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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
emotional
funny
inspiring
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
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Lo he dejado a medias. Una novela premiada sobre Palestina parecía, a priori, interesante, pero las protagonistas son inaguantables. Las interacciones entre Sonia y su hermana son irritantes. La directora teatral Mariam es una maleducada y, aunque la escritora siente la necesidad de explicar explícitamente que eso le da cierto encanto infantil, yo no se lo veo.
Parece que vaya a ser interesante cuando cruzan a la Franja, pero entonces se alarga y alarga en los ensayos de Hamlet en árabe y los paralelismos que le ven los actores con Palestina. ¿Es Dinamarca Palestina o Israel? ¿Es la madre de, Hamlet un símbolo de Palestina?
Cuando no me aburría, me irritaba, así que lo he dejado cuando llevaba un tercio.
Parece que vaya a ser interesante cuando cruzan a la Franja, pero entonces se alarga y alarga en los ensayos de Hamlet en árabe y los paralelismos que le ven los actores con Palestina. ¿Es Dinamarca Palestina o Israel? ¿Es la madre de, Hamlet un símbolo de Palestina?
Cuando no me aburría, me irritaba, así que lo he dejado cuando llevaba un tercio.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
I will read any author featured on the Tin House podcast, Between the Covers, and really enjoyed hearing Isabella Hammad in conversation with David Naimon, which led me to Enter Ghost.
I loved this book, charting 38-year-old Sonia’s return to Palestine and her participation in a West Bank production of Hamlet. Hamlet is my second-favorite Shakespeare play and provides such rich material for diving into the inner worlds of the actors in the novel. I was reminded of a favorite This American Life episode from 2002, Act Five, which follows a production of Hamlet within the carceral system. Hamlet takes on new meaning depending on the context in which it’s staged, where the play is taking place, and who is acting within it.
On a formal level, the play-within-the-novel sections were clever and helped break up the dense narrative. Hammad writes about the ongoing realities of occupation in a seamless way, weaving violence and unease into descriptions of daily life or play rehearsals. Despite being political and musing on the role of art/theater in exposing oppression and injustice, the novel is deeply psychological. The balancing of quotidian details (Sonia’s tense relationship with her sister, the nuances of Palestinian diasporic identity, the aftermath of her marriage and a subsequent affair) with philosophical questions of activism and resistance reminded me of Intimacies by Katie Kitamura, which also blends personal and political in a restrained and illuminating way.
Podcasts mentioned:
https://tinhouse.com/podcast/isabella-hammad-enter-ghost/
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/218/act-v
I loved this book, charting 38-year-old Sonia’s return to Palestine and her participation in a West Bank production of Hamlet. Hamlet is my second-favorite Shakespeare play and provides such rich material for diving into the inner worlds of the actors in the novel. I was reminded of a favorite This American Life episode from 2002, Act Five, which follows a production of Hamlet within the carceral system. Hamlet takes on new meaning depending on the context in which it’s staged, where the play is taking place, and who is acting within it.
On a formal level, the play-within-the-novel sections were clever and helped break up the dense narrative. Hammad writes about the ongoing realities of occupation in a seamless way, weaving violence and unease into descriptions of daily life or play rehearsals. Despite being political and musing on the role of art/theater in exposing oppression and injustice, the novel is deeply psychological. The balancing of quotidian details (Sonia’s tense relationship with her sister, the nuances of Palestinian diasporic identity, the aftermath of her marriage and a subsequent affair) with philosophical questions of activism and resistance reminded me of Intimacies by Katie Kitamura, which also blends personal and political in a restrained and illuminating way.
Podcasts mentioned:
https://tinhouse.com/podcast/isabella-hammad-enter-ghost/
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/218/act-v
challenging
hopeful
reflective
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 was good but a bit slow, I will come back to it when I have the right focus and mindset.