probablyjenna's review
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
5.0
This is a beautiful, challenging read that I know is going to stay with me for a long time.
It is about so many different things - war, culture, misogyny, family trauma, displacement - but at its heart, it’s truly about the absolute tenacity to Nahr, the main character. We get to know Nahr extremely well; the story is only told from her POV, and we follow her from the time she’s a teenager all the way until she’s an old woman. The choice of using just a single character POV really helped establish the depth of this novel; even when Nahr frustrated me, I felt close to her, protective of her. I wanted all good things for her, and it really hurt when those good things did not come to fruition.
Woven into Nahr’s story is also a lot of history. Her story begins in Kuwait, where her Palestinian family is othered due to their status as refugees. This is around the time that the United States invaded Kuwait, and seeing that history from Nahr’s perspective was really illuminating. Nahr’s family is forced to flee again, this time to Jordan, and the devastation of constantly being uprooted is really brought to life through the author’s prose. And eventually, Nahr finds herself back in Palestine - much of her story unfolds there.
The writing is simultaneously descriptive, yet simple. I finished it, and immediately checked out another book from this author from the library. If you like sweeping family stories set against the backdrop of political unrest, I’d definitely recommend this one.
It is about so many different things - war, culture, misogyny, family trauma, displacement - but at its heart, it’s truly about the absolute tenacity to Nahr, the main character. We get to know Nahr extremely well; the story is only told from her POV, and we follow her from the time she’s a teenager all the way until she’s an old woman. The choice of using just a single character POV really helped establish the depth of this novel; even when Nahr frustrated me, I felt close to her, protective of her. I wanted all good things for her, and it really hurt when those good things did not come to fruition.
Woven into Nahr’s story is also a lot of history. Her story begins in Kuwait, where her Palestinian family is othered due to their status as refugees. This is around the time that the United States invaded Kuwait, and seeing that history from Nahr’s perspective was really illuminating. Nahr’s family is forced to flee again, this time to Jordan, and the devastation of constantly being uprooted is really brought to life through the author’s prose. And eventually, Nahr finds herself back in Palestine - much of her story unfolds there.
The writing is simultaneously descriptive, yet simple. I finished it, and immediately checked out another book from this author from the library. If you like sweeping family stories set against the backdrop of political unrest, I’d definitely recommend this one.
roseaboveitreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
ekua33's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-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
4.5
natashay's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
marianaa21's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
angechen's review
3.0
the book is written for people like me, individuals with no connection to the middle east and a tenuous knowledge of its history. i appreciate this novel for what it tries and succeeds to do, which is to showcase perspectives rarely considered by the average propaganda-infused westerner.
the writing itself is odd. nahr's story felt less like a narrative and more of a laundry list of experiences plucked from research and inserted into her character. certain sections felt as if they were written separately and then mushed together to form something cohesive enough. especially in her pre-bilal years, aspects of nahr's story seemed to have been included just to fulfill a later plotline (i.e. introductory aspects of her story lacked depth). except for the explorations around womanhood, this book isn't particularly incisive: it simply and obviously challenges a westerner's ingrained biases.
the heart of the novel revolves around nahr's relationships: with bilal, with her mother, with um buraq. these bonds were what ultimately kept me reading, and i find that the storytelling was strongest when centered on them (especially in the context of rebellion). i wish that abdulhawa had applied more attention and care to the entire book instead of just pieces, especially because this novel shares such important narratives. had she injected a little more nuance and a little less heavy-handedness, she might have sunk her teeth into something truly thought-provoking.
the writing itself is odd. nahr's story felt less like a narrative and more of a laundry list of experiences plucked from research and inserted into her character. certain sections felt as if they were written separately and then mushed together to form something cohesive enough. especially in her pre-bilal years, aspects of nahr's story seemed to have been included just to fulfill a later plotline (i.e. introductory aspects of her story lacked depth). except for the explorations around womanhood, this book isn't particularly incisive: it simply and obviously challenges a westerner's ingrained biases.
