A review by universe_of_possibilities
Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Nahr.... you are more than a woman. You are beyond gender, greater than gender, one a plane one can only reach by facing the ugliest truths of life without apprehension. I think one of the main reasons Narh is so vast is because her story is not her own. She is the product of so many real women who have experienced what she has and it's just profound to me. The beauty and evocativeness of Arabic was the muah cherry on top. Books about woc always reach deep into my soul!!

Witnessing a love like Bilal's and Nahr's is something so new to me. It's so raw and honest and ugly and painful, but the negative characteristics are not because of the way they treat each other. A love like theirs under occupation and constant threat of death and things worse than death... I've never seen a representation of love this intimate and true and unceasing. What the fuck. I can only dream to be loved this deeply but I fear it may only come with the shared trauma of survival under occupation. 

Not only was their romantic love a blessing to read, but their love for family and friends, the trees, for strangers. Palestinians are a loving ass people; when Abulhawa wrote we must fortify ourselves with love, I had to stand up out of my chair. Everything in this book is built on the foundation of fortifying yourself with love, and before reading that sentence, I understood that in a very abstract way, but reading those words made a light bulb go off in my brain. A value that strong in oneself is something passed down from generation to generation. Maybe, in this life or another, I'll be able to be a part of something like that.

Living under occupation is such a losing game. One step forward and three thousand steps back; the perseverance and love the Palestinian people show each other, their land, and oppressed people abroad despite facing such unyielding evil is so touching, beautiful, and important. It emphasizes terribly the lack thereof here :( makes me sad. Makes me wonder what it is like to feel a kinship with your homeland, makes me miss what I and my ancestors could have had, especially makes me sad for what my great ancestors had and then had stolen from them. Also, kind of related but not really, the mention and reverence of Black radicals in this book is so important to me :)

I feel so grateful for the opportunity to read books that evoke such strong emotions in me. I love feeling and being alive and experiencing the warm waves of compassion, sympathy, empathy, and love!!