Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

9 reviews

palejandro's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Death, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Islamophobia, Police brutality, Violence, War, and Religious bigotry

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 Also, there were many actual historical references that kept the story rooted in reality.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

spicycronereads's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, War, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual assault and Self harm

Minor: Torture

allena_inwonderland's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, and Sexual violence

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

morethanmylupus's review against another edition

hopeful 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

4.0

Beautiful, timely, and heartbreaking.

Salt Houses is a family saga that follows Aila and her family from the Nakba through to nearly the present day. We see triumphs and disappointments as they do their best to survive. For me, the biggest impact of this book was the generational trauma that started with the Nakba and how it continued to impact their lives even as they moved across continents. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Murder, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Deportation, Police brutality, War, Violence, Racial slurs, and Colonisation

thenextbookdilemma's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Genocide, Murder, Islamophobia, Sexual violence, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Torture, Body shaming, and Racial slurs

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