A review by smuds2
Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

4.0

is there a fair way to talk about this book in Sept 2024? I don't know. The contrarian butthead in me wants to complain about it -- maybe say that the story itself isn't very interesting, or well executed, or well paced. But tbh that doesn't feel right - or feel like it's evaluating the book on what the book is supposed to be evaluated on.. so I'll just leave all that out

at the risk of totalizing a population:

the parallels between the two stories, really, I think, is the only thing that needs to be discussed, at least from my pov. how what palestinians are experiencing today is both the same as what they experienced in 1940's and have experienced since, but also made worse by it -- like a snowball tumbling. the traumas from before going on to inform their traumas now.

how minor details are really what drives history, both external and internal - and have for all time. Afterall, what distinguishes the girl from the soldiers? All in all - minor details. Why is the MC in pt II interested in the story? Minor details. What drives the anxieties of life for palestinians? minor details (magnified). What killed the MC? Minor details. Minor details magnified to major decisions when arbitrary rules are placed on you .

how in pt I we have this descent into loss of self from the commander -- continued, and attempted, though failed to, reverse in pt II with the attempt at discovery of sense of self of the MC.

so i could say "yeah I didn't really feel anything relatable emotionally, didn't care for the characters as people, didn't really find the plot of the stories that interesting" -- what would I even be saying, if I did?