A review by marisazane
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

challenging emotional informative sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Alia’s mother reads her future in her coffee dregs before her wedding. She predicts an “unsettled” life for Alia, and that’s exactly what this story is. Her early marriage starts with tragedy and being uprooted from her home in Palestine by the Six Day War. Alia and her husband relocate to Kuwait City, where she feels unsettled. She raises her three (very different) children there and remains until she’s once again uprooted by Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. In her personal life, she’s unsettled by her children’s choices - of spouses, of college degrees, of where they move in the world. This book spans decades and chapters alternate focus on different characters in the family. 
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I wanted to love this book, and choosing it was a safe bet because I normally love multigenerational family sagas. But I found Alia’s character (and some of the others) really tiresome (like the daughter who refused to be aware of her sugar messes!) and that made the book tiresome for me. Being unsettled was super legit, and I understand that the book was supposed to be about this family trying to adapt and live their lives while absolute horror was going on around them. AND Alia’s personality was just not that great. 

⭐️⭐️✨✨💫(2.75)
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