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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
Nice prose but slow with long descriptions. May try to read at at a later time. .
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
It's a diasporic story, told of a Palestinian Arab family, from the perspective of someone who no longer belongs. Their lives and thoughts all through the lens of a Westerner. It does a good job of portraying how generations pass and change and how families go on. But it is overwhelming both a product of and an appeasement to white westerners. There is no understanding of the region, the land, the faith, the people. All told through a white lens, a European scope and an athiest mind. Framing everything as "conflict" and "just a lot of war with lots of men fighting on both sides" rather than openly admitting to the erasure of the Palestinian people by invading europeans, settler colonialism, genocide and ethnic cleansing. Also ignores all American involvement and direct action in devastating the region, choosing instead to focus all rage and mockery at arab leaders, religious figures and resistance fighters. No wonder the author laments how detached she feels from her own people, she has not the first clue what makes them who they are. A testament to the diaspora, ironically. The writing quality is good I grant you, and the story of family, growing apart and coming together is touching.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
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
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
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:
Yes
gifted to me, and quite lovely, and even more poignant since october 2023
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-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
Haunting, lyrical, more a meditation than a book, a melancholy meditation on the meaning of family and place. Really more universal than just a story of Palestine, or more a sort of the displaced and the experience of growing in both directions simultaneously, out toward an unknown future and a heavily remembered past. Heartbreaking to think of how many millions of people this applies to, six generations just in one family in this book. You can’t envy their grief of course, but their family enduring made me yearn for my own people and lost places.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes