Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa

57 reviews

brynalexa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? No

5.0

A powerful journey. Perfectly paced and gripping. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Deportation

Minor: Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, and Dementia

electrachet's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

To me, this book is not just about the Palestinian experience, but also about the resilience of women in the face of oppression. It explores themes of survival, family, and different types of love. What stood out to me the most was the focus on self-love, as I observed Nahr's journey of developing love for herself and gradually opening up and showing more of her heart. My favorite part of the book was this tenderness of the second-half in Palestine where she was surrounded by love despite great suffering and that love helped her heal from

some of the sexual abuse and trauma of her early life in Kuwait

. Up until that part, I was loosing interest a bit, especially with the lack of nuanced Israeli characters. I understand Israel's crimes and I'm not naive of the role of Israelis in serving a government so callous, especially considering the current assault on Gaza. But I still am wary about what happen when that righteous anger against occupation turns against anyone who is Jewish (esp considering that many of the comments that the side characters make are blurring the lines of antisemitism). I think there was an attempt at nuance with

the introduction of James Baldwin and some of his work and I think it could have been an opportunity for greater insight from the characters or even Nahr since we only got Bilal's perspective

. I think in many places I was really wanting more from Nahr's perspective and what she was really feeling or thinking instead of the stoicism of her older self recounting her memories. Anyways, the last 20 pages were a masterpiece, and I wasn't sure what would happen next. The characters and their relationships felt vivid and real. Nahr, in particular, felt like a genuine person. My only other complaint was that the writing was at times truncated and skipped over plot details, but it was mostly very beautiful. Nahr also had some great quotes and monologues.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, and Abortion

Minor: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Abandonment, War, and Deportation

motypeandroid's review

challenging emotional reflective 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, and Abortion

michelle_my_belle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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? No

5.0

This book was so beautifully written. It was historical fiction that also felt so relevant to today. It helped me understand more about the Palestinian history and experience. Nahr's story is so raw and heartbreaking and her strength and resistance was moving. The author uses such powerful imagery and explores the complexities of people in creating characters with so much depth. Most of the time, making them neither good, nor bad, simple human. I will probably be thinking about this book for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Cancer

kbeucler's review against another edition

4.5

If you’re looking to learn more about Palestine, but not really feeling history/nonfiction books, this is a great choice. The story follows Nahr, a Palestinian growing up in Kuwait, where her parents fled to from Palestine, and her journey to return to Palestine and work for the freedom of her homeland. The prose was lovely; Nahr’s journey from thoughtless teen to mature woman was beautifully done. And I also feel like a learned a lot about the Palestinian conflict, without having to read history.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, and War

issy_jacob's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction and Vomit

havdic's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense slow-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War

raisinreads's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Colonisation

msennflinn's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Colonisation

chi__'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Deportation