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jinmichae's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Slice of life, but all characters are connected through family. Place is another character, as the family is split and comes together across countries, often moved by war.
A line that especially struck me was the younger generation visiting Jaffa, and thinking of the privilege of families back in Boston who have hundreds of years of generations all buried in the same cemetery, while her ancestor's graves are--by was and against their will--spread across an entire region.
I found it a very compelling read, only held back by my having to remember who was who and related how.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Genocide, Violence, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Dementia, Grief, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Dementia, Grief, Pregnancy, and Colonisation
Moderate: Genocide, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Murder, and War
Minor: Gun violence
lexcellent's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
palejandro's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and War
sineadz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
susheela's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Sexual content, Islamophobia, and Colonisation
Minor: Domestic abuse, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, and War
robinks's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Dementia, Grief, and Colonisation
Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War
Minor: Racial slurs, Vomit, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
eslsilver's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Colonisation and War
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Rape, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia
felishacb's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
You see the pain and never-ending grief of displacement through the lives of this Palestinian family and their descendants, spread across the world from Paris to Boston to Lebanon to Jordan. But rarely home. Their refugee status is a shadow throughout, understood differently by each generation as time passes, but it never overpowers the dignity of their very human existence, their sometimes flawed choices and everyday tensions.
I was engaged throughout the story, but I have to admit the emotional revelations in the last chapters of the book stabbed at my heart. This book will stick with me.
She misses Mustafa. Like a city after a tsunami, the earth is altered without him. Wrecked.
**
'Motherhood doesn't suit me,' she once confessed to Budur, drunk. 'I don't have the stomach for not knowing what's next.'
**
"'Punch me,' he wants to yell at Mustafa. 'Tell me to fuck off. Hit me in the face. Pick up that goddamn suitcase. Walk down the driveway.
I would have followed you.
I would have followed you.
Take me with you. You can save yourself. We can both live.'"
Graphic: Grief and War
Moderate: Death, Torture, Islamophobia, Murder, and Pregnancy
jackie_marion's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Genocide and War
Moderate: Islamophobia and Pregnancy
Minor: Toxic relationship