emabled 's review for:

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

4.0

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This is a very timely read and offers a perspective of significance. 

From a craft standpoint, I appreciated the smaller scenes and details that still held their weight semantically. Similarly, the author does an excellent job of showing not telling while still getting the message across strongly. The one point of craft I think falls flat was the frequent use of redundant and sequential sentences. For the first half of the book, I understand the choice, as it reflects the drawl of war and the stubbornness of the immorality. But for the second half, though I understand it to likely be a point of emphasis for certain details and another commentary on immorality, I don't think it was very effective. Often the points were emphasized enough already by the narrative. But I do acknowledge the intention behind a syntactical decision like this.

This story is uncomfortable to read, and it should be. It is haunting from start to end, and it left an impression on me I cannot ignore. It's symbolic simplicity was powerful. I will be thinking about this book constantly from now on. There's a lot of relevant conversation that should and does spring from this narrative.