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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
reflective
tense
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:
Yes
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
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
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
tense
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
reflective
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
it's been a month now since i finished Enter Ghost, but i'm only just finding the time to share my thoughts - at least they've had some time to marinate!
Enter Ghost follows half-Palestinian, half-Dutch, Sonia, on her return to Palestine to visit her sister, Haneen. as an actress, Sonia is roped into performing Hamlet in the West bank. her assimilation into the production is slow, but she becomes quite engrossed, performing her lines in Arabic. this mirrors, in a way, the process of becoming enticed by the resistance movement (albeit for Sonia, somewhat passively), with the play itself, Hamlet, about a usurper in an established home; its production a form of resistance, emphasising the value of art during unrest.
the plot and themes are astutely relevant and well considered in theory, however, i did not find myself engrossed by the pacing, which felt tedious rather than tense (and so the intrigue felt unsustained) nor the plot, which began to feel low stakes; clearly the opposite was intended.
moreover, while the cast of characters felt quite distinct, and side characters appealed to the reader's humanity - the guard with the Birmingham accent out of place in israel, reminds the reader that the so-called everyman, finds it a far too easy to put himself into the uniform of the oppressor - the emphasis on Sonia's romances felt over-emphasised and inconsequential to the plot. perhaps the intended effect was to tie Sonia's relationship to her ex-husband with the UK, versus her meeting a man in the West bank, and this reflecting both her relationship to Palestine and with her own mixed heritage identity - but truthfully, this feels tenuous and perhaps disingenuous.
Sonia is too passive, and this may have been intentional, but it certainly did not help to propel the narrative, and it made me purely exasperated with her. neither did this convince me that she was this compelling actress, either. her relationships with her sister, father, and family history were more compelling and gave depth to her character, but i did feel they were overshadowed by the dull, tiresome, romance sub-plot, which read like filler.
in sum, there was a great deal to this story that charmed me, and there is not one area where Hammad makes a true pitfall. i just feel that there are patches throughout that do not feel fully formed, and could have done with being reworked. the prose was also just fine - nothing overly verbose, which is not to say that that would have been necessary - but it certainly did not help Sonia's flat narration.
Enter Ghost follows half-Palestinian, half-Dutch, Sonia, on her return to Palestine to visit her sister, Haneen. as an actress, Sonia is roped into performing Hamlet in the West bank. her assimilation into the production is slow, but she becomes quite engrossed, performing her lines in Arabic. this mirrors, in a way, the process of becoming enticed by the resistance movement (albeit for Sonia, somewhat passively), with the play itself, Hamlet, about a usurper in an established home; its production a form of resistance, emphasising the value of art during unrest.
the plot and themes are astutely relevant and well considered in theory, however, i did not find myself engrossed by the pacing, which felt tedious rather than tense (and so the intrigue felt unsustained) nor the plot, which began to feel low stakes; clearly the opposite was intended.
moreover, while the cast of characters felt quite distinct, and side characters appealed to the reader's humanity - the guard with the Birmingham accent out of place in israel, reminds the reader that the so-called everyman, finds it a far too easy to put himself into the uniform of the oppressor - the emphasis on Sonia's romances felt over-emphasised and inconsequential to the plot. perhaps the intended effect was to tie Sonia's relationship to her ex-husband with the UK, versus her meeting a man in the West bank, and this reflecting both her relationship to Palestine and with her own mixed heritage identity - but truthfully, this feels tenuous and perhaps disingenuous.
Sonia is too passive, and this may have been intentional, but it certainly did not help to propel the narrative, and it made me purely exasperated with her. neither did this convince me that she was this compelling actress, either. her relationships with her sister, father, and family history were more compelling and gave depth to her character, but i did feel they were overshadowed by the dull, tiresome, romance sub-plot, which read like filler.
in sum, there was a great deal to this story that charmed me, and there is not one area where Hammad makes a true pitfall. i just feel that there are patches throughout that do not feel fully formed, and could have done with being reworked. the prose was also just fine - nothing overly verbose, which is not to say that that would have been necessary - but it certainly did not help Sonia's flat narration.