Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Eine Nebensache by Adania Shibli

192 reviews

noella19's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

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

5.0

A masterpiece.
Poetic.

That ending broke me. Not sure what I expected but still I didn’t want that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, War, Rape, Xenophobia, and Torture

bernardo7894's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Violence

maddiereadswords's review against another edition

4.5

A book that is equal parts heavy and powerful. Check the trigger warnings before reading, but god is it worth a read if you can handle it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Death, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, War, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Sexual violence, Murder, Racism, and Rape

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.5

i found the clinical tone of the first part challenging, in contrast to the extreme readability of the second part with its masterful choice of narrator. the motifs seemed sparse, even for a novella, and a little heavy-handed, especially in the first part. but overall it was a worthwhile, important, haunting read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Colonisation, Death, Child death, Sexual assault, War, Murder, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Gore, Animal death, and Torture

judah_g's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, War, Rape, and Sexual violence

rebeccadiv's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

There's no way I can rate this. Read content warnings before pick this up.
Free Palestine 🇵🇸

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body horror, Gore, Rape, Animal cruelty, Violence, Colonisation, Genocide, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and War

onthesamepage's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It astonishes me how Shibli manages to paint such a complete picture of life under colonization in such a short book. The prose isn't flowery at all but very straightforward, and yet it packs a punch. The book is split into two parts—the first part deals with a group of Israeli soldiers as they patrol a segment of the desert, and capture (and rape) a young Palestinian woman. The second part follows another Palestinian woman, many years after the rape, who reads about this incident and becomes obsessed with retracing it. Both parts hit hard for different reasons, but I found myself especially affected by the latter one. The character read as neurodivergent to me, and following her in her daily life, with all the restrictions and fears and anxieties imposed upon her by the colonial state, was heartbreaking.

I truly can't recommend this enough, but do check out the content warnings before starting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Genocide, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Rape

extracelestial's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, War, Racism, Violence, Rape, Xenophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Colonisation

shaynicole's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Murder, Rape, and Sexual harassment