I really enjoyed the first 20%, but after that the book fell flat to me. it was hard to pinpoint who Nahr was, and maybe that was the point, but it made it hard to connect to her. she lives a very troubling life, constantly fighting and struggling to prove herself and provide for her family. i was interested in reading abt her introduction to prostitution and the role she had to play in the world. i admire how tirelessly she works to make her family happy.

there were so many parts of the story that were confusing to me and i kept wondering why certain things were in the writing. i think the use of “but we haven’t gotten there yet” was excessive. it was intriguing the first time but reading it two, three, four more times, just felt like the author was trying too hard to keep us interested.

i also HATED the really long chapters!

thank you netgalley for a copy!

This book was a lot to take in. In my undergrad, I focused on Colonial/Post-Colonial literature, but I did not know much about the Palestinian diaspora. Against A Loveless World really brought the experience of Palestinian refugees to light.

The many-named narrator somehow evokes both empathy and anger. As she tells her story from her jail cell, we get to see the pain of her life, the sacrifices and compromises she makes to give her family a better life.

The way the story flowed was beautiful and refreshing. The characters were well developed, especially the younger brother, Jehad. I felt a lot while reading this book, which has not happened to me in a long time.

A rich and beautiful book about a young Palestinian girl who slowly becomes racialized. It dives deep into the hopelessness that can lead to bad choices. This book is powerful.

This book showed me a new perspective I hadn’t read before. I always enjoy narratives that provide reflection from the present, hinting at a dramatic narrative that has led to their current situation. For Nahr, this place is her jail cell. While the reader has to wait to find out what has put her in this sad, isolated place. Nahr’s story is tragic in every way. She sacrifices everything to support her family. Her interactions with her family members were my favorites parts of the story and rang the most true. However, I never found myself fully understanding what motivated her beyond this allegiance. While her brother hopes to gain an education, she never dreams for herself beyond her next scheme to bring in more money for her family. While this speaks to her desperation and the precarious position her family is in, I found myself wanting more from her as the main character.

Overall, though, the book pulled me in and kept me turning the pages because I wanted to find out how it all came together in the end and how she ended up in the cube. I learned a lot about a time in our world’s history I knew little about, and that is always a satisfying experience for me as a reader.

The author blended fiction and nonfiction to create a story about a misplaced Palestinian family. I am by no means an expert on this area of the world, so it was interesting to read and learn about it. I thought the author handled such a sensitive manner in a respectful manner and the writing was really good.

This is a powerful book set within the Israel Palestine Conflict and will leave you craving more. The writing is masterful and clean. There is a surgical precision in her expressions that can transport you immediately to their world and suddenly as a reader I’m fearful for my own life. This historic fiction will wake you to the reality of the situation and the struggles. Yes, the protagonist was a strong female who lived her life on her terms and was considered a terrorist at the time of her arrest but the story unfolds from her days in the Cube, a solitary confinement prison in Israel. One woman’s memories as she tries to process what her life has been. If you loved A thousand Splendid Suns, you’ll like this book also. Abulhawa being Palestinian American presents an #ownvoices perspective and It was quite refreshing.

This was an incredibly powerful and thought provoking story about a Palestinian woman's experience as a refugee, a political prisoner, and returning to her homeland. It is also a story of trauma, healing, and finding love. I found myself highlighting countless passages as I read, as the writing is so beautiful, I did find a portion towards the middle of the novel to be a bit slow moving, but overall I could not stop reading. It was a story that opened my eyes to the world of its central character. I love books that teach my something new about the world or share a different perspective than I ordinarily hear.

What a beautifully written book about Nahr, a Palestinian refugee who tells her story as she sits in the Cube, a solitary confinement cell in an Israeli prison. The story goes back and forth from her present time in the Cube to her time before she was incarcerated. It is dark and disturbing in places as it does include scenes of sexual assault, but it is also a story about resilience, survival, love, the importance of family, and hope. I loved Nahr. She is a complex character, one whose behavior I couldn't understand at times, but one who only wanted the best for herself and her lovely family. What she went through just broke my heart. This is truly a heartbreaking and eye-opening look at Palestinian culture. It is one not to be missed. I have not read any other books by Susan Abulhawa but will definitely be reading more by her.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the review copy.

Although I haven't finished the ending yet and am a bit crunched for time because I'm reading 3 books, I guess I can't fairly rate beforec knowing the ending. What I do know is that even though I'm reading 3 books right now, this being one of them, I keep picking it back up because it's a good story about a Palestinian girl named Yaqoot, Nahr, and a made up name Almas, who's in an Iraqui prison called "The Cube", and what landed her there. Also there is a lot of family life, drama, and a woman who takes her under her wing, but to exploit her in prostitution and other things to make money. Some things she does with the men are downright gross on the man's part. It's so gross, I don't want to put an image in anyone's head.

