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A review by katrod
Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I finished this back in October and was so blown away, but I’ve struggled to find the words to do it justice.
It’s been a while since a book has so completely shifted my perspective from start to finish. We open on Nahr in present day living in “the Cube”; a high-tech Israeli solitary confinement cell.
In that first chapter I found myself judging Nahr and wondering what “terrorist attack” she committed to end up in that cell. I wondered how I could sympathize with someone like her.
But as Nahr begins to recount her life, the reader is thrown into an incredibly tumultuous time and place, and though I can’t agree with all the choices she and the resistance made, it is obvious that Nahr is a product of the situation she was born into.
My heart broke over and over for her. I wondered what it was like to be shipped off from place to place, longing for home, family, and belonging… what it was like to do whatever you had to do to protect the ones you love.
I finished this on a flight and wept for the last 50-100 pages. So much so, that my fellow passengers kept looking over curiously and wondering if I needed consoling.
This book was gripping, heart-wrenching, beautifully written, horrifying, and, for me, an education. It will stay with me for a long, long time.
I will say that this book really made me want to read City of a Thousand Gates, so I am finally reading that now (Mar. 2022)! Undoubtedly, there are horrifying stories on both sides of this conflict. (However, I do not claim myself to be an expert or to know how to peacefully resolve this decades-long war.) My hearts breaks for the civilians on each side who are the victims of unbearable violence.
I digress, but I feel like you can’t talk about this book without talking about what it is truly about.
All in all, this is a must read and Susan Abulhawa is now an auto-buy author for me.
It’s been a while since a book has so completely shifted my perspective from start to finish. We open on Nahr in present day living in “the Cube”; a high-tech Israeli solitary confinement cell.
In that first chapter I found myself judging Nahr and wondering what “terrorist attack” she committed to end up in that cell. I wondered how I could sympathize with someone like her.
But as Nahr begins to recount her life, the reader is thrown into an incredibly tumultuous time and place, and though I can’t agree with all the choices she and the resistance made, it is obvious that Nahr is a product of the situation she was born into.
My heart broke over and over for her. I wondered what it was like to be shipped off from place to place, longing for home, family, and belonging… what it was like to do whatever you had to do to protect the ones you love.
I finished this on a flight and wept for the last 50-100 pages. So much so, that my fellow passengers kept looking over curiously and wondering if I needed consoling.
This book was gripping, heart-wrenching, beautifully written, horrifying, and, for me, an education. It will stay with me for a long, long time.
I will say that this book really made me want to read City of a Thousand Gates, so I am finally reading that now (Mar. 2022)! Undoubtedly, there are horrifying stories on both sides of this conflict. (However, I do not claim myself to be an expert or to know how to peacefully resolve this decades-long war.) My hearts breaks for the civilians on each side who are the victims of unbearable violence.
I digress, but I feel like you can’t talk about this book without talking about what it is truly about.
All in all, this is a must read and Susan Abulhawa is now an auto-buy author for me.