Against the Loveless World: A Novel
Arab American Book Award Winner
2021 Aspen Words Literary Prize Finalist
2020 Athenaeum Literary Award Finalist
2020 Palestine Book Awards Winner
Longlisted for Rathbones Folio Prize "Susan Abulhawa possesses the heart of a warrior; she looks into the darkest crevices of lives, conflicts, horrendous injustices, and dares to shine light that can illuminate hidden worlds for us." --Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author In this "beautiful...urgent" novel (The New York Times), Nahr, a young Palestinian woman, fights for a better life for her family as she travels as a refugee throughout the Middle East. As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the seventies to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children, and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she's forced to prostitute herself, and the US invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been. After trekking through another temporary home in Jordan, she lands in Palestine, where she finally makes a home, falls in love, and her destiny unfolds under Israeli occupation. Nahr's subversive humor and moral ambiguity will resonate with fans of My Sister, The Serial Killer, and her dark, contemporary struggle places her as the perfect sister to Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties. Written with Susan Abulhawa's distinctive "richly detailed, beautiful, and resonant" (Publishers Weekly) prose, this powerful novel presents a searing, darkly funny, and wholly unique portrait of a Palestinian woman who refuses to be a victim.
2021 Aspen Words Literary Prize Finalist
2020 Athenaeum Literary Award Finalist
2020 Palestine Book Awards Winner
Longlisted for Rathbones Folio Prize "Susan Abulhawa possesses the heart of a warrior; she looks into the darkest crevices of lives, conflicts, horrendous injustices, and dares to shine light that can illuminate hidden worlds for us." --Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author In this "beautiful...urgent" novel (The New York Times), Nahr, a young Palestinian woman, fights for a better life for her family as she travels as a refugee throughout the Middle East. As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the seventies to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children, and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she's forced to prostitute herself, and the US invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been. After trekking through another temporary home in Jordan, she lands in Palestine, where she finally makes a home, falls in love, and her destiny unfolds under Israeli occupation. Nahr's subversive humor and moral ambiguity will resonate with fans of My Sister, The Serial Killer, and her dark, contemporary struggle places her as the perfect sister to Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties. Written with Susan Abulhawa's distinctive "richly detailed, beautiful, and resonant" (Publishers Weekly) prose, this powerful novel presents a searing, darkly funny, and wholly unique portrait of a Palestinian woman who refuses to be a victim.
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Community Reviews
There aren’t words to express how much I felt while reading this book. It was painful to read, it was inspiring to read, it was nostalgic to read. All in all, an absolute must-read.
Abulhawa gently brings the reader into the intimate lives of strong Palestinian characters. I could smell, taste, and see Palestine/Kuwait/Jordan/the Cube through her incredible writing. Her interweaving of traditions and colloquialisms between characters makes the read even more intimate. I feel like these characters have now woven their way into my heart and mind.
I will be reading all of this authors works.
Abulhawa gently brings the reader into the intimate lives of strong Palestinian characters. I could smell, taste, and see Palestine/Kuwait/Jordan/the Cube through her incredible writing. Her interweaving of traditions and colloquialisms between characters makes the read even more intimate. I feel like these characters have now woven their way into my heart and mind.
I will be reading all of this authors works.
We can never truly know how all sides feels in this multi-decade/century conflict between Israeli-Palestinan. The creative prospective this author gives to follow a refugee's struggle to never have a home or a true sense of belonging and the storyline of the horrendous injustices and isolation in many aspects they are put through really drives your heart string. You turn the page with a deep understanding of how each decision made the main character ended up as this totally different character that is flashforward introduced in the first chapter. With a ending to make you feel like you can't wait to see the movie version, the author did a great job pulling me in. Great book club read
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