I think it's well written, has good character development and good history about Israelis, Palestinians and Kuwaitis that are interesting, whether they are true or false and I'm interested in a prisoner being in a foreign prison. I can also identify with Yaqoot bc she helps her family making money legally and illegally to help her family and especially her brother for his schooling to be a doctor. I can identify with the sacrifices she made for her family. So far, I'm giving it 3.5 stars only because I CAN set it down to read a book I've been waiting to get for months. I will review this again after I read through, but as for now, I think it's very interesting and worth reading but I do recommend it and I will be back once I'm done. However, it's definitely good enough to recommend!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria books for the ARC of this book.

*lets out breath I didn’t know I was holding* Phew. This book is incredible; a work of art. I was speaking with another bookstagrammer about this and we agree: Against the Loveless World wins the award for most highlights I’ve ever made while reading. The number of passages that gutted me in this novel is unsurpassed.
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The writing is raw and unflinching. The story feels like a memoir, diving into the Middle East from the perspective of Nahr, a Palestinian woman who endures both generational and personal traumas. Nahr tells us how she came to be imprisoned by Israel in “the Cube,” a highly automated concrete prison box, for years. Her story starts as the daughter of Palestinian refugees who now live in Kuwait, moves to Jordan where they flee after Iraqi and American invasion, and then eventually resides in Palestine, where Nahr takes part in the revolt against Israeli forces and ends up in the Cube.
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This novel has opened my soul to the pain, heartache, and beauty of the hope and love that can endure what seems to be a series of tragic and terrifying events, that romance and love still blooms, and you can still dance, ever hopeful, even as outside forces and inner conflicts blast against your life. This novel reminds us that perspective drives experiences, and my life is an absolute cakewalk in the lens of the experiences in this book. I felt like Nahr’s soul was poured onto the pages, and a part of my soul will stay there as well. I won’t forget this book for as long as I live.
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CW ⚠️: forced abortion, rape, gangrape, torture, terrorism, murder, refugee fleeing, mass death, gunfire, forced prostitution, intergenerational trauma, incarceration.

🎉Happy Pub Day to Against the Loveless World! 🎉
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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. This story is expertly woven together -- it is both a character-rich story and has a plot that makes it insanely difficult to put this book down.⁣
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Nahr and her family depict what life for a refugee is really like:⁣
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"The continuity of these traditions helped bridge the spaces between dislocation and the home I had forged in my birthright homeland, but I knew I could never again be complete in one place. This is what it meant to be exiled and disinherited--to straddle closed borders, never whole anywhere."⁣
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There is honestly so much to this book, rather than try to summarize it all I'm just going to say READ IT, it was truly remarkable.⁣

The daughter of Palestinian refugees, Nahr grows up in Kuwait with her widowed mother, brilliant younger brother, and grandmother. Although living in the country her whole life, as a Palestinian, she isn’t treated the same as Kuwaiti citizens, and the inequity grates on her.

When she marries the handsome Mhammad, recently release in a prison exchange with Israel after spending seven years imprisoned for killing two soldiers and wounding one, her life settles into a pleasant routine, but he abandons her. To support herself and her family, she turns to prostitution, but the Iraqi invasion makes her family refugees once again.

Nahr decides to divorce Mhammad which requires her to travel to Palestine for an extended period. Unexpectedly, her temporary visit turns into permanent residence as she builds a life in her ancestral hometown, witnessing the effects of Israeli settlements while establishing a place in the community. As she becomes more invested in her new home, her resistance activities turn more radical.

The novel is divided into sections, and each section begins with Nahr describing the Cube, her cell in solitary confinement and residence. Over the course of the book, we as readers begin to understand why she is confined to the Cube and the root of her attitudes and behavior. I thought the structure was a fascinating narrative choice since introducing Nahr as an inmate creates a slew of assumptions. To the extent they are challenged rests on the reader’s empathy with Nahr and, I imagine, pre-held convictions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Complicated, assertive, outspoken (and some might say disrespectful), Nahr is a richly developed, multifaceted character whose actions can be morally questionable. A diverse cast of secondary characters are equally captivating: Um Buraq, who hates men and induces Nahr to challenge patriarchy but who is not always kind to Nahr; Nahr’s mother who can be meek but loves her children deeply; Bilal, Nahr’s brother-in-law who introduces her to Palestine; and her grandmother, Sitti Wasfiyeh, who disguises her disappointment in life with cruelty to others.

Before Against the Loveless World, I’d not (to my memory) read a book about contemporary Palestine or Palestinian women, and I thought Nahr’s story was so interesting, so heartbreaking, and so valuable.

