Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Behind You Is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj

5 reviews

thehomiemona's review

emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Miscarriage, and Rape

zahrahm's review

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Largely my impression of the book was confused because the way it was pitched was that there were 3 families who after a specific event are intertwined… that didn’t happen at all. It was more there was 1-2 cameos across each short story. It may be an issue of the marketing but because it didn’t do what it promised I got to the end without realizing, thinking “… what?”
With that said, the short stories themselves tackle themes that are complicated, and there’s an argument that books like these must be written. BUT you must read the content warnings because I got blind-sighted multiple times when I’d suddenly get thrown for a loop with an event; I had to take breaks from the book because of it. I’m not someone who needs to read content warnings usually so this was a shock for me. Not a before-bed read for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infertility, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Miscarriage and Gaslighting

wanderlust_romance's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad fast-paced

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

2.0

Behind You is the Sea is a collection of interconnected short stories that center Palestinian characters. I had high hopes and was excited to see it on the shelves during my last library visit. Alas, it was not my cup of tea. The stories are set in Baltimore, but there is no distinguishing sense of place in these vignettes, nothing that makes you understand what it means to live, work, or grow up there. (The irony of it all was the cover designers note at the end proclaiming how Baltimore itself shined as a character here. WHERE?!) BYITS aimed to do too much and didn't execute on those ideas all that well. These stories touched on weighty subjects such as racism, classism, eating disorders, abortion, family conflicts, femicide, and domestic abuse. The writing style was heavy on the telling as opposed to showing, while also skirting around the issue at center of the story before addressing it with unnatural directness. There was little nuance and very little subtlety, while also not leaving much room for reflection from these characters whose head you've been in throughout the short story. The biggest off-putting aspect though was the cop-aganda in the two stories focusing on Marcus. He's a "good cop" and "overprotective brother" but a "bad son" until he takes his father's body back to Palestine and rushes into marriage (savior complex, much?) with a woman there. It's 2024. Do we need to romanticize police in this day and age? In a city as fraught with racialized and class divisions as Baltimore? Of all the commentary that didn't land...that one fell the most flat.

It was a fast read, which is perhaps the only reason I finished reading rather than quitting midway through.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

robinks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was such a beautiful collection of interwoven, nuanced stories. I loved getting to see the characters from different perspectives. Escorting the Body was a powerful way to end the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Islamophobia, Dementia, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Infertility, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

paulasuze's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

3.75/5

Susan Muaddi Darraj's debut novel is a beautiful exploration of life in the diaspora for Palestinian immigrants in America. The book exists in the universe of three families in Baltimore, Maryland, each chapter telling the story of a different family member. This multi-generational tale tackles difficult topics, from eating disorders, to the intersection of class and race, to the cycle of poverty, to sexual assault, to anti-Arab sentiment and Islamophobia, to inter- and intra-community violence. Few characters endear themselves to the reader, but their stories are no less engrossing because of it. 

The blurb states that the book faces stereotypes about Palestinians head-on, and in some cases that's true. In a few stories though, I wasn't sure if the narrative was actually reinforcing stereotypes rather than dispelling them. Additionally, there is a lot of hero worship/glorification of policing and the US military which I found interesting. Because of the policing/military violence under the occupation in Palestine, I would have expected the opposite, but maybe Darraj is noting that the first generation children of these immigrants are so removed from Palestine that they do not know that violence and therefore don't abhor the institution of it. Unclear!

Overall though, it was a compelling story and a debut that definitely has me keeping an eye out for what the author puts out next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, and Police brutality

Minor: Torture and Cultural appropriation