
I quite liked the aspect to the story that depicts how women were raised into thinking that sacrifices were inherent in their existence. That servitude is expected from them. It could be extracted that anything related to men's well-being (i.e. to love them, to heal them, to change them, to protect them, etc) was stated to be women's responsibility. I thought it did well showing the consequences of being raised in a highly patriarchal society, how it shaped the women holding up the same system that impede them - something I could relate to.
Warning: Slavery is also depicted in the story. There are instances where victims of slavery's view on their given rights to freedom was framed negatively. Though, it is also contrasted by an opposing view through Habib & Sanjar. Also notable is Mayya's colonized perspective in the admiration for the European/imperialist views. That makes for an interesting read, because coming from a formerly colonized country, we too have many such people in our nation. I think Alharthi's intent with both topics are to highlight how sometimes people will fall-in-line & even uphold the system that failed them due to lack of awareness and/or knowledge or even familiarity (think herd mentality); a rather prominent theme in the book.
Regardless, if you like reading an intergenerational story that narrates its cast of characters' introspections, allowing for insights into moments in their lives, this book will be perfect for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
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