Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Salt Houses

This was a really beautiful read. The story follows four generations of a family who have been displaced from their home in Palestine. They are first displaced from Jaffa to Nablus a few years before the narrative begins in 1966 (Nablus had been annexed by Jordan several years earlier). We see the subsequent generations of the family as they move to Kuwait, and then Beirut and to the US, and back, basically moving from one scene of war and displacement to the next. It’s a beautiful story about their family, but you also see the larger social forces at work in terms of the relationship between Israel and Arab states, and the hopes for help from, but ultimate ineffectiveness of, the UN and the United States (and sometimes much more active influence of the US). It’s heartbreaking.

The writing is lyrical. The characters have dimension. It’s a little bit hard to chart character development, because the narrative does move between POVs so much. There are only two characters who have more than one chapter. But through their interactions with the family throughout the book, we see the various characters grow and change.

You can’t read this book and not come away with the sense that the world has failed the Palestinian people.

Content Warnings

allena_inwonderland's review against another edition

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emotional 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

Speechless..it's hard to form words after listening to something so raw and emotional. This was heartbreaking. This was hopeful. This was an insight into what life was/is like during war.
This book is a multi generational storyline with multiple POVs. This is full of cultural information and traditions.
There's forbidden love, fear for loss of your home - forever or and your family.
I cried and I laughed.
This isn't an easy read but it honestly opened my eyes on what life is like for others in the Middle East especially during war; when my dad was overseas during these specific wars I was barely a child. Although this is a fiction book you can still learn from it through experience.

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rachelfayreads's review against another edition

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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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cannancan412's review against another edition

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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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thenextbookdilemma's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense 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

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apple_atcha_reading's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

taratearex's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This was so good. A multi-generational family saga about a family forced out of their home in Palestine, multiple times, and then following their life throughout the diaspora and many more wars. The book starts in 1963, but flashes back to 1948, and ends in the 2000's. We experience multiple POV's in the family throughout the years. I usually struggle with this kind of structure- multi POV's and changing timeline, but this timeline is linear and each family member is so distinct that I didn't get too mixed up in the POVs (I did have to check the family tree in the front of the book a few times and got a little mixed up once we got to the grandchildren but was able to get my bearings quickly). The political events and wars are not thoroughly talked about, they sometimes are in the background and the focus is on the family and their reactions, so I can see how maybe if you didn't know the events/wars this might be a bit difficult, but you could quick google to orient yourself if needed. But I appreciated this focus and how reactions and experiences shifted depending on the POV.

This book shows generational trauma, living throughout the diaspora, living through multiple wars, how loss changes us and affects us. And it really shows how loss of home, losing your homeland, completely and utterly changes you and your entire life and that reverberates throughout years and generations. The loss of memories and knowledge was haunting throughout. Really beautifully done. I cried a lot. I stayed up too late to finish this because I couldn't put it down.

The audiobook is great, I listened while sometimes following along with the physical as that helps me with multi POVs and changing timelines, it was helpful to be able to reference the family tree in the front of the book.

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