Against the Loveless World

A powerful novel about a Palestinian woman, Nahr, who’s stuck in an Israeli prison, reflecting on her life and how she came to be there. Her prison experience is interspersed with her life – growing up in Kuwait, her failed marriage, turning to prostitution, the US invasion of Iraq making her a refugee in Jordan, then Palestine, and finding a way to resist Israeli occupation.

There are deliberate parallels drawn between her, her Mama, and Sitti Wasfiyeh (her paternal grandmother) – the trauma of being a refugee, of being forced from your home, of having to move your life elsewhere.

Given the subject matter, I’m not sure I can say I “enjoyed” this book – but I was gripped by it, and there are some beautiful touches sprinkled amongst the devastation and trauma.

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