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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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:
Yes
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
What an evocative story about the blending of realty and performance and how the two feed each other as well as the politics of theatre and the relationships of Palestinian men and complex everyday of living under beside and within enemy lines
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
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:
Yes
"I expected them to interrogate me at the airport and they did" is such a simple sentence and yet as the first sentence of this book it somehow hit extremely hard. From the very start, in an almost casual way you get shown all the tiny and big ways in which Israelis control Palestinians. I found it particularly interesting to get more insight into the experience of Palestinians living "inside", as they call it in the novel; a lot of the talk around Palestine is focused on Gaza and the West Bank, but the Arabs living in what is internationally recognized as "Israel" are often forgotten. Yet this is way more than just a book about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I loved the explorations of theatre and its political power, the complicated dynamics between siblings and the theme of making amends with your past. Parts of the novel being written as a theatre script was such a nice extra touch. An engaging read that does a great job at portraying Palestinians as the humans they are, rather than just victims in a conflict.
PS: I think all the reviews calling Sonia unlikeable have simply not read enough books with unlikeable female narrators because she was really not that bad at all. If you're already thrown off by her that sounds like a skill issue to me.
PS: I think all the reviews calling Sonia unlikeable have simply not read enough books with unlikeable female narrators because she was really not that bad at all. If you're already thrown off by her that sounds like a skill issue to me.
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
actually torn about whether to give this a 4 or 5 star, now that i’ve reached the end.
admittedly this book was a bit difficult to get through, mostly because i was not that interested in sonia’s relationship woes, her stage life, and her anxieties/neuroses, which are many and enumerated with surgical precision (whose internal monologue is like this?). i never got used to this particular voice, but that’s more a stylistic gripe.
appreciating the genius - and richness - of this book requires a slight lens adjustment for me, but if i let go of my irritation at the overwrought self-consciousness, this book is easy to praise. the language is stunning and brimming with observation, the cast of characters endearing, especially the women, and the native/local’s knowledge of, and intimacy with, the land sings on every page.
though the narrator was not born in palestine and does not live there, she has family and spent a lot of her childhood in palestine. there is that diasporic tension and ambivalence about the homeland, but she’s not (unduly?) preoccupied with it. indeed the novel becomes more breathable when the characters accept their ties, and commitment, to the land. of course it is not a romance, given that the land is occupied. but also it kinda is? naming is a way of claiming and restoring, and that’s what hammad’s place-writing felt like to me. there’s also something here about memory being an unreliable narrator, how we can remember things differently, how we forget easily and sometimes willfully, and narrative/narration as an imperfect tool against erasure.
so… i don’t know what the verdict is. will put at 4⭐️ for now but watch me change my mind tomorrow
admittedly this book was a bit difficult to get through, mostly because i was not that interested in sonia’s relationship woes, her stage life, and her anxieties/neuroses, which are many and enumerated with surgical precision (whose internal monologue is like this?). i never got used to this particular voice, but that’s more a stylistic gripe.
appreciating the genius - and richness - of this book requires a slight lens adjustment for me, but if i let go of my irritation at the overwrought self-consciousness, this book is easy to praise. the language is stunning and brimming with observation, the cast of characters endearing, especially the women, and the native/local’s knowledge of, and intimacy with, the land sings on every page.
though the narrator was not born in palestine and does not live there, she has family and spent a lot of her childhood in palestine. there is that diasporic tension and ambivalence about the homeland, but she’s not (unduly?) preoccupied with it. indeed the novel becomes more breathable when the characters accept their ties, and commitment, to the land. of course it is not a romance, given that the land is occupied. but also it kinda is? naming is a way of claiming and restoring, and that’s what hammad’s place-writing felt like to me. there’s also something here about memory being an unreliable narrator, how we can remember things differently, how we forget easily and sometimes willfully, and narrative/narration as an imperfect tool against erasure.
so… i don’t know what the verdict is. will put at 4⭐️ for now but watch me change my mind tomorrow
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really loved and appreciated the themes in the story, I thought the writing was decent but the story itself a bit dull at times. Worthwhile read.