AGAINST THE LOVELESS WORLD is the epic story of a Nahr, daughter to refugee parents, trying to provide for her family.

Starting off in the present, Nahr is imprisoned in a cell called the CUBE, in which she tells the story of her life and what brought her here to this point.

Born in ‘67, originally named Yaqoot after her father's mistress and never liking the name, she's now goes by Nahr. Living as an refugee in Kuwait and never really belonging, she tries to make a life for herself during the political turmoil of the Middle East - the fighting, the occupations, and rebellions.

Put in an arranged marriage to a man who doesn’t love her and never will, he abandons her at the age of 20. Now left to live with her mother, brother and grandmother, Nahr does what it takes to provide for her family. And working three respectable jobs is not enough, as her younger brother needs money for medical school. Knowing this will eventually lead her down a dangerous path she agrees to make extra income as a dancer, aka prostitution. But what else could she to do?

Raped. Humiliated. Beaten. There’s no one to report this to, for fear of putting herself in jail. Her only revenge is to steal a debit card, memorize the pin, and skip town.

Her travels land her in Palestine, where she meets a group of rebels. Finds love, then is thrown in prison, not sure why or for how long. Now hoping that her love is still alive so they may be reunited again some day.

Let me start by saying that I LOVE books with strong fearless females (in which there are a few of in this book), and I LOVE reading stories from around the world. So needless to say, this is definitely my type of book.

I was in my early teens in the 80’s and the memory of the U.S occupation in Kuwait is a little faint, and I’m not too familiar with the political landscape of the Middle East so I found myself Googling to understand. Do other readers need to research while reading this book – probably not. I found myself totally absorbed into the life of Nahr, and was moved by her story. I originally had some issue with the author’s need to use some pretty offensive words (I’m not easily offended), and I was concerned. Was it because it was the 80’s and it was commonly used at the time? Was it because she was trying to make a point of how people viewed sexuality in that time? Yes, and yes. I get it now. The emotional rollercoaster of Nahr's life was important to tell, and I’m glad to have had even a small glimpse into that time and that political landscape. I can’t even express the many emotions and feelings that are in this book – at times it felt so emotionally heavy that I was thankful for the reprieve of love, friendship, and hope.

I want to thank NetGalley, Atria Books,and Simon and Schuster for reaching out. AGAINST THE LOVELESS WORLD is wonderfully written, moving and eye-opening. Nahr's story will stay with me for a very long time.

Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa is the story of Nahr, a slowly radicalized, young Palestinian woman who, from her prison cell, reflects on the choices and turning points in her life that led to her to her current state.

This is not my first book by this author, so I already knew going in that I was going to love it, but even that did not prepare me for how much this book gutted me. This is not an easy read. It is a dark and heavy story that holds nothing back in sharing the grim reality of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation – the displacement, the violence, the suppression, the imprisonment, and torture. This story is a raw and evocative tale that highlights the complex nature of morality - each of the characters must make hard choices about what they will do to survive and how they can maintain a sense of freedom when all has been stripped from them.

But, as is life, even in darkness we can find hope, love, humour, friendship, and family. Nahr and Bilal’s love as well as the family connections and friendships forged throughout this story are all beautifully and authentically written and make for some of the most moving parts of the novel - Bilal’s compassion and patience with Nahr’s sexual boundaries as a result of her exploited past, her grandmother’s cantankerous nature that masks the hurt of being abandoned by those you love, and Um Buraq’s harsh, but steadfast loyalty to the women around her.

Reading books that take place in this setting always leave me feeling very conflicted. I’ve read equally moving novels from both sides – those that focus on the Palestinian perspective like this one, as well as those that focus on the Jewish perspective, and each time I’m left heartbroken at the depth of loss and suffering. But I think that’s why these novels are important. To remind us of the human element that gets lost in the consumption of news media of these conflicts; media that can make the conflict seem like an impersonal entity.

The writing in this novel is absolutely beautiful and profound – this one hands down wins the award for the most passages I’ve ever highlighted in a book. So much gratitude to the author for capturing this perspective with such honesty and clarity, as it is not the one most often shared in the Pro-Israeli mainstream media.

I would recommend this book to all lovers of historical fiction as well as those who are interested in a fuller perspective of this conflict. I would also highly recommend the author’s other book – Mornings in Jenin, which gives a look into the harsh realities of life inside a Palestinian refugee camp.

Trigger Warnings: rape, physical abuse, torture, prostitution, intergenerational trauma

Thank you to @atriabooks @netgalley and the author for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Against the Loveless World is a hauntingly beautiful novel that will stay with you long after you've put it down.

