Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Love Is an Ex-Country by Randa Jarrar

9 reviews

speedofhuman's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0


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emoryscott's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

2.75

I really wanted to like this book. I love memoirs and the jacket summary was intriguing. However, this author’s style is not for me. If you enjoy quippy, erratic narration, you’ll love this. I felt like the journey across the country could have been more clearly defined. I felt like I never knew which era of her life she was speaking about. I know this is some people’s favorite type of writing, but it just wasn’t for me. 

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cpskee's review

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challenging emotional fast-paced

4.0

A story about home/exile and not feeling like you belong - navigating ethnicities, abuse, racism, sexuality. Beautiful writing. 

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imrereads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

3.0

I was gifted a copy of this book by Catapult. Thank you so much! 

I have conflicting thoughts. While there are some really wonderfully written and capturing sections, I felt over all that it didn't deliver what it advertised. It certainly isn't cross-country roadtrip the blurb promised. 

My biggest issue is that it felt very fragmentes and not flowing together the way I would have wanted. It jumps very quickly from topic to topic, from childhood to adulthood, from serious to lighthearted. This made it hard for me to feel engaged in the narrarive. It's certainly a provocative memoir for better and for worse. At least personally I found several sections to be quite triggering to read, and I wish it didn't jump so quickly from topic to topic. 

Still, I want to repeat that there are some really good and thought provoking sections. For example the chapter where she's at the airport in Isreal had me at the edge of my seat. I won't forget it easily! 

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questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

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challenging emotional fast-paced

3.5


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alylentz's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

I really enjoyed this and would definitely pick up another book by this author. I soared through the first half, but then the second half faltered a little for me: not sure if that was the pacing or if I just felt less compelled by the subjects of those sections. My favorite chapter was the one that discussed being detained by customs--I feel like that is definitely a must-read for so many. 

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maisierosereads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I was given access to an eARC of this book through NetGallety in exchange for an honest review.

Love is an Ex-Country is a poignant memoir about Randa Jarrar's life and experiences as a fat, queer, Muslim Arab-American woman. She discusses childhood, marriage, sex, motherhood, her Muslim identity, kink, her white-passing privilege, and much more on a personal level; she also weaves in facts about, for instance, the occupation of Palestine and how that affects her as a Palestinian. This memoir is not always easy or comfortable to read, with explicit depictions of e.g. domestic abuse and sexual assault, but if you are able to read about these topics it is worth it.

There is a strong theme of travel throughout the book - with journeys around the USA with her dog as well as to multiple other countries - but I would not call it a travelogue, which seems to have caused some confusion for other viewers. I personally prefer memoirs-with-travel rather than travel-with-memories, so this did not bother me. 

If you would like a taste of the style of this memoir, many of the chapters have previously been published as essays in various magazines. Randa has also written fiction, which I will definitely be looking into and reading in the future.


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clarabooksit's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

2.5


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nordstina's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

4.0

LOVE IS AN EX-COUNTRY is a powerful memoir by Randa Jarrar. At times funny and moving, this book is set against the backdrop of a cross-country round trip after the 2016 election. She writes about the intersection of her different identities: Muslim, Queer, Fat, Arab-American, Abuse Survivor. She describes her journey to acceptance highlighting important relationships and events in her life. Her father was abusive, both physically and emotionally. Her mother was complacent. Her boyfriend is abusive and controlling, and leaves her once she has the child he did not want her to abort. The two areas which I found most interesting were her journey with her body acceptance and the complexity of her race and how she is perceived. She is a fat woman, and she discusses multiple instances where people are outright hostile to her, including her father. But she also talks about acceptance she has come to as she has gotten older, especially in the kink community, and the importance of consent (which she did not see in past relationships). And as for her ethnicity, she highlights discrepancies when she is identified as white (cop being nice to her after pulling her over for speeding), versus Arab-American (her landlord recommends she put up an American flag in her front yard). Jarrar deals with a lot of heavy topics with candor and wit, and I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Catapult for providing me with an advance reader copy for review.

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