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apple_atcha_reading's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
Following 5 generations of the Yacoub family, we begin with Salma, the matriarch of the Yacoub family, on the eve of her daughter Alia's wedding to Atif. Salma read the dregs of Alia's tea cup, and sees a hard life, full of instability, loss, and uncertainty. Not wanting to ruin the beautiful wedding, Salma keeps this from her daughter. Shortly following the wedding, the Six Day War of 1967 breaks out; Atif and Salma's son, Mustafa, remain behind to fight.
This is merely the beginning of frequent uprooting, uncertainty, loss, and trauma for the Yacoub family. We follow their movements from the beginning of thr Six Day War, all the way to the near lresent day of 2014 where the Middle East is still in perpetual conflict. Each generation of the Yacoub family through one way or another is sent into exile from what they have come to know as their home, although each character mentions they have no real concept of home or belonging. They are refugees before they are born, and their children inherit their trauma and loss without anyone truly realizing at the time.
The way Alyan crafts such well rounded characters made me want to hug them, hit them, scream at them, comfort them all at the same time. They were real people; complicated but trying their best under the circumstances of their heritage and birth through no wrong doing on their part. Each generation became more and more separated from their lives and connection to Palestine. At times, the younger generations attempt to explain their ethnicity and home country to American or European friends, but they don't understand. How can you be one thing if you've never been there, and you're not this thing even thought you were born there? Each generation was an excellent example of no matter how hard you try, you can't escape your family and their past. The trauma of simply being Palestinian followed each member of the Yacoub family, even those born in Europe or America. They fall into the same patterns and mannerisms, all attempting to cope with never ending war and repeated displacement and never truly belonging for a number of reasons.
All in all, this was an excellent read about one family's generational trauma, but also their resilience and tenacity to overcome and return to their home, wherever that may be for them.
This is merely the beginning of frequent uprooting, uncertainty, loss, and trauma for the Yacoub family. We follow their movements from the beginning of thr Six Day War, all the way to the near lresent day of 2014 where the Middle East is still in perpetual conflict. Each generation of the Yacoub family through one way or another is sent into exile from what they have come to know as their home, although each character mentions they have no real concept of home or belonging. They are refugees before they are born, and their children inherit their trauma and loss without anyone truly realizing at the time.
The way Alyan crafts such well rounded characters made me want to hug them, hit them, scream at them, comfort them all at the same time. They were real people; complicated but trying their best under the circumstances of their heritage and birth through no wrong doing on their part. Each generation became more and more separated from their lives and connection to Palestine. At times, the younger generations attempt to explain their ethnicity and home country to American or European friends, but they don't understand. How can you be one thing if you've never been there, and you're not this thing even thought you were born there? Each generation was an excellent example of no matter how hard you try, you can't escape your family and their past. The trauma of simply being Palestinian followed each member of the Yacoub family, even those born in Europe or America. They fall into the same patterns and mannerisms, all attempting to cope with never ending war and repeated displacement and never truly belonging for a number of reasons.
All in all, this was an excellent read about one family's generational trauma, but also their resilience and tenacity to overcome and return to their home, wherever that may be for them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Colonisation, Terminal illness, War, and Self harm
Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Racism, Vomit, Alcohol, and Xenophobia
salemander's review against another edition
5.0
such a beautiful and profound book spanning generations with perfectly flawed narrators. the heartbreak and trauma of this family and the countless Palestinian families who have faced genocide at the hands of Israel is so well illustrated throughout this book. from the river to the sea. always.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Colonisation, Genocide, Islamophobia, Rape, Racism, Death, and War
dragongirl271's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Dementia, War, Xenophobia, and Self harm
Minor: Rape, Torture, Police brutality, Violence, Sexual violence, Death, and Domestic abuse
bookedbymadeline's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.5
My second book from Alyan and loved it! Her writing style and characters are always beautifully done with lyrical prose. I enjoyed the switching POVs going through time from the 60s to 2014 as we follow one family. Alyan will definitely be an auto buy author for me!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, War, Death, Grief, Mental illness, and Dementia
Moderate: Sexual content, Genocide, and Body shaming
Minor: Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Racism
waybeyondblue's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Pregnancy
cantfindmybookmark's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I loved ๐this book more than I know how to explain.
๐ฆ๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ๐ by ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฎ ๐๐น๐๐ฎ๐ป is a multi generational family saga spanning half a century (1963-2014). Itโs a story about ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐, war, family, and home. In the book we follow the Yacoub family as they relocate (often out of necessity) from Jaffa to Nablus, to Kuwait City, to Amman, to Paris, to Beruit, and to Boston. The narration alternates between 8 different members of the Yacoub family during different stages of their life. That sounds like it would be confusing, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด.
While the Yacoubs are often forced to relocate due to war, war is not the main focus of the book. Instead the book focuses on the displacement from home and how that displacement affects the different generations.
This is one particularly poignant passage that highlights this theme:
โ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ 7, 8 ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ด, ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ต. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ง๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ง, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข? ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ต? ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ?โ
This theme is repeated again and again throughout the novel, as the older generations remark on how little Arabic the younger generations understand. As the younger generations note that while they are Palestinian theyโve never ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป to Palestine. That there accents are more Lebanese than Palestinian. That they donโt know where their grand parents were born. They refer to themselves as ๐บ๐๐๐๐.
Thereโs so much more I could say about this book. So many passages that just stuck with me. ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ, ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War, Torture, and Racism
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