A review by starrysteph
Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Minor Detail is chillingly precise and poignant - with an almost detached narration in the first segment that ties into a frenetic & emotional second segment. 

We open with a group of IDF soldiers who capture, rape, and kill a young Palestinian woman. The narration is cold as the commander and soldiers attempt to dehumanize the Palestinian people, ignoring all the ‘minor details’ that make someone wholly human. 

Their atrocities are simply mundane; they have to have this cognitive dissonance in order to continue following orders. The commander washes himself methodically, but cannot truly cleanse himself of his deeds. The land and its people creep into his conscience in an unsettling way, infecting him physically and psychologically. 

In the second segment, we follow an unnamed Palestinian woman in the present day. She becomes fixated on the girl’s death – she was murdered on her birthday and feels drawn to her as though they are connected by fate. 

Life under occupation is all she’s ever known, and yet she constantly struggles to keep up with and understand the shifting boundaries and expectations. Her existence is a quiet series of normalized horrors.

The true brilliance of this novella is in its metaphors and threads between the two segments - insects, water & hoses, camels, dogs barking, and more. I had chills as the pieces clicked together and I attempted to decipher all the bits of imagery.  

My head is swirling from this one. 

CW: murder, rape, sexual violence, war, gun violence, death, genocide, colonization, racism, torture, islamophobia, religious bigotry, body horror, misogyny, kidnapping, animal cruelty, child death, police brutality, injury, panic attacks, vomit, pedophilia

Follow me on TikTok for book recommendations!