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A review by zinelib
Too Soon by Betty Shamieh
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
I'm eager to discuss this intergenerational tale of Palestinian and Palestinian-American women with someone. Get yourself access to an ARC, maybe on NetGalley like I did, and let me know what you think.
The three women are Zoya, who was a well-off mother of nine at the time of the Nakba. She eventually made it to Detroit with her kids to meet her husband who had already set up shop there with a liquor store. Naya is Zoya's second youngest, the darkest skin of the giant brood, and the last girl before the only boy, Ghassan. Naya is married off at a young age and raises her daughter Arabella (and Arabella's younger brothers) in California. Arabella is a thirty-five year old theater director in NYC with a stalled career. Her speciality is reinterpretations of Shakespeare plays. Despite recognizing the colonialism of Shakespeare's power over theater, she's not one to acknowledge her Palestinian/Arab identity.
The three women are rough--Zoya is violent, Naya is so competitive she ruins her most important friendship, and Arabella is selfish. I typically have a hard time with unlikeable narrators, but I guess these three are compelling enough that I stuck with it. As usual, the NetGalley Shelf app ate my bookmarks, so I don't have specific notes to help me talk about what I read.
I wonder if some of the complications with the three women are symptoms of generational trauma from the family's cruel and senseless displacement from their homeland. As an American citizen, Arabella is allowed to visit Palestine, but she's subject to interrogations, delays, and checkpoints. She dates a Palestinian-American man, who, though he's seen it all at Doctors Without Borders, loses it when two boys are shot in the legs by IDF soldiers to prevent them for becoming players in a Palestinian football league. It's the same senseless cruelty of the Nakba, rained on children.
Arabella speaks Arabic, but she's fair skinned and assimilated. She wants her successes to be about her, rather than about her Arabness, as if they're two different things. There's tragedy upon tragedy in and around the story, but still, it ends on a hopeful note, which is what is always and ever amazing about Palestinians in the struggle for freedom.
The three women are Zoya, who was a well-off mother of nine at the time of the Nakba. She eventually made it to Detroit with her kids to meet her husband who had already set up shop there with a liquor store. Naya is Zoya's second youngest, the darkest skin of the giant brood, and the last girl before the only boy, Ghassan. Naya is married off at a young age and raises her daughter Arabella (and Arabella's younger brothers) in California. Arabella is a thirty-five year old theater director in NYC with a stalled career. Her speciality is reinterpretations of Shakespeare plays. Despite recognizing the colonialism of Shakespeare's power over theater, she's not one to acknowledge her Palestinian/Arab identity.
The three women are rough--Zoya is violent, Naya is so competitive she ruins her most important friendship, and Arabella is selfish. I typically have a hard time with unlikeable narrators, but I guess these three are compelling enough that I stuck with it. As usual, the NetGalley Shelf app ate my bookmarks, so I don't have specific notes to help me talk about what I read.
I wonder if some of the complications with the three women are symptoms of generational trauma from the family's cruel and senseless displacement from their homeland. As an American citizen, Arabella is allowed to visit Palestine, but she's subject to interrogations, delays, and checkpoints. She dates a Palestinian-American man, who, though he's seen it all at Doctors Without Borders, loses it when two boys are shot in the legs by IDF soldiers to prevent them for becoming players in a Palestinian football league. It's the same senseless cruelty of the Nakba, rained on children.
Arabella speaks Arabic, but she's fair skinned and assimilated. She wants her successes to be about her, rather than about her Arabness, as if they're two different things. There's tragedy upon tragedy in and around the story, but still, it ends on a hopeful note, which is what is always and ever amazing about Palestinians in the struggle for freedom.