The book revolves around Nahr, whom we meet in solitary confinement in a high-tech Israeli prison and who spends her days recalling the events that landed her there. A Palestinian refugee, Nahr grew up in Kuwait and escapes to Jordan before finally settling back in her homeland, a place she falls in love with but can never really be her home again. Along the way, we learn how Nahr survived in a world where she'll always be displaced and the lengths she went to not only to save herself but also her family and her homeland.

Susan Abulhawa's writing is vivid and soulful. She gives Nahr a defiant edge from the start, even as she sits in prison; she's a woman who uses humor and sarcasm as a shield, who is crafty and knows how to make a point using the smallest gesture, and is also unflinchingly honest. I appreciated the different perspective on the Middle East conflicts and Nahr's experiences and feelings forced me to question my views on the people and events there. I rooted for her even when she was making decisions I couldn't understand. But most of all, I loved that this book was built around so many seemingly ordinary women, whose quiet resistance and fortitude are what kept their families alive. One of my favorite lines from Nahr explains their role:
"I endured and waited, because that's what girls do... We endure and wait, and cater to the whims of men, because sometimes our lives are at stake... until we get even."

The title of this novel comes from a book by James Baldwin, who wrote extensively about the Black experience in America - "Here you were: To be loved, baby, hard, at once, and forever, to strengthen you against the loveless world." Nahr's life in prison is loveless and, in a lot of ways, so was her life outside, but she always found her strength in love - love for herself, love for her family, and love for her heritage.

This is a difficult book, but an important one, and easily one of my favorites I've read this year.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and the author for the advanced ecopy to review.

Thank you Atria and Netgalley for the gifted E-copy.

First of all, this cover is absolutely GORGEOUS.

Second, this book was one that I will not soon forget. Nahr is in solitary confinement in the Cube - she was a refugee - born in Kuwait, fled to Jordan, then to Palestine. Her husband left her, she had to prostitute herself, her family was in turmoil with her brother arrested and tortured, the list goes on and on. She winds up back in Palestine living with her ex's family to get a divorce, and ends up falling in love - and then getting arrested and imprisoned in the Cube for years.

Nahr was a fantastically written character. She is cynical and funny, yet so real, and will do what she needs to do to help her family and those she loves. The description of the characters is so well done, I feel like I knew them all.

I do not know much about this conflict or time period (Israeli occupation of Palestine), and after reading this book, I want to research and learn more. Reading Nahr's story was difficult, yet I feel like more needs to be written about the time period and the people of this area of the world.

This book will stick with me for a long time.

I am so interested in Middle Eastern culture and experience, so this book immediately drew me in. Told by Nahr as she sits in solitary confinement, it was interesting to see the experience of a refugee and the forces that lead Nahr to radicalize.

I finished this over a week ago and have been struggling to write a review because I’m not sure anything I write will do this book justice. Against the Loveless World is most definitely one of my favourite reads of 2020 so far.

The story starts of with Nahr, a palestinian woman who has been imprisoned in Israel. As she sits in solitary confinement, she reflects on her life and tries to pinpoint the events, people and choices that eventually led her to where she is now.

I found this story to be deeply moving with complex characters and intertwining plots. This is a bittersweet story about family and love but most of all this is a captivating portrayal of rebellion and challenging the status quo.

A harrowing yet beautiful portrait of a woman radicalized, Against the Loveless World is one of the most challenging books I’ve read. Nahr is a political prisoner of Israel, incarcerated and subjected to harsh conditions in a place called the Cube. We follow Nahr from her first marriage to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, from fleeing the country after the arrival of US soldiers to Jordan, across the border into Palestine and the heart of a Palestinian resistance fighter. Nahr’s story is not only one of displacement, pain, grief, and revenge but also one of struggle, survival, and redemption. Paromjit on Goodreads writes that this novel “gives readers a glimpse and much-needed knowledge of the grim realities, complexities, and injustices of the Palestinian occupation and the Middle East from the perspective of a woman,” a fearless woman at that.

The world in which we find Nahr—and ourselves—is indeed loveless as Baldwin wrote, and it’s up to each of us to fight for family, love, and a sense of belonging.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Abulhawa was born to Palestinian refugees and now makes her home in the USA. This is her third novel. Her first two, 'Mornings in Jenin' and 'The Blue Between Sky and Water' were both international bestsellers. This third book is set in Kuwait, Jordan and the Palestinian settlements in Israel. Nahr is in an Israeli prison having been convicted of terrorism. It is from there that she tells her life story. She was born to Palestinian refugees in Kuwait and married young. After being jilted early in her marriage she finds herself supporting her mother, brother and grandmother by prostitution. She later becomes a refugee in Jordan and eventually ends up in Palestine, where she continues her radicalization. This is a wonderful recommendation readers looking for a good story that show a different viewpoint than much of what we read and illustrates how complicated life can be.