Welcome to Litsy!

I really enjoyed the writing. The main character flips back and forth between memories of her childhood and parents to her past relationships and her role in them, both good and bad. It is a personal journey of growth and recognition of her destructive behaviors and what it took to change them. It was also a look at the possible role her parents held in that as well. I enjoyed the characters insight at the end about her mother. #freepalestine

Sonia returns to Haifa, Israel, to visit her sister Haneen. While there she gets pulled into a Palestinian theatre production of Hamlet. As the actors learn their lines and get there feel of the play, we get Sonia and Haneen‘s backstory. We also learn about everyday in this region, how it is to pass through checkpoints and being in the hands of the soldier doing the control, sudden demonstrations and reactions.

This was Februarys #readyourkindle book. It took me so long to read because it‘s such a worthwhile, heartfelt and powerful read but it‘s also full of grief and sadness (written very profoundly but succinctly, and repeated) so I was just reading it in small bursts. I loved it.

I finished this book on my flight back home. Such a slow, quietly powerful read and so very timely. An incredible book where everything feels just beneath the surface and between the lines. I was slightly on edge throughout the story right up until the end.

Very intriguing writing using a theatre production of Hamlet to convey underlying meanings of the conflict in Israel-Palestine. But there are a lot of unnecessary details about the protagonist who btw is unbearably dull. The audiobook narrator is simply horrendous and I think I lost so much of the charm of this book because the narrator straight up botched the reading. Overall, interesting plot but please don‘t get the audio version on audible.

I excepted them to interrogate me at the airport and they did

#FirstLineFridays

A beautifully written story that intertwines multiple narratives along with the past and present. My heart went out to each of the ladies as they struggled to carve out space in a culture where they are seen as less than. You know the writing is good when you‘re able to empathize with a character you don‘t even like.

Please check the content warnings.

April #bookspin complete! @TheAromaofBooks

#SpringSkies Day 7: There literally is no #Escape from the tension in the story, palpable to the point of suffocation. I felt the protagonist‘s defiance battling with terror. My full review here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-qhH

Mohammed El-Kurd‘s poetry about life in Palestine, the effects of the Nakba, and his grandmother‘s legacy hit me really hard, gave me a lot to contemplate, and is something I know will stay with me. I‘m definitely going to get my own print copy of this so I can revisit some of the thoughts.

I do think I would have benefited at the time from some representation of a similar experience, though, whether in a book or a film, or even something small like a poem. Something for the company, just so I could feel I was walking down a path already trodden by other women, that I was not the first to cut my way through that wilderness.