the heart of the novel revolves around nahr's relationships: with bilal, with her mother, with um buraq. these bonds were what ultimately kept me reading, and i find that the storytelling was strongest when centered on them (especially in the context of rebellion). i wish that abdulhawa had applied more attention and care to the entire book instead of just pieces, especially because this novel shares such important narratives. had she injected a little more nuance and a little less heavy-handedness, she might have sunk her teeth into something truly thought-provoking.
seeceeread's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
💭 "I bristled with rage that had nowhere to go. The ceaseless accumulation of injustice made me want to fight the world."
Last year, I asked for recommendations for 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭-𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 literature and all of Abulhawa's books were listed. This is her third novel and my first time reading her. Y'all did not lie 😭
The first lines introduce a graying woman scratching a memoir in apparent gibberish on her cell walls. She recounts a scrappy girlhood, a brief adolescence, a period of sex work to combat the family's poverty, a blink of an unfulfilled marriage. She is displaced multiple times with her mother, brother and grandmother, shuffling from Kuwait to Oman and Jordan. She begins to truly shine when she returns to her homeland, Palestine, to finalize a divorce. There, she begins to deepen her relationship to her body, her desires, her politics. As part of a small clique, she weaves these together into a theory of collective action against their colonizers, of finding the music that will spur the people to simultaneous resis(d)ance.
Nahr is incredibly well-written, obscenely believable, damn complicated, wholly admirable, incompletely charming. As a sort of complementary main character, Palestine is, too.
I learned many years ago that frank discussion of the Palestinian quotidian is treated (by some) as inflammatory, as if the truth is too damning to be broached. Abulhawa goes beyond naming daily settler tactics: surveillance, color-coding, subsidized migration to replace Palestinians, curfews, spies ... or military theater. She wraps it around readers, questioning every quiet moment as threatening, and role playing freedom dreams (and doubts) in dialogue. While there's room for dissent, she also underlines her stance: The title nods to Baldwin's 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 and she explicitly connects liberation struggles across oceans: "To act is to be committed. And to be committed is to be in danger."
Last year, I asked for recommendations for 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭-𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 literature and all of Abulhawa's books were listed. This is her third novel and my first time reading her. Y'all did not lie 😭
The first lines introduce a graying woman scratching a memoir in apparent gibberish on her cell walls. She recounts a scrappy girlhood, a brief adolescence, a period of sex work to combat the family's poverty, a blink of an unfulfilled marriage. She is displaced multiple times with her mother, brother and grandmother, shuffling from Kuwait to Oman and Jordan. She begins to truly shine when she returns to her homeland, Palestine, to finalize a divorce. There, she begins to deepen her relationship to her body, her desires, her politics. As part of a small clique, she weaves these together into a theory of collective action against their colonizers, of finding the music that will spur the people to simultaneous resis(d)ance.
Nahr is incredibly well-written, obscenely believable, damn complicated, wholly admirable, incompletely charming. As a sort of complementary main character, Palestine is, too.
I learned many years ago that frank discussion of the Palestinian quotidian is treated (by some) as inflammatory, as if the truth is too damning to be broached. Abulhawa goes beyond naming daily settler tactics: surveillance, color-coding, subsidized migration to replace Palestinians, curfews, spies ... or military theater. She wraps it around readers, questioning every quiet moment as threatening, and role playing freedom dreams (and doubts) in dialogue. While there's room for dissent, she also underlines her stance: The title nods to Baldwin's 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 and she explicitly connects liberation struggles across oceans: "To act is to be committed. And to be committed is to be in danger."
gigirnreads's review
4.0
This book gave a perspective that I otherwise wouldn’t have known. I truly enjoyed the setting descriptions and the characters.
adamae8's review
dark
emotional
inspiring
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? Yes
5.0
this is an amazing book that everyone should read at some point.