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A review by yajairat
Minor Detail by Adania Shibli
dark
informative
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Impactful read, one that will stay with me for a long time. We get two completely different perspectives and narrative voices that have a deep effect on the story being told. Here are somethings that stood out while reading both:
- First Part: An Israeli occupation soldier commits heinous acts against a Palestinian girl. The tone in the first part is so cold, detached, very matter-of-fact that I felt.. disturbed by it. What I like about it is that because I am so detached from this person, there is no inkling to feel anything but disgust for this person and what he stands for. It was a purposeful choice by Shibli, one that I really admire.
- Second Part: A complete tonal shift, we are now in a first person POV of a Palestinian woman that is determined to find out more information about the girl who was killed in Part 1. I was fully immersed in this woman's thoughts about not only this case, but of what living in an occupied Palestine is like. And it's in these thoughts where I felt.. anger for her, frustration, sadness. And this doesn't end well for her either, and this brought me back to the title of this book. Are these deaths just "minor details" in the grand scheme of things? How can we make sure that this is not the case, especially in light what this genocide that has now gained worldwide attention?
It is a shame that I only read this just now, but I will now try to do better and commit to reading more from Palestinian authors.
Here are some quotes that stood out to me:
"It is here... that our creativity and innovation will be tested, once we succeed in turning the Negev into a flourishing, civilized region and a thriving center of learning, development, and culture" - from part 1, typical colonizer rhetoric, other imperialist nations would be so proud of this. disgusting!
"let me remind you of the phrase we found when we arrived here, on that partially destroyed wall: 'Man, not the tank, shall prevail'" - from part 1, did Israeli forces appropriate this phrase not originally theirs? If so, it's hilarious how they can believe that they relate to that at all, since what they have done is use machinery and tanks to forcefully remove natives of the land.
"the sound of helicopters, warplanes, and shelling, the subsequent wail of ambulances; not only do these noises precede breaking news reports, but now they have to compete with the dog's barking" - from part 2, this stuck out to me because Palestinians continue to live in these conditions to this day. We see these things now all over social media.
"And while his action, by which I mean him pointing his gun at me, cannot be described as humane, it was enough for me to understand what he meant, and that I had to find another way to my new job. Up until this point, I had not found the situation to be unusual, or not so unusual that I should turn around and go back to my house." - from part 2, it's anger-inducing that these restrictions and actions from the IOF are so ingrained in daily life, that Palestinian people have learned to assess situations this way.
"Jerusalem, whose very existence constitutes a security threat if they utter a word of Arabic outside their areas.' from part 2, Palestinian people are restricted to areas that they usually cannot travel outside of, so this occupation goes far beyond just stripping them of their land.
"It was she (an old woman), not the military museums or the settlements and their archives, who might hold a detail that could help me uncover the incident as experienced by the girl. and finally arrive at the whole truth." - from part 2. I recently read another book dealing with memory, and who gets to tell histories. this quote brought me back to that book, and I agree with this statement of maybe someone outside of these institutions knows more. What we are presented with by certain museums or institutes of learning is never the whole truth.
- First Part: An Israeli occupation soldier commits heinous acts against a Palestinian girl. The tone in the first part is so cold, detached, very matter-of-fact that I felt.. disturbed by it. What I like about it is that because I am so detached from this person, there is no inkling to feel anything but disgust for this person and what he stands for. It was a purposeful choice by Shibli, one that I really admire.
- Second Part: A complete tonal shift, we are now in a first person POV of a Palestinian woman that is determined to find out more information about the girl who was killed in Part 1. I was fully immersed in this woman's thoughts about not only this case, but of what living in an occupied Palestine is like. And it's in these thoughts where I felt.. anger for her, frustration, sadness. And this doesn't end well for her either, and this brought me back to the title of this book. Are these deaths just "minor details" in the grand scheme of things? How can we make sure that this is not the case, especially in light what this genocide that has now gained worldwide attention?
It is a shame that I only read this just now, but I will now try to do better and commit to reading more from Palestinian authors.
Here are some quotes that stood out to me:
"It is here... that our creativity and innovation will be tested, once we succeed in turning the Negev into a flourishing, civilized region and a thriving center of learning, development, and culture" - from part 1, typical colonizer rhetoric, other imperialist nations would be so proud of this. disgusting!
"let me remind you of the phrase we found when we arrived here, on that partially destroyed wall: 'Man, not the tank, shall prevail'" - from part 1, did Israeli forces appropriate this phrase not originally theirs? If so, it's hilarious how they can believe that they relate to that at all, since what they have done is use machinery and tanks to forcefully remove natives of the land.
"the sound of helicopters, warplanes, and shelling, the subsequent wail of ambulances; not only do these noises precede breaking news reports, but now they have to compete with the dog's barking" - from part 2, this stuck out to me because Palestinians continue to live in these conditions to this day. We see these things now all over social media.
"And while his action, by which I mean him pointing his gun at me, cannot be described as humane, it was enough for me to understand what he meant, and that I had to find another way to my new job. Up until this point, I had not found the situation to be unusual, or not so unusual that I should turn around and go back to my house." - from part 2, it's anger-inducing that these restrictions and actions from the IOF are so ingrained in daily life, that Palestinian people have learned to assess situations this way.
"Jerusalem, whose very existence constitutes a security threat if they utter a word of Arabic outside their areas.' from part 2, Palestinian people are restricted to areas that they usually cannot travel outside of, so this occupation goes far beyond just stripping them of their land.
"It was she (an old woman), not the military museums or the settlements and their archives, who might hold a detail that could help me uncover the incident as experienced by the girl. and finally arrive at the whole truth." - from part 2. I recently read another book dealing with memory, and who gets to tell histories. this quote brought me back to that book, and I agree with this statement of maybe someone outside of these institutions knows more. What we are presented with by certain museums or institutes of learning is never the whole truth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Rape, Kidnapping, Murder, and Colonisation