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Against the Loveless World

Susan Abulhawa

Start date: February 15, 2022

Finish date: March 15, 2022

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Aug 04, 2022 Missyjohnson1 rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Really enjoyed this book. I think that it may have been a bit easier to visualize since we had made a trip to Israel & Jordan just two months prior to reading this. My heart breaks that the entire world suffers from trying to have power over others and then justifying the taking from others anything from freedom, to property to dignity. For some reason when I started this book I had limited sympathy for Nahr. As Ms. Abulhawa took me through Nahr's life my sympathy grew. I have such limited knowl Really enjoyed this book. I think that it may have been a bit easier to visualize since we had made a trip to Israel & Jordan just two months prior to reading this. My heart breaks that the entire world suffers from trying to have power over others and then justifying the taking from others anything from freedom, to property to dignity. For some reason when I started this book I had limited sympathy for Nahr. As Ms. Abulhawa took me through Nahr's life my sympathy grew. I have such limited knowledge of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict that hearing from the Palestinian point of view I realize that most of my knowledge is from the Israeli point of view. How complicated it has all become. the political divisions/religious divisions that dominate so many people in that part of the world is heartbreaking. Nahr/Yaqoot is an unconventional woman in a decidedly conventional culture. She is imprisoned as a terrorist by the Israelis and this is the story that she tells of her life and how she got to this point. Nahr's family (Palestine) have been uprooted from their homeland all of her life. She hears stories of how here grandparents were refugees to Kuwait, and then she becomes a refugee when the U.S. invades Kuwait. She and her mother and grandmother go to Jordan where they must completely start over. Hard life. Nahr's time in Palestine and her acceptance by Mhamood's mother (her MIL) when she comes to get a divorce from Mhamood is a sweet time. The relationship that develops with Bilal is based on respect and love in a way that I do not think that I have read about very often. It was easy for me to visualize the discovery of the ruins under Jumana's salon where the friends/revolutionaries met. So many communities have been built on top of each other for centuries. I am happy to have read this novel. The characters all came to life and were real people. I enjoyed the relationship that the people had with the land and the things that they grew, and the desire to keep the olive trees alive. The struggles with the settlers and the army were hard to read about. The importance of community, family and friends help to overcome so many hardships. ...more

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Feb 23, 2024 Jen Pratt rated it it was ok

It is heartbreaking what people can do to each other.

Before reviewing this book, I want to explain why I picked it up. One of the books I read last year by was Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy. It is a book about Afghanistan. I have read a few about that area. Anyway, it inspired me to look for other books about the Middle East. This one was highly rated, so I decided to read it with only knowing it was about a Palestinian and not anything about the plot. I did know it won some book awards in Pa ...more

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