Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Against the Loveless World

This story is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. I fell in love with the stories woven together, how love can and does look different. I was satisfied with the stories movement and growth of the characters where in some other books I have questions or am confused because things don’t make sense based on the characters.

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aw_nf15's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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madelinedalton's review against another edition

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I wanted to love this and tried to trudge through for over a week, but in the end, I just couldn’t do it. I found myself constantly skimming pages, which isn’t a great sign.

My main criticism of the book is that the characters feel very hollow. I don’t feel like I have a great sense of who they are as people—they are vessels to carry the plot and political turmoil along, and the plot itself is quite slow.

To be completely fair to the author, I have been in a reading slump for months and don’t have the mental capacity for books about heavy, complex topics like this one.

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nineinchnails's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this was another heartwrenching book from abulhawa. there's something about the way she weaves a story that really draws me in. just like Mornings in Jenin this deals with some very topics, so it was hard to read huge chunks in one sitting. despite being a work of fiction it's very clearly grounded in and inspired by real historical (and current) events so it's hard to "enjoy" this for its story without feeling an immense sense of grief for the countless victims of israel. the main character was initially fairly detached from and unmoved by palestine, and experiencing her (re)discovery of her homeland was incredibly touching. the writing in general was beautiful, and both the setting and the pacing were very intriguing. despite all the horror and trauma the characters find community with one another and i found myself almost forgetting how painful the rest of the book was at parts.

i particularly enjoy more character driven novels so while i noticed a change in pace later on, i didn't ever feel like it dragged before that point - this might be a slight issue for some readers. i'd recommend this to anyone and everyone but there is a big focus on sexual violence in the first part of this novel, so i think it's worth checking the trigger warnings before you pick this one up.

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twitchywitchy314's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was a beautifully gut wrenching read. Stories of what it's like to live as a refugee, to live under siege and occupation and of resistance and of love that endures despite brutal oppression. A must read.

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