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emily_mh's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
This story was told through two perspectives: Alaa’s and Ariel’s. Alaa mostly tells his via his memoirs, which he recorded in a red notebook before his disappearance, and which he addressed to his late grandmother. I genuinely wanted to highlight every sentence of his perspective. It spoke to the intense alienation both he and his grandmother experienced in their own homeland, and the immense grief this caused. It was clear that Alaa’s grief, love, and longing for his grandmother mirrored that for his country, Palestine. Both only existed for him in memory, which he preserved in his memoirs. The afterword beautifully expounded on this theme, noting that how after colonisation “memory is the last trench and refuge, and a space that cannot be expropriated by law or force.” Thus, in the form of Alaa’s memoirs, and indeed (in the meta sense) in the form of the novel itself, “Art here achieves one of its most powerful effects: preserving memory.” (I would really recommend reading the afterword; there was some great analysis I’ve barely touched on here!)
Our other narrator is Ariel. His perspective is testament to the mental gymnastics Israelis do to see themselves as the victim. Despite reading Alaa’s memoirs throughout the story, Ariel refuses to see Israel as a violent, colonising state. It was truly baffling reading about the ways he and other Israelis justified Israel’s actions and existence. Ariel considers himself a more open-minded Israeli, yet he served in the IDF and thinks this service was needed; he also ends up taking over Alaa’s apartment and plans to sell Alaa’s memoirs. Ariel’s character reminded me of “allies” who think they can help a marginalised community, when in reality they continue to perpetuate its oppression.
Through our narrators, we read a story where “colonial fantasy becomes a reality” (as the afterword so aptly puts it). All settler colonies desire the total eradication of the indigenous people they are colonising, and this literally comes true for Israel here. The novel raises the question: what does this mean for a settler colonial state? What will happen next? While the book shows the immediate aftermath of such an event through Ariel’s POV, and also in short chapters from anonymous Israeli POVs, the book doesn’t intend to answer these questions in full. I think the point was to explore Israel as the settler-colonial state it currently is. Instead of Palestinians pointing this out by their presence, it is highlighted by their absence.
My one criticism is that I didn’t like the writing style of Ariel’s chapters that much, which comprise the majority of the ones in the book. I couldn’t tell if the simplicity and redundancy of many sentences was intentional like in Adania Shibli’s Minor Detail, a translation issue, or a personal issue I had with Azem’s writing style. If it was intentionally done, I do think it could have been accomplished more effectively.
I also wanted to note that the translation was not the best. The tense was inconsistent even WITHIN sentences, and there were archaic (read: potentially offensive) word choices.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Genocide, Colonisation, Rape, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Cursing, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Physical abuse, and Death
Minor: Alcohol, Medical content, Child abuse, Deportation, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Dementia, Addiction, Antisemitism, Child death, Terminal illness, Cancer, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Ableism, Pregnancy, Drug use, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Sexism, and War
Major: loss of a loved one, forced displacement, the Nakba, apartheid, Zionism, ethnic cleansing Moderate: bombing, reference to the Holocaust, two uses of the anti-Black b-slur, phrase "committed suicide" used several times Minor: imprisonment, divorce I put genocide as a graphic warning as the Palestinians' disappearance, the crux of the book, is a metaphor for this.
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