Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

8 reviews

lexcellent's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Islamophobia, Murder, Fatphobia, Medical content, Blood, Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, War, Violence, and Torture

robinks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

I loved getting to walk with the Yacoub family through so many years, getting to see how each of them grows internally and in relationship to the others. I believe the fact that Hala is a clinical psychologist  allowed the characters to feel real. Also, there were many actual historical references that kept the story rooted in reality. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Racism, Dementia, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Terminal illness, Torture, and Colonisation

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Rape, Murder, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Death of parent, War, Drug use, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Death, Genocide, Islamophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: Racial slurs, Alcohol, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book left me in such a state that I can’t write a review as cohesively as I normally do but I will share what thoughts I can cobble together:

Salt Houses beautifully raw story about a Palestinian family spread across the world after the Six Day War in 1967. We follow four generations of this family as they grapple with the enormous loss of being forced to leave Palestine and have to continue their lives elsewhere. 

Hala Alyan’s writing is absolutely incredible, it’s lyrical and elegant and I underlined so many powerful quotes while reading. Through her captivating prose, Alyan is able to weave a story of four generations, centering on the relationships between mothers, and daughters and sisters. 

We see how they are impacted by Israel’s violence against their family and land for decades after and how the loss of their homeland shaped their lives. This is a story of loss and grief, but we also see these characters in their most tangibly human moments. They grow up, they find love, have children, get old. There is sorrow but there is also joy and love. 

Each member of the family carries the memory of Palestine with them in a different way, they are shaped by it but each of their lives takes a different path. I found myself attached to each character for different reasons, they were all so vivid and human I couldn’t help but be drawn in. Even if I disliked particular characters I was fascinated by them and resonated with their messiness and imperfections. 

Salt Houses is such an incredibly impactful story about life, loss and family and I urge everyone to read it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

Minor: War, Violence, Genocide, and Fatphobia

rachelfayreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Violence, Grief, Torture, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Rape, Xenophobia, War, Racism, Gun violence, Fatphobia, Sexism, Death of parent, and Colonisation

katievh's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Islamophobia, Classism, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and War

Minor: Fatphobia, Cursing, and Sexual content

perfectplaces's review against another edition

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

5.0

“I wake up and it feels like my lungs are dropped in ice and I have to count, one two three four, listen to myself taking in air. Sometimes I wonder if this is really the waking world: coffee in a red mug, three children sleeping in three rooms, the television blaring in the background.”

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hala alyan gets it. like i simply cannot stress enough how much she gets it. 

this reminds me of khaled hosseini’s and the mountains echoed which is a book i love for its form if not for its content. except salt houses has much more heart and nuance to its portrayal of war and conflict and cyclical trauma and identity and exile than any of hosseini’s books. like mountains, a lot of the reviews for this book complain about its style of incorporating short vignettes from different povs that make up a multi generational story. but like. i like that. i think it’s fun and good and i just love the yacoub family so much (atefTT_TT) and i started to see myself and the people i know in all of them. so i don’t rly agree with any of the reviews saying we didn’t have time to get to know the characters like yes. we did. the girls that get it get it. 

anyway this is a new favorite and i think i will recommend forever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Dementia, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Police brutality, Grief, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Rape, and Fatphobia

Minor: Alcoholism and Vomit

chloehamburn's review

emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality, Rape, and Fatphobia

Minor: Alcoholism, Dementia, and Racial slurs

emerynmader's review

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Fatphobia, Grief, Islamophobia, Xenophobia, Vomit, Violence, Torture, and Sexual content