Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

56 reviews

alliereadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Rape, War, and Genocide

readingwithcoffee's review

dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Heavy book that’s not for the faint of heart but important and the author fits so much of Palestinian present and past in the short novella and I will have to reread to get the symbolism with the dogs and the smell of gasoline 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Murder, Death, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Rape, Violence, and Xenophobia

roseleebooks's review

challenging dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Xenophobia, War, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

ynna's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Violence, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

ecn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, and Body horror

bookishbrenbren's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

During the Nakba, colonizing? israeli? soldiers murder a family of Bedoins without cause and repeatedly rape the kidnapped daughter. Roughly 50 years later, a Palestinian woman becomes obsessed with the report of this crime. 

I did think this book was well-written and compelling but to be honest, the second half of the book was so boring that it ruined the book for me. And the first half was so grotesque, both with violence and body horror, that I was looking for the second half to save it, so was let down doubly. While the book had moments that were compelling, especially the character development of the MC, and the portrait of modern life under israeli occupation, the vast majority of it was just a list of uneventful actions, e.g., "she got in the car, she walked into the museum, she looked at this thing, she looked at that thing," ad nauseam. Whatever the point of that particularly literary tool was, it was lost on me and I can say confidently, it was over-used. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Animal death, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Torture, Child death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Sexism