Reviews

Excellent historical fiction - had some issues with plot holes but the nitpicky plot details aren’t really the point of the book, which was made very well.

shelleyanderson4127's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A very powerful book about love and resistance. Nahr is the daughter of Palestinian refugees. She grows up in poverty in Kuwait as a second-class citizen, but she cares nothing for politics. Unlike her brother, she's a poor student, but she is passionate about dancing, hanging out with her girl friends, and dreaming about being mistress of her own house. She enters into a disastrous marriage and is deserted by her husband. She is slowly drawn into the sex trade by a woman she both fears and admires.

Then Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait. Her life is turned upside down. Kicked out of Kuwait with thousands of other Palestinians, her family starts life again in Jordan, where Nahr begins a journey of discovering her Palestinian roots. Visiting her ancestral village of Ein el-Sultan, she falls in love with the Palestinian activist Bilal, and is drawn into the struggle for national liberation.

The book is narrated from the Cube, the Israeli prison cell where Nahr is in solitary confinement. Women's prison experiences are under narrated, especially the prison experiences of women political activists. I can only think of two prison memoirs--that of anti-apartheid activist Ruth First and Egyptian feminist Nawal El Saaawi. Both books are extremely powerful.

So, too, is Abulhawa's Against the Loveless World. The writing , while very easy to follow, tells a gripping story that quickly draws the reader in. The passion and intensity of Nahr, and her dream of freedom both personal and political, makes for a very memorable story.

I also loved the segment where, refugees again in Jordan, Nahr learns to respect her mother's skill with the needle. This is a small part of the book, but very telling, and a joy for anyone interested in textiles. "... I watched my mother create gorgeous caftans...creating patterns that told the stories of our people in a pictorial language conceived by Palestinian women over centuries. Mama was fluent. ...She's tried to teach me when I was a little girl, but I had wanted no part of it."

Defiant, passionate and determined, Nahr is a character who demands to be reckoned with, and remembered.

amluebke's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

brownbagbargainbooks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective sad

4.25

For fans of masterful storytelling, intimate looks into the complete lives of characters (real or imagined), and the personal and researched account of a people's history.

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