Welcome to Litsy!

Abulhawa portrays many facets of Palestinian experience and confronts us with the question of how does one respond when our rights and choices are increasingly diminished? As a vehicle for conveying this necessary story it‘s hugely successful. For me, it did fall a bit short in terms of the personal relationships; trauma and conflicts between characters are often resolved in mere pages undermining their impact. 7/10

#Loveless ❤️‍🔥 #FeelinTheLove 🍓🍰💌🧸💝🍫❣️🎀

#BookNerd 🤓📚💙

This book 💔🇵🇸. I learn about the world, history and perspectives from quality fiction. This book certainly ‘schooled‘ me. Extraordinarily harrowing and beautiful. Published in 2020, a good friend recommended it at the time. And oh, what has happened since then. So glad to have read it. 🥺🙏

Loving this book. I‘m a big fan of watermelon 🍉, especially now when we are in the middle of summer (over 40C again today). But roasted watermelon seeds that you crack open? I can‘t imagine shelling them or what‘s actually inside. We now have only seedless watermelons here, although I always remember collecting up the seeds and spitting them out as a kid.

This book was an emotional roller coaster. Insightful, poignant and heartbreaking. Also, I absolutely love it when an author narrates their own work beautifully.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So many emotions. I caught myself literally laughing out loud, crying, angry throughout this book. 🇵🇸

So much to say about this novel, but I‘ll keep it short. A devastating insight to a Palestinian woman‘s life from her teens to older age. Taking place in Kuwait and Jordan where her family has to survive as refugees. Finally, she visits Palestine to visit family and tie up loose ends. She eventually joins the resistance against the Israeli occupation. Heartbreaking story. I was rooting for Nahar. Loved the reference to James Baldwin in this novel.

I have my book & snacks. Pistachio settled down too soon & I‘m about to commit a crime. 🙀 That‘s right I have to move Pistachio to get my mug of coffee I was brewing.

#CatsOfLitsy

A timely choice — Women‘s Month, Ramadan, obviously the devastating situation in Gaza. This book sets up a modern-adjacent timeline from the POV of a young Palestinian woman (and largely focuses on the women in her orbit, her family & friends), a history of sorts of her life as effected by the conflict & general misogyny. Well done but a painful read. Triggers abound.

From Kuwait, to Jordan, to Palestine, this is a story of displacement. Wrapped up in beautifully structured sentences, the smell of mint tea in the air, this book is harrowing.

I knew Iraq had invaded and occupied Kuwait for a time but I didn't know an awful lot about it and I didn't know the ramifications that's people faced after Kuwait was liberated. This book is a history lesson, wrapped up like a memoir, written in a narrative format.

WOW

#MayMoms Day 4: A great deal of #Loving in this unforgettable and powerful novel that is perfect for our #DecolonizeBookshelves2022 reading theme. Review is forthcoming.

Such a beautiful, heart wrenching story of strength, courage and resilience. Excellent story of Palestine Colonization and the horrors of that terrible conflict. Eye opening.

#GratefulHarvest Day 14: Flecks of #Orange in this novel.

Current read.

This is one that will linger awhile. Told in the narrative voice of a Palestinian woman in solitary confinement in an Israeli prison, we hear Nahr's story on her terms and how she sought control over her own life defying rules and expectations placed on her.

This book was incredible! It was an emotional roller coaster filled with heartbreak and love. I was in a bit of a reading slump before picking this up but thankfully it pulled me out of it. I highly recommend but have some tissues on hand.

Thanks to partner NetGalley for the digital ARC of Susan Abulhawa‘s Against the Loveless World in exchange for an honest review. The book will be published on Tuesday, August 25, 2020.⠀
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I requested Susan Abulhawa‘s Against the Loveless World after absolutely loving her novel Mornings in Jenin (I read it as part of a buddy read with @readwithtoni). This one is, for me, even better.⠀
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You can read my review at unabridgedpod.com.