Minor Detail

Deeply harrowing and impactful short story.
Dual timeline and POV all surrounding the same incident. One POV is about hiding the truth and the other is about uncovering it.

There is a subtle, palpable intensity to the events of the book. But the writing itself (or possibly the translation, though I suspect not) doesn’t do it justice. The extended attention to every small detail of movement should feel meticulous and patient, but it doesn’t. It just feels labored, overwrought, and overall has the effect of deadening the story’s impact.

Adania Shibli is a brilliant storyteller. She knows how to configure the most horrendous acts of humanity (in the context of this novella, gang rape and murder in the midst of a war) and incorporate them into the fabric of the characters' lives--like it's just another day in the everyday life of a soldier in battle. It's horrendous, traumatizing, and numbing. This "minor detail" discovered by the unnamed protagonist 25 years later leads her down an obsessive journey to find the identity of the dead Palestinian woman. The way Shibli connects the two separate incidents is astoundingly simple yet very powerful and impactful. This is a short read, but you will want to pause in between parts to truly grasp the horrors of war on everyday civilians (specifically women) and its consequences.