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ameliorater's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
Minor: Racism
yazzy_annalise's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I struggled a lot while reading this book. I went back and forth about how much I liked it or not. The first half of the book felt very slow to me, and I was frustrated by the main character's inner monologue. From the very beginning I knew she deserved better and it was really difficult getting through her character growth. HOWEVER, I do think it is so incredibly realistic to how inner healing and traumatized brains work.
Her character growth was slow and hard to get through because that is how it is in real life. Growth isn't entertaining and people make wrong and bad decisions on their journey's to be better people. The fact that she grew and knew what would ultimately be best for herself and for her children means so much more for Yara's journey. That's what she has been battling all this time: all of these expectations that were forced on her that she thinks defines who she is, when the reality is that she can make choices that will lead to a different life. She just has to be intentional about those choices. This shift in the story telling felt kind of abrupt and really quick at the end, but I can't be upset because I think the author ultimately ended the novel in such a perfect way. I thought the ending would feel rushed, but it felt very full circle. All of the previous entries made sense with just those last couple of pages.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone looking to support Arab and Palestinian authors but also need to read a fiction book. It really explores what it means to have fulfilling relationships and life in world that puts so many expectations on us.
Her character growth was slow and hard to get through because that is how it is in real life. Growth isn't entertaining and people make wrong and bad decisions on their journey's to be better people. The fact that she grew and knew what would ultimately be best for herself and for her children means so much more for Yara's journey. That's what she has been battling all this time: all of these expectations that were forced on her that she thinks defines who she is, when the reality is that she can make choices that will lead to a different life. She just has to be intentional about those choices. This shift in the story telling felt kind of abrupt and really quick at the end, but I can't be upset because I think the author ultimately ended the novel in such a perfect way. I thought the ending would feel rushed, but it felt very full circle. All of the previous entries made sense with just those last couple of pages.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone looking to support Arab and Palestinian authors but also need to read a fiction book. It really explores what it means to have fulfilling relationships and life in world that puts so many expectations on us.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Genocide and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Infidelity and Death of parent
campisforever's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book is a really, really difficult one in which to get immersed if you're not into internal or cerebral plots (like me). It's also an honest, raw look into generational trauma, complex PTSD (C-PTSD), depression, and suicidal ideation. That said, Evil Eye is gorgeously written and well worth it. It took me quite a while to get through (a few days over six months) because I had to pick it up and put it down several times. The only thing that really worked for me was transitioning to listening to it on Spotify and tracking the reading with the pages in my physical copy. Making this change helped me, as a highly visual person, take a small step back from having to experience the raw feelings of the novel and gave me breathing room to react. Once I was able to get that room, I appreciated the story much more.
For the question about whether I found the characters loveable I said "It's complicated." Let me explain:I love Yara deeply, I love Mira and Jude, and I love Silas and Josephine. I had strong reactions to Fadi, his family, and Yara's family in many ways, but to say they weren't "loveable" wouldn't necessarily be fair, since that's the point of the whole book. I think a fairer way to put it is that I was frustrated by how Fadi, etc., just wouldn't listen to Yara when Yara was working so hard on herself.
Also, if you're an academic, the first third might be frustrating, but it will pass, I promise. In general, I think that if you have the patience to give this book time, it will give what it needs to. In the end I was genuinely moved, but it's not something I would recommend blindly.
For the question about whether I found the characters loveable I said "It's complicated." Let me explain:
Also, if you're an academic, the first third might be frustrating, but it will pass, I promise. In general, I think that if you have the patience to give this book time, it will give what it needs to. In the end I was genuinely moved, but it's not something I would recommend blindly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Genocide, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Colonisation
Domestic and physical abuse situations are referenced in the past and somewhat "offscreen" but they're still present and visceral. Misogyny is inherent in various treatment of the main character. Suicidal ideation is present, but not violent necessarily--potentially passive ideation. References to Colonization and genocide are in the context of stories about the 1948 Nakba (forced dispossession and genocide of Palestinians perpetrated by Israel). Islamophobia and xenophobia are present in offhanded--but relevant--comments by others about the main character's "culture" (in scare quotes because how they treat it is a fundamental misunderstanding).aishallnot's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Minor: Genocide
rivkah88's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Whoa. This book was such a fantastic surprise. Incredible writing to reflect a Palestinian experience in America, but also so poignantly captures a woman’s battle in being a mother, daughter, wife, and her own person. One of the best books I’ve read this year.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Grief, and Death of parent
evanhope's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
i LOVED this book and will forever recommend this. i picked the book up at chapter 7 and didn’t put it down until i finished it (for reference, there’s around 45). yara’s growth throughout the book was so real to life and some passages hit closer to home than i had thought. beautiful prose and i can’t wait to read more of rum’s book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Toxic relationship
Minor: Physical abuse
lwrisley's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia
mrlsdevos's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
cody_crumley's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“Who cares what the world sees if you can’t even stand to look at yourself?”
This might be one of the hardest reviews I have had to write for a bookclub book in a while. This book hit me emotionally in a place that I have not visited since my father died.
The way that Etaf Rum’s writing handles the descriptions of mental health and associated themes like micro and macro aggressions that the main character Yara has thrown at her. The way the author describes intergenerational family trauma. A lot of books that try to focus on mental health themes like they miss the finer details or only graze the surface. The fact that Rum is able to paint in the grey area with such delicate touches, like being able to show Yara’s mother as both a terrible victim of mental/physical abuse from her husband but also a perpetrator of mental abuse to Yara as a child.
Yara and Fadi’s marriage has a lot of similarities to my parents marriage. Two people who probably should not have gotten married, rushed into a relationship/marriage because of outside influences and circumstances. Every dialogue conversation between Fadi and Yara, like when Yara asked him to help with cleaning up transported me back to when I was a child and the same conversation would have between them.
The overall depiction of mental health was stellar. The interaction with Yara and the first counselor, which does a wonderful job of portraying the gender dynamics when the therapist is male and the patient is female. The journey Yara goes on through this book to stop blaming herself for what happened during her childhood while actually sitting with her emotions is extremely powerful and should be required reading for anyone that has similar problems.
I also think reading this book right now is more important than ever because what is happening to Palestine via the genocide perpetrated by Israel. This looks into the cultural trauma that a Palestinian-American can go through, not being able to go back to where they are from because of human atrocities delivered by an entire country is sickening.
While I don’t think that everyone who reads this will be impacted like I was, I still would recommend this book to everyone because of the subject matter and it’s current relevance to the current situation in Palestine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting
nithya_natalya's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Trying to read more books by Palestinian authors, and this one showed up on a few lists of recs. I'm not normally a literary fiction fan, so I struggled through this. So much of this book is Yara's inner thoughts, and not a lot of plot. Normally, I would hate that. However, I'm giving it 4 stars though because it made me cry multiple times, and the fact that it brought such strong emotions at me means it was doing something right. I saw myself and my family in Yara's experience. I also am a sucker for storylines involving platonic love, and there was a great friendship in this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Minor: Genocide, Homophobia, Colonisation, and War