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A review by readingsitaaras
Minor Detail by Adania Shibli
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0
Minor Detail was a tense and masterfully written book. Split in two halves, the story follows an Israeli soldier during 1949 in the first half and a Palestinian women trying to uncover the events of the first half decades later. Both sections lay bare the harsh atrocities carried out by Israel, from 1949 to the occupation today.
In the first half, the writing is in the third person and takes on a cold factual tone that distances the reader from the story and the soldier from his actions. The soldier is never named, and neither is the girl which he captures, a choice that continues into the second half. Shibli, as the title suggests, pays great attention to minor details in this book, factually laying out every step of certain actions, like the soldier's washing up routine. These details, the washing routine, the barking of the dog, the wound on the soldier's thigh, are repeated throughout the story, yet never feels unnecessary. Rather, you understand that there is something to be said with this decision.
The second half of the book switches to first person and takes on life, with the narrator constantly retreating into and out of feelings of fear and anxiety. Here, the minor details of the first half, crop up again and a connection is drawn between the two halves, emphasizing how the atrocities from 1949 never truly ended, merely took on new forms. There's a sense of rising tension as the narrator gets closer and closer to the events that happened, which culminates with the narrator's arrival at the same spring from the first half where she meets the same fate as those that were there in 1949.
Carefully detailed and masterfully written, Minor Detail is very intentional and purposeful in terms of writing and plot, and is worth reading, even if it may be difficult.
In the first half, the writing is in the third person and takes on a cold factual tone that distances the reader from the story and the soldier from his actions. The soldier is never named, and neither is the girl which he captures, a choice that continues into the second half. Shibli, as the title suggests, pays great attention to minor details in this book, factually laying out every step of certain actions, like the soldier's washing up routine. These details, the washing routine, the barking of the dog, the wound on the soldier's thigh, are repeated throughout the story, yet never feels unnecessary. Rather, you understand that there is something to be said with this decision.
The second half of the book switches to first person and takes on life, with the narrator constantly retreating into and out of feelings of fear and anxiety. Here, the minor details of the first half, crop up again and a connection is drawn between the two halves, emphasizing how the atrocities from 1949 never truly ended, merely took on new forms. There's a sense of rising tension as the narrator gets closer and closer to the events that happened, which culminates with the narrator's arrival at the same spring from the first half where she meets the same fate as those that were there in 1949.
Carefully detailed and masterfully written, Minor Detail is very intentional and purposeful in terms of writing and plot, and is worth reading, even if it may be difficult.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Rape, War, and Death
Minor: Racism