Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Minor Detail

This is a completely harrowing book about the Israeli occupation of Palestine from 1949, told from two perspectives - in third person from an Israeli solder, and in first person from a Palestinian woman. The first half details the events of a Palestinian girl being captured by the Israeli army, and the second, of a Palestinian woman discovering the events half a century later.

The prose in this book is completely unforgiving and written with complete apathy. It's basic description of everything really compliments the stories and is cleverly done to elicit strong emotions from the reader. Having unemotional prose in the first story reflected the cold-heartedness of the Israeli soldier who is leading a search party to murder any encountered Palestinian civilians. For the second story, the lack of emotion really emphasised the events unfolding around the main character. Additionally, I think this is where the translation from Arabic is incredible. There isn't one area in this book where the writing is disjointed or doesn't make sense. It flows so well, is completely atmospheric and definitely one the best translated fiction books I have ever read.

This is a completely chilling read that will absolutely stick with you. It is very telling of both Palestine's past, but also their present. Perhaps my favourite quote of the book was:

Besides, sometimes it’s inevitable for the past to be forgotten, especially if the present is no less horrific.

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kteq's review

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challenging sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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bswanntastic's review

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4.0

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sbkt's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Les mots me manquent. Je recommande fortement ce livre qui est très bien bien écrit

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withlivjones's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Wow. This was a haunting read that hits particularly hard right now. I thought that the recurring motifs between the two halves of the novella were really clever. I also thought that the banal, almost clinical descriptions of both the horrifying things the Israeli soldiers do to the young girl in the first half and the injustices that the Palestinian woman and her peers have to endure in the second half really clearly revealed the horrors of the occupation. I’m still reeling from the ending - normally I’m not a huge fan of abrupt endings but it really does work well in a novella like this. Read this book.

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tatyana_'s review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No

4.0

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thelilithjames's review

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dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

4.5

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