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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide
Minor: Infidelity, Mass/school shootings
Damn the writing here is so impressive. A really subtly bizarre way of describing the world and does a great job of communicating that stuff really do be happening all the time. Was a huge fan of the sentence that was something like 'a piece of hay would have landed in his ear if he hadn't turned his head'. At times so abstract and experimental that its hard to pin down how the story's actually working but tbf the story's not exactly important it's all about the Vibes on this one.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Adania Shibli’s writing is so incredible and it’s going to pull me in every single time. This follows a young, lonely Palestinian girl as she lives her daily life, but it’s through her perspectives and understanding of the world around her. Historical context and it’s heaviness is not very present in this, which felt fitting for this book. It feels like you’re reading her memories, so the timeline is a bit disjointed and there’s a lot of sensory descriptions. I re-read this after finishing it (72 pgs) and appreciated it more the second time.
A story that doesn't have a proper timeline, so you just keep reading because the scenarios captivate you at the same time. Then, suddenly the last page clears all your cluelessness in the previous pages.
This is that story.
This is that story.
This is a beautifully crafted novella on a young girl and her family. It deals with grief and loss and contextualizes the girl's life with the massacre at Sabra and Shatila at the periphery.
I don't know how to rate this novella, because I know I have to reread it. The structure is out of time with events circling each other rather than occurring in chronological order. This made the reading experience at times a bit jarring, but it ultimately pays off, I think.
The writing, as in Minor Detail, is beautiful. I have so many moments underlined and annotated.
I can't wait to return to this quiet but impactful narrative.
I don't know how to rate this novella, because I know I have to reread it. The structure is out of time with events circling each other rather than occurring in chronological order. This made the reading experience at times a bit jarring, but it ultimately pays off, I think.
The writing, as in Minor Detail, is beautiful. I have so many moments underlined and annotated.
I can't wait to return to this quiet but impactful narrative.
"Touch" di Adania Shibli è un breve romanzo estremamente lirico, che non è stato tradotto in italiano. A differenza del libro di Amiry, non fa riferimento alla storia recente del popolo palestinese, ad eccezione di un vago accenno al massacro di Sabra e Shatila. Racconta invece della vita quotidiana di una bambina, portandoci direttamente dentro la sua prospettiva: va a scuola, litiga con le sue sorelle, assiste al funerale di suo fratello. C'è molta malinconia nel suo sguardo, che sembra troppo disincantato per la sua età, anche per colpa di un disturbo alle orecchie che la isola dal resto della sua comunità.
Se il testo di Amiry prende a prestito dallo stile della saggistica e mischia il linguaggio poetico a quello giornalistico, Tocuh è invece una vera e propria prosa lirica, in cui molta importanza è data ai sensi della bambina, e in cui il mondo ci viene raccontato attraverso la sua percezione, fantasiosa e immaginifica. Anche la vicenda raccontata non è una sequenza lineare di eventi, ma un continuo andirivieni nella memoria della bambina. Ci sono degli eventi riconoscibili, ma è soprattutto una sfilza di "esperienze" filtrate dal suo sguardo, dal suo udito, dal suo tatto.
Non per questo però si tratta, a mio avviso, di un'opera meno politica: la protagonista è senza nome, isolata, sembra sempre triste eppure ha chiaramente un'immaginazione creatrice molto potente e fervida, perciò ho pensato a volte che potesse star lì (anche) a rappresentare un popolo mutilato della possibilità di esprimere la sua personalità, confinato sua malgrado in una malinconia profonda e in un silenzio innaturale.
She had started staying away from noises to stay away from illness, and then in the same way, sounds began to stay away from her. At school no one talked to her, and at home she was no longer part of anything, as if she had had a huge fight with everyone.
Se il testo di Amiry prende a prestito dallo stile della saggistica e mischia il linguaggio poetico a quello giornalistico, Tocuh è invece una vera e propria prosa lirica, in cui molta importanza è data ai sensi della bambina, e in cui il mondo ci viene raccontato attraverso la sua percezione, fantasiosa e immaginifica. Anche la vicenda raccontata non è una sequenza lineare di eventi, ma un continuo andirivieni nella memoria della bambina. Ci sono degli eventi riconoscibili, ma è soprattutto una sfilza di "esperienze" filtrate dal suo sguardo, dal suo udito, dal suo tatto.
Non per questo però si tratta, a mio avviso, di un'opera meno politica: la protagonista è senza nome, isolata, sembra sempre triste eppure ha chiaramente un'immaginazione creatrice molto potente e fervida, perciò ho pensato a volte che potesse star lì (anche) a rappresentare un popolo mutilato della possibilità di esprimere la sua personalità, confinato sua malgrado in una malinconia profonda e in un silenzio innaturale.
This is a gorgeous book that you need to read at least twice to understand the narrative structure that is going on.
Stunning novella about a young Palestinian girl. The majority of the novella felt like a dream--no plot to speak of, the narrative flits from idea to idea, event to event as witnessed or experienced by the girl, and described through her lens; subsequently, events are vague, disjointed, but you really hone in on being this girl--the death of one then a second brother are handled at a remove. Her relationships with her many sisters are isolating and heartbreaking as she is basically reaching out, and they're first instinct is to tease.
Guess what she does? She seeks and finds solace in reading literature. Going book by book across the shelves, starting with the Three Musketeers.
At the beginning of one of the ending chapters: "The books and the little girl went along hand in hand through the days, all the way to the third shelf."
It seems that she found a way to relate to the world and thereafter wanted her mother to relate to her--through the books. Then we have this paragraph:
"Nor did the mother know how to read, or she might have shared the girl's many worlds that existed in the first shelf, the second shelf, and halfway through the third. Every new book and every new day increased the distance between the two. In the meantime, the mother waited for the girl to move the books out of the way between them, and the girl waited for the mother to read these books; the only time their two languages met was in an argument that accelerated their separation."
Guess what she does? She seeks and finds solace in reading literature. Going book by book across the shelves, starting with the Three Musketeers.
At the beginning of one of the ending chapters: "The books and the little girl went along hand in hand through the days, all the way to the third shelf."
It seems that she found a way to relate to the world and thereafter wanted her mother to relate to her--through the books. Then we have this paragraph:
"Nor did the mother know how to read, or she might have shared the girl's many worlds that existed in the first shelf, the second shelf, and halfway through the third. Every new book and every new day increased the distance between the two. In the meantime, the mother waited for the girl to move the books out of the way between them, and the girl waited for the mother to read these books; the only time their two languages met was in an argument that accelerated their separation."