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reading__queerly's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I’m so glad that I chose this book as my first read of 2024. The story is about a bisexual and Palestinian-American narrator who deals with an affliction termed a love addiction. In many of her relationships, she dwells on her attraction to her current fixation’s potentiality rather than their reality, often leading to obsession and then disappointment. At the same time, the narration consistently interweaves stories of the past with her present, entwining experiences of familial love, especially between her and her mother, with her current struggles. Her past gives a potential explanation for her affliction and the interconnection of narratives shows the relentless impact of history – both her own and her mother’s – on her present state as she confronts herself, enters treatment, and continues to live her life.
I liked how the story truly showed the narrator’s struggle with this affliction; she’s an unlikable and messy narrator for most of the book, and she doesn’t get better the moment she asks for help. Her mother is similarly flawed but humanized. The narrator comes to an understanding of the effects conflicts have had throughout her mother’s life, but that doesn’t excuse her cruel actions. As an LGBTQ+ person, the narrator’s continual desire for her mother’s love at the same time that she is hurt by her was really heart wrenching to read. Her mother’s parting words after she comes out – “Good luck finding someone to love you like I did” – have been echoing in my mind for days after finishing this read.
I liked how the story truly showed the narrator’s struggle with this affliction; she’s an unlikable and messy narrator for most of the book, and she doesn’t get better the moment she asks for help. Her mother is similarly flawed but humanized. The narrator comes to an understanding of the effects conflicts have had throughout her mother’s life, but that doesn’t excuse her cruel actions. As an LGBTQ+ person, the narrator’s continual desire for her mother’s love at the same time that she is hurt by her was really heart wrenching to read. Her mother’s parting words after she comes out – “Good luck finding someone to love you like I did” – have been echoing in my mind for days after finishing this read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Biphobia, Eating disorder, and Sexual content
Moderate: Addiction
cjwitch's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Going into the book, I expected something different from what it is. What I found was a book about emotional, particularly parental, trauma and the very human responses to it. This book was difficult in the beginning, the FMC deeply unlikeable and her perspective both unhealthy and unenjoyable through much of the book.
What I did love about the book, and what kept me engaged from the start, was the non-linear storytelling, which flashes between the FMC's present and her past. It allows us glimpses into the traumas that fuel her present day actions and allows the reader to see the vulnerability behind the FMC's rough edges.
Despite her flaws, the FMC's drive to self-analysis and personal growth is admirable. Even when she knows that the growth won't fix her most recent relationship, she recognizes the need to improve for herself and her own future.
By the end, my dislike of the unnamed FMC had diminished somewhat, though I never gained a true love of the character. Still, somehow I found that I enjoyed this book; enjoyed the journey that the FMC took and the growth that she achieved and the way her view of her mother evolved.
1st Generation Palestinian-American
Bisexual FMC
Generational Trauma
Therapy and Healing
Introspection
What I did love about the book, and what kept me engaged from the start, was the non-linear storytelling, which flashes between the FMC's present and her past. It allows us glimpses into the traumas that fuel her present day actions and allows the reader to see the vulnerability behind the FMC's rough edges.
Despite her flaws, the FMC's drive to self-analysis and personal growth is admirable. Even when she knows that the growth won't fix her most recent relationship, she recognizes the need to improve for herself and her own future.
By the end, my dislike of the unnamed FMC had diminished somewhat, though I never gained a true love of the character. Still, somehow I found that I enjoyed this book; enjoyed the journey that the FMC took and the growth that she achieved and the way her view of her mother evolved.
1st Generation Palestinian-American
Bisexual FMC
Generational Trauma
Therapy and Healing
Introspection
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, and Biphobia
moodyromancereader's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.75
This book follows a queer Palestinian-Woman who was raised in New York. Throughout the book, we witness the character making bad decisions and hurting the people she loves. We see how the main character wants to be loved so desperately that it leads her to be interested in emotionally unavailable or unattainable people. But her desire to be loved so desperately stems from her childhood and her relationship with her mother, which led her to believe she isn’t worthy of love. We watch the reader make questionable decisions and witness her trying to break this cycle of self-sabotage. We also learn about her Palestinian heritage, and there are moments in the book where she visits the West Bank and discusses the hurdles she has to go through to visit her family.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Addiction, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse
lettuce_read's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Addiction
Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, and Eating disorder
yasidiaz's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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? Yes
4.0
Our unnamed narrator is a young Palestinian-American woman who struggles with a love addiction, as well as a complicated relationship with her mother, and the intersection of her identities. Through a series of vignettes, we see what led her to this point and her tumultuous journey to recovery.
This was a challenging book, the narrator is way too far from perfect, but you want her to get better. Reading through her trauma and the mistakes she makes along the way is difficult to go through. It’s very different from my usual reads. It’s serious, complicated, sad, a far cry from my fluffy preferences.
It’s beautifully written and hard to stop reading. However, it’s not a book I find myself re-reading any time soon. It’s not a book I will be grabbing and thinking about constantly. And that’s fine. I’m not the type to usually reach for literary and serious books, it doesn’t make it any less of a good book. I am glad to have read this book, it’s a very reflective and stunning book.
And in a time where Palestinians are being dehumanized, genocided, and silenced, it makes this book even more necessary. We need to read more from Palestinians, support them, make them known, and make them heard.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Eating disorder, Biphobia, and Homophobia
Minor: Outing
velvet_young's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Homophobia, Biphobia, and Addiction
scribblinginthemargins's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-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
5.0
A dark yet occassionally comic narrative about a young woman seeking treatment for the psychological impact of her mother's narcissistic abuse. Compelling, self-destructive and uncomfortably intimate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Addiction, Islamophobia, Dysphoria, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
nithya_natalya's review against another edition
hopeful
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? Yes
5.0
This title was recommended on a number of lists of books by Palestinian authors to read in the wake of the current genocide. I picked this one up specifically because it is also queer. If you don't like characters who make messy, bad decisions, this may not be for you, but I loved it. I also enjoyed the way it was written in vignettes that were not always chronological. Past and ancestral traumas, intermingled with present pain and numbing. The MC's tendency to fall back into old patterns during moments of pain was frustrating but also deeply familiar and relatable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Gaslighting, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Biphobia, Addiction, War, and Alcoholism
flamesocks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Cursing, Eating disorder, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Islamophobia, and Lesbophobia
kathleenivy's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Infidelity, Biphobia, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Colonisation, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Drug abuse, Genocide, Racism, Alcoholism, and Outing