Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

12 reviews

susheela's review against another edition

emotional informative 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

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Colonisation, Confinement, Sexual content, Racism, and Islamophobia

Minor: Police brutality, Death of parent, Violence, War, Torture, and Domestic abuse

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 Also, there were many actual historical references that kept the story rooted in reality.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

turtlebrainlibrarian's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

A debut multi-generational (four generations) story of a Palestinian family: the Yacoub family. The family doesn't talk much about Palestine but talk about being displaced and out of place as they move through Nablus, Kuwait, Amman, Paris, Beriut and Boston. Sometimes they move by choice, but sometimes they are uprooted by war (Six Day War of 1967 and Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990).

We are given the perspective of Salma (1963), Mustafa (1965), Alia (1967, 1988), Atef (1977, 2011), Riham (1982, 1999), Souad (1990, 2004), Linah (2006) and Manar (2014). Four generations of the Yacoub family, their ups and downs, their family dynamics, the generational trauma, the feeling of not fitting in, etc.

The writing is lyrical and easy to follow. You will find many wonderful quotes as you read the book. The narrative does jump between each character, but we do get to see those characters grow and change in the other perspectives, so they are well rounded. It is a character driven novel, which I enjoy.

Also, the author is a clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma, addiction and cross-cultural behavior. You can see elements of this knowledge throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, and War

Moderate: Death, Rape, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcoholism and Torture

cannancan412's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective 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

4.75

This book follows 4 generations of a family. You have your favorite family members, the ones you're rooting for. There were family members I wanted to know more about. This book filled me with an uneasy sense of steadiness. Uprooting their family not once but 4-5 times! And they kept their steadiness. I can't imagine that. The strength, the pain. For anyone who wants a not, USA propaganda book about the Muslim experience, read this book and have your eyes and hearts opened. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Islamophobia, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

We must open our eyes to more perspectives of people's lives than just the ones the USA wants us to believe.

yourbookishbff's review

challenging emotional funny reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Salt Houses, by Hala Alyan, traces four generations of Palestinians through exile - from Palestine to Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Paris and Boston. Where multi-generational sagas always feel epic, this story is also painfully intimate. It’s a story filled with ghosts - of Palestine, of family members murdered or imprisoned or lost to time and distance and bitterness, of all the things we are too scared to say out loud to the people we love. The lives and love of Alia and Atef anchor the story, and we see their childhoods and young love, their deep trauma during the Six-Day War and subsequent flight to Kuwait, their early marriage with young children, the ceaseless displacement, the restless moves from country to country as they try to build lives free of war and occupation. Spinning out from them, we see their children and grandchildren with inherited trauma and grief fighting for reclamation and joy. This is a diaspora story where “houses as old as the earth itself” are replaced by “structures made of salt.”

And woven throughout each generation are moments of raw tenderness that boldly refute the dehumanization and violent caricaturization of Arab men we’ve witnessed through the last several decades. Instead: Mustafa, cradling a baby bird for his sister. Mustafa, practicing a speech for hours to get it just right. Mustafa, released from prison, kneeling to kiss his mother’s feet as he whispers never again. Atef making wishes to the moon with Riham. Atef drinking tea in the garden every afternoon with his daughter. Karam calming his mother’s fears and his sister’s anger. Zain reeling in Linah’s wild temper and restlessness. Alyan whispering to us: see this, and this, and this. Every life, an entire universe. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Confinement

Minor: Abandonment, Vomit, Rape, and Abortion

katharina90's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

A raw, moving, well-written multigenerational novel with complex characters and realistic family dynamics. 

The story pulled me in from the first page, but towards the end I felt less connected to the characters. 

I found myself wanting to return to the POV of previous family members rather than focusing on the younger generation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia and Colonisation

Moderate: Grief, Confinement, War, Sexual content, Body shaming, Torture, and Death

Minor: Alcoholism

nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

A perfect book. Beautifully interwoven family story spanning about 50 years. I can’t find the words for how much I loved this. Read it immediately.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Torture, Death, and Sexual content

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

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!

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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

brilliantsilver's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, War, and Pregnancy

Minor: Rape