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A review by melodys_library
The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan
3.0
I don’t want to deter anyone from reading this, but overall, I liked this less than I thought I would.
I thought the author painted a great picture of the stark contrasts between daily lives and war in a war torn city. There may be fires, protests, violence and bombings, but for many, life goes on with regular old family drama, birthday parties, broken dreams, dancing in night clubs. She also has really poetic descriptions that really engage the senses.
It’s a thick book with a slow buildup. This is very character driven, so definitely stay away if you’re not here for that. Each chapter is written from the third person point of view of a different character, but they didn’t alternate in an appealing or really organized way for me. I also was only really interested in one character (Mazna), but I didn’t really form an emotional connection to anyone.
I thought the author painted a great picture of the stark contrasts between daily lives and war in a war torn city. There may be fires, protests, violence and bombings, but for many, life goes on with regular old family drama, birthday parties, broken dreams, dancing in night clubs. She also has really poetic descriptions that really engage the senses.
It’s a thick book with a slow buildup. This is very character driven, so definitely stay away if you’re not here for that. Each chapter is written from the third person point of view of a different character, but they didn’t alternate in an appealing or really organized way for me. I also was only really interested in one character (Mazna), but I didn’t really form an emotional connection to anyone.