A review by samanthaxe
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

4.0

This book follows multiple generations of a Palestinian family. The story starts with Salma, who reads her daughter Alia’s coffee grounds before Alia’s wedding. What she sees foretells an Odyssey-like journey across countries and cultures, with the family seemingly never to return to their native Palestine. I especially loved the parts of this book that meditated on how younger generations perceive (or don’t) what their elders have gone through, and what it means to be “from” somewhere you have never been.