Too soon follows 35 year old Arabella, a theatre director living in New York, and the women in her family as they wrestle with motherhood, unfulfilled ambitions, big what-ifs, and the way Palestinian cultures shape their lives in America. I've been seeking out more Palestinian books to read I overall enjoyed this.

Arabella was my favourite character because she's strong-willed and creative. Her major project throughout the book is a gender-switched Shakespeare rendition that she is trying to see come to fruition. Her ultimate goal is to be seen as a talented director, not "just Palestinian" and this book does extensively explore the desire to be separated from your culture and appearance. Arabella struggles to connect with her heritage and is guided by the other women in her family in this regard. I am not Palestinian and I still really related with the themes of womanhood and rediscovering your family, so I think this book will be enjoyed by people from all walks of life. The side characters very much felt like just that - they didn't really stand on their own two feet and existed to support Arabella to her next realisation.

There is a historical fiction undertone throughout, particularly in the stories of Arabella's mother and grandmother. I'm not a huge fan of hist fic most of the time, but these parts felt poorly planned and at times just totally unrealistic given historical context. There were a few really heartfelt tidbits, but overall I didn't feel invested.

This is exactly the type of book I normally devour, but I ended up finding the perspective of Arabella quite confusing. Like one of the other reviewers, I found Zoya the most readable and interesting, and would have loved a whole book just from her perspective.

In saying that, I think a lot of our customers will like Too Soon, and I'm keen to hear what they think. Plus, the cover art is stunning.

This novel follows three generations of Palestinian American women; Zoya, who following the Nakba migrates to the US with her husband and children; Naya, her rebellious youngest daughter; and Arabella, Naya’s daughter, an independent theatre director who lives in New York. This novel covers so much apart from the intergenerational trauma of colonisation, occupation and dispossession, including class, racism, sexism, tradition, feminism, female friendship, marriage, parenting and so much more. I loved the characters, and their human flaws. I found it so hard to put down, it was an impressive read for me.

Too Soon by Betty Shamieh had so much potential, but sadly it fell a bit flat for me. I generally love a multi generational story, but what I struggled with throughout this book was that I didn’t feel equally invested in each of the characters.

I was the most interested in Zoya’s story, and found myself skimming the other chapters to get back to Zoya’s storyline. To be honest, the book could have worked better as a historical fiction focussed on Zoya only and the history of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. As someone who didn’t know a huge amount about the history of tensions through Palestine and Gaza, I was glad to read a contemporary novel that delves into this issue, but the narrative could have used some refinement.

I sadly didn’t feel a sense of connection to the main characters, particularly Arabella. I think a lot of this came down to the quality of the writing, which felt quite surface-level and perhaps didn’t spend enough of the early book building up the characters backgrounds.

I’ll be interested to read more from this author as I feel her storytelling has so much potential! This one just left me wanting more and I wish I could have rated it higher.

3 ⭐️

I found the main characters in this novel to be complex and full of depth. Through the alternating point of views the reader gains an understanding of the way the main characters' life experiences, trauma and complicated parental relationships have impacted the interactions between the three generations. I found myself shocked by how quickly the epilogue arrived and felt as though I could have read a whole novel on each of the women individually as they explored motherhood, family, the expectations of others, culture and their own desires and identities as individuals.