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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Picked up this beautiful copy of The Sea Cloak & Other Stories at the weekend and felt compelled to read it straight away. The stories within this book are just as beautifully written and translated as the cover illustration. The way Qarmout writes about Gaza, the sea, the women and children who live there, it’s a love letter to a place whose complete destruction we are currently witnessing in real time. It’s devastating, haunting.
.
Published in 2017, these super short stories explore the tense reality of living in a country under occupation. Qarmout depicts children scrambling to make a living searching through rubble, men navigating fraught tensions just to work and not end up dead, women grasping for a life just out of their reach. Hypocrisies are laid bare, dreams of freedom (in more than one sense) shared, lives cut short by brutal and needless violence.
.
I was struck by one story where a woman is reliving her sexual assault while caring for a child. The child is oblivious to the woman’s inner turmoil, happily watching Masha and the Bear, a show my nieces both love. Do the children of Gaza not deserve to continue to live carefree lives filled with silly cartoons? We see videos of children carrying other children, both deceased and alive, forced into the role of caretaker so young. World powers must surely see this too, and yet they continue to do nothing.
.
Keep reading and amplifying Palestinian voices, both fiction and nonfiction, don’t look away from the atrocities that have been ongoing not just for the last 100+ days, but 75 years.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder
fast-paced
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
reflective
sad
fast-paced
I’ve had this collection of short stories on the go for quite a while now as they are a difficult read, not that the words are difficult but the emotions those words stir are hard to process.
Nayrouz writes poetically about situations influenced by her time in Gaza as a young woman, each episode is a beauty to read. Flowing words that entangle you in the situation and emotions that are so expertly shared by her prose.
These situations/episodes describe a world so different from our own, but people who are just the same, and it is this juxtaposition that makes these difficult to process as you are able to feel the desperation, fear, confusion, love, and hope that Nayrouz’s characters are infused with so strongly.
Each story explores a part of the world we hear a lot about but can never really know from a more personal perspective than the news ever can, I loved the feeling of rebellion and hope in 'The Long Braid', the depth of history explored in 'The Anklet of Maioumas' but all the stories have something to give in understanding a situation so different from our own.
This is one of the reasons that we really need good translated fiction, we need to be able to share and feel the differences in the world where all people are the same but not the circumstances the people are in, this can help us develop an empathic understanding as emotions are universal.
Beautifully translated by Perween Richards for Comma Press.
Nayrouz writes poetically about situations influenced by her time in Gaza as a young woman, each episode is a beauty to read. Flowing words that entangle you in the situation and emotions that are so expertly shared by her prose.
These situations/episodes describe a world so different from our own, but people who are just the same, and it is this juxtaposition that makes these difficult to process as you are able to feel the desperation, fear, confusion, love, and hope that Nayrouz’s characters are infused with so strongly.
Each story explores a part of the world we hear a lot about but can never really know from a more personal perspective than the news ever can, I loved the feeling of rebellion and hope in 'The Long Braid', the depth of history explored in 'The Anklet of Maioumas' but all the stories have something to give in understanding a situation so different from our own.
This is one of the reasons that we really need good translated fiction, we need to be able to share and feel the differences in the world where all people are the same but not the circumstances the people are in, this can help us develop an empathic understanding as emotions are universal.
Beautifully translated by Perween Richards for Comma Press.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
This book shows exactly why I like short stories. It is fairly easy to hide your inadequacies in a novel, in hundreds of pages, and ireelevant descriptions. But in short stories, every word matters. Every word has to be exactly right. And this is what happens in this small collection. The writing is beautiful, the characters are nicely built and the stories are heartbreaking and brutal, full of emotion (without being overdramatic).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Violence, Grief, Murder, Colonisation
this is written so beautifully. im just out of words. how she describes sceneries and how she talks about the ocean!!!! oh my god, in the “the sea cloak” story (im very glad that she put that one first bc that left an impression on me after reading an extremely disappointed dnf) i felt like I was drowning too. it felt so beautiful and real. la manera en la que habla de Palestina es preciosa y llega a través de las páginas el cariño que los palestinos sienten hacia su tierra. la variedad de personajes que incluyen sus relatos y la capacidad de redondearlos todos y darles personalidad en tan poco espacio, me parece mágico. one of my favorite pieces that ill keep close to my heart for a long long time.
also. im writing this review late but i read this on the Read for Palestine week!!! its truly devastating to see what is happening in Palestine rn and what has been happening for a LONG time. this is important. its important to see what palestinians are trying to show us. es importante no arrebatar la humanidad a lo que esta pasando. no son números. son personas (muchos niños y bebes) con sueños y aspiraciones. thats why im thankful for this beautiful piece. all of these people are human. and they should not have to remind the world about that.
also. im writing this review late but i read this on the Read for Palestine week!!! its truly devastating to see what is happening in Palestine rn and what has been happening for a LONG time. this is important. its important to see what palestinians are trying to show us. es importante no arrebatar la humanidad a lo que esta pasando. no son números. son personas (muchos niños y bebes) con sueños y aspiraciones. thats why im thankful for this beautiful piece. all of these people are human. and they should not have to remind the world about that.