Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Drobny szczegół by Adania Shibli

61 reviews

amschelly153's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Devastating. Enlightening. Courageous. Shocking. Real and horrible and I don’t believe I’ll be the same after this.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: War

Minor: Physical abuse, Gun violence, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Grief, Violence, and Rape

jourdanicus's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

A beautifully written, haunting tale... This novel is a form of art that might be too complex and nuanced for a white Westerner like myself to properly comment on...

What I observed that I can (inadequately) comment on: The title is a multi-entendre. The pacing of the story is almost painfully slow... But that is the point. It is a broad story told on a microscopic level. The circular structure is masterfully done.

I think this book would take multiple reads or just... A long time to fully process and appreciate.

Oh yeah, and #FreePalestine

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, War, and Genocide

sadiefc's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Colonisation, and Genocide

emily_mh's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This was a harrowing story about the horrors of settler-colonial violence, one that makes clear that these aren’t a thing of the past and that they will keep repeating so long as the settler-colonial state exists.

The simple writing style employed here is incredibly effective, allowing the reader to look beyond the denotative to the connotative. There was so much to think about, such as the potential insect metaphor for the futility and brutality of colonisation found in the first part (I could be wrong with this interpretation). Also, and I may again be off the mark here, but I believe the only time direct speech was used was when an Israeli character was glorifying the settler-colonialism of Israel. I thought this was significant, as it suggests that even within her own story, the Palestinian main character’s voice is given less weight (through indirect speech) than her oppressors, again illustrating the ills of settler-colonialism. There are countless more examples of deeper meaning to be found.

The book being split into two parts was another skilful choice as it provided the opportunity for parallels which demonstrated, sickeningly, the repetition of settler-colonial violence as well as providing clear contrast between the voices of the Israeli military officer and the Palestinian civilian.

Gut-wrenching is not a strong enough word for this story. I could not put it down. Shibli did not deserve to have her ceremony cancelled. Read books by Palestinian authors!!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, War, Gun violence, Violence, Racism, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Grief, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Excrement, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Ableism

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

Minor Detail is a short and intense novel in two parts. Part one features a third person perspective of 'an Israeli commander in August 1949, one year after the Nakba. The cruelty of this portion, the utterly inhumane and horrible attitudes held by the soldiers... It's damning and sickening.

Part two features a first person perspective twenty five years into the future, focused on a Palestinian woman. After connecting closely with a news article, she embarks on a dangerous journey across occupied territory to discover the truth behind a brutal story. The way that Shibli has woven terror into this woman's daily life under occupation is heartbreaking and unsettling. She's adjusted to the sounds of bombings, to being confined to a settlement, to constantly encountering callous and violent Israeli soldiers. And the conclusion of her story? Absolutely brutal.

As a whole, I think that Minor Detail is a very powerful read that offers an enlightening glimpse into the common cruelties of life in occupied Palestine, prior to the current genocide.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, War, Gun violence, Genocide, Murder, Rape, Racism, Sexual violence, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

3.75

There’s an old saying I’ve heard about tragedies, don’t show the faces of many tell the story of one. I think this book does such a great job of that. Giving us a main character, whose pretty quirky, and showing how hard her life is as a Palestinian. Making the apartheid Palestinians experience so visceral and personal. My one criticism is the beginning half through the soldier’s POV. I didn’t like the writing as much as the rest of the book. Although I get why it was told (for context), the rest of the story was far more compelling. 

“Sometimes it’s inevitable for the past to be forgotten, especially if the present is no less horrific.”

“The truth of it will never stop chasing me.”

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Religious bigotry, Blood, Racism, Confinement, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, and War

emsreadingdiary's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

Short but heartbreaking. The first half of the book is so sickening you just want to get it over with. Not only is the issue at hand disgusting, but the symbolism and the detached mode of story-telling add something more that deepens the effect. The second half, set in the present day, you can feel the anxieties and the alienations of the female protagonist. The sense of being treated as an enemy in your own country is palpable, and the idea that we’ll cling to anything that connects us to our home, our people, our heritage, no matter how horrifyingly traumatic, is one that I feel like many can understand. 105 pages and all of them will make you reevaluate yourself and your life.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, and Misogyny

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, and Body horror

bookishbrenbren's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

During the Nakba, colonizing? israeli? soldiers murder a family of Bedoins without cause and repeatedly rape the kidnapped daughter. Roughly 50 years later, a Palestinian woman becomes obsessed with the report of this crime. 

I did think this book was well-written and compelling but to be honest, the second half of the book was so boring that it ruined the book for me. And the first half was so grotesque, both with violence and body horror, that I was looking for the second half to save it, so was let down doubly. While the book had moments that were compelling, especially the character development of the MC, and the portrait of modern life under israeli occupation, the vast majority of it was just a list of uneventful actions, e.g., "she got in the car, she walked into the museum, she looked at this thing, she looked at that thing," ad nauseam. Whatever the point of that particularly literary tool was, it was lost on me and I can say confidently, it was over-used. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Animal death, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Torture, Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Sexism

dre721's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

The ENDING?????? Hello??!?? 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Islamophobia, Murder, Violence, War, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism