Cover Image: Against the Loveless World

Against the Loveless World

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Member Reviews

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

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Against the Loveless World is an emotional and stark view into the world of Nahr, a Palestinian refugee. She is narrating her own story from The Cube, an inhumane prison cell designed by the Israelis, where she is a political prisoner. Nahr tells her story from her beginnings in Kuwait, and how her family were once again forced to become refugees. She tries to help her family however she can, even prostituting herself with violent men at one point. But her family never go without.

When she returns to Palestine to her husband’s family in order to divorce him, she meets his brother and falls in love. However, this is the start of more problems for her, as she becomes radicalised.

It did seem hard to believe that she had quite so many problems and terrible things happen to her, but I’ve since read that Nahr’s character is an amalgamation of several real-life stories. So, in a way, it reassured me that one person couldn’t experience ALL of these things, whilst at the same time I felt so sad that anyone could experience ANY of these things.

I couldn’t put this book down, though. It’s a fascinating, yet horrifying novel, and not something that I’ve read about in fiction before - and I’m so glad that I have.

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A slow burner of a book but a wonderful read and took me far away at a time when we can’t go anywhere.

I really enjoyed the themes of this story
Thanks for letting me review this book

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This is the backwards told story of a Palestinian woman who lived through the Gulf War in the early 1990s.

Nahr is still very young when she got married for the first time and soon after abandoned by her husband, which is a disgrace for the whole family.
So she has to find her own way which leads from prostitution to exil and terrorism and finally The Cube.

This book is really amazing and shows a very different point of view on the first Gulf War. It directs straight into peoples everyday life and problems (caused by US and NATO soldiers) in the Middle East.

Highly recommended and important book.

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One of the most heart-wrenching books I’ve ever read.

There is so much I’d love to say about this book but sadly, I can’t – it would be too long, and really what my review should be is simply to encourage others to read this extraordinary book.

It starts with Nahr explaining that she’s in the Cube – a highly sophisticated prison for terrorists inside Israel. What follows is her story and her journey as a displaced Palestinian who first lived in Kuwait, working with Um Buraq, whom she met at a wedding.

Um Buraq ran a high-class brothel for the rich and famous in Kuwait. Nahr hated the work and keeping it a secret from her family, but she worked as a prostitute to save enough money to pay for her brother, Jehad to attend university in Russia. The family were forced to leave Kuwait after the war with Iraq and moved to Jordan.

Nahr had a disastrous marriage with Mhammad. One day he simply walked out of their home and disappeared. When the family were forced to move to Jordan, Nahr makes the trip to Israel where his widowed mother and brother live. They need to arrange her divorce. However, as fate would have it, Nahr and Bilal, Mhammad’s brother fall in love and marry. Bilal Jalal Abujabal is a Palestinian activist. He had previously been held by the Israelis but released to Jordan as part of a prisoner exchange.

Susan Abulhawa’s writing transports you into the story from the very first line and does not let you go until the very last word. The story is so profound, so moving and sad that at times I had to walk away from it because it had me in tears at man’s inhumanity to man. We hear of displaced people and people fighting to retain their land, but until we read their stories, we have absolutely no idea the pain and suffering they go through.

I want to read all Susan Abulhawa’s previous books and sincerely hope that there is a new novel on the horizon. She is one of the most gifted authors I’ve had the privilege to read.

Rony

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.

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I love this author and this is the third of her books that I have read. Although much of the subject matter is necessarily upsetting - the long-term subjugation and ill treatment of Palestinians - I find her characters so engaging that I can both enjoy the book and at the same time, feel deeply the wrongs that they have to live through.
I enter a totally different world from my own yet feel at home as the humans who live there are recognisable and their feelings are very similar to my own.
I also have learnt a lot about life in Palestine from reading this author - I love the details, the descriptions of food and of social life.
This story follows the life and experiences of a Palestinian woman - who grew up in Kuwait as a refugee - and who through much of the story is imprisoned in The Cube. Nahr is an amazing character - strong, creative, brave=hearted, loving, and honest.
This book brings so many gifts - it is a homage to the human spirit surviving in the worst of circumstances.
I recommend it.

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The human spirit fights in anyway it can, and it is amazingly resilient.

When I started reading, I felt this was more autobiographical than fiction in the way it is presented. The main character, learns at a young age to distance herself from reality and this lends itself to allowing us to engage but not become subsumed by the horrific events in her life.

I must admit I know little about the life of Palestinian people except what is shared in the British news. I also have the tropes from my Muslim parents, but I always thought it was mainly propaganda, but the reality is far worse that I could have imagined.

The author uses the vocabulary of colonisation to describe the way that the Israeli people have encroached on and taken over the land of the indigenous people of Palestine. I always heard that the fight was between those with modern arms and those with stones and archaic devices but the novel shows how this is the reality, not just tales. I think that the reason for my shock is that the Jewish community have been persecuted in their past to the point of extinction of family lines but are doing the same to another culture and way of life with no thought to the consequences.

What makes this less than a political novel is the authentic, use of local language/colour allowing both those who speak the language and readers of English to engage in the narrative. In the tradition of Chinua Achebe, writing in English to be heard, the narrative contains key words of native language allowing us an insight into the beauty of the Palestinian language and culture that existed but is possibly now gone with all the bombardments.

The prisoner describes her surroundings, The Cube, a self-contained prison, and her latest ‘voyeur’, who has come to hear her story. We are given an insight that she is a rebel, as there are coded messages between herself and the interpreter. We are told no more. Then we get a flashback to the start of her story. This is the rhythm of the novel. Her life in the Cube and her life before, leading up to her incarceration. There is no structure much like her life in the Cube, she is powerless and disempowered but she finds a way to survive.

Her family home was taken before she remembers, and her mother fled to Kuwait with her, her brother, father and mother-in-law. Life is not wonderful, but they manage. In Kuwait they are treated as one level above a slave, with no rights and, Nahr, or Yaqoot as she is called, is a gifted dancer, so good that her school has her in the celebration for the Kuwaiti royals but once they realise she is Palestinian she is not allowed to participate ever again.

The novel has accurately researched historical events, the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein, the massacres in Palestine, the Oslo accords, but all from a female perspective. We gain some of the male perspective through her experiences, but it is a very negative one as she experiences what ‘surviving’ involves (I will leave you to read what I mean). Although not too graphic, you gain a full insight into the lives of the characters and the difficulties of being homeless, and a refugee.

The novel is very easy to read and is a credit to the author that she has put together all of the different experiences of her contributors in such an authentic and amazingly real way. I was left tearful and troubled by the life, women who in similar situations, may be in.

I was given the novel free by netgalley.com for my fair and honest review.

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Profoundly moving and beautifully written. Nahr tells her story of repeated family displacements and wrecked ambitions of herself and her family from Kuwait to Jordan and Palestine. She writes her story in her secret code (or it would be long ago confiscated) from possibly the most sensory-deprived prison cell in the world: The Cube, in Israel.
From her early life, disillusionment with men and marriage she builds a protective wall around herself, finding friends under the most unusual of circumstances. She is a ‘coper’; practical and straightforward. You warm to her and feel for her. You despair of the international interferences that ruin so many people’s lives. You mourn for traditional Palestine, the rural traditions, crops and livelihoods that go back to ancient history; for what has happened to their country and how the international community has done nothing to ensure adherence to agreements made on areas that should belong to the Palestinians within Israel, turning blind eyes to abuses and illegal land appropriation.
But this doesn’t read like a political statement; it’s just the story of some wonderful characters that are trying to live their lives as best they can. I will be buying this for friends and looking into other works by this author. Highly recommended.

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Right now feels like an incredibly lucky time to be a reader with novels like this which help you grow and understand a little more of the world.
Nahr’s story begins in The Cube - a high tech cell where she spends her days imprisoned as a terrorist with very little contact to the outside world. As the story unfolds, we go back in time to discover how she came to be here - from childhood in Palestine, to Kuwait where she marries for the first time, to Jordan where her family seeks safety yet again, and finally back to Palestine where she finds home and family in the truest sense of the word.
This is a beautifully written story with an admirable but fallible lead character who has suffered terribly simply because of where she was born. Yet, despite all the tragedy and disaster we encounter in this novel, the overall feeling upon reading this was one of peace - the descriptions of the landscapes, the delicious food and the vibrant clothes woven through this story are evocative and left me feeling oddly nostalgic for a land I have never known and a culture very far from my own.
To be able to enjoy a novel so much, but to also feel as if my views have expanded and I’ve learnt something, is precisely how one should feel after reading a book - I just cannot recommend this enough.

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This was an absolutely captivating read. This is an unapologetically Palestinian novel set in Palestine, Kuwait and Jordan and features a displaced Palestinian family. It is the beautifully written story of Nahr, a Palestinian woman, as told by her from an Israeli jail known as ‘The Cube’. Her life has been persistently interrupted by war and exile as invasions and power struggles stretch across the Middle East. Nahr is a feisty character who does what she needs to in order to survive. I gained a real insight into how it must be to live a world constantly beset by violence, fear, suspicion and distrust.

The characters are brilliantly crafted and intricate in their nature. Nahr’s story is shared with that of her mother and grandmother, her brother and her friend Um Baraq who lives in pretty shady territory. She becomes caught up a resistance movement and even some ‘terrorist’ activity. She finds love and loss the nature of which she recounts from her prison cell.

This is a very powerful and affecting story which creates authentic images of the on-going struggle between Palestine and Israel. I recommend it very highly indeed.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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I felt like this was such an important book to be reading - and it really made me realise how little I know about the Middle East. A bibliography of suggested reading at the back would have been great.

From the Author's Note at the end of the book, it seems like Nahr is a composite of many women, which I don't think worked particularly well. It essentially means that everything that could happen, does happen - and I think this cumulative misery actually takes away from the core message of the novel. I think it would have been a better book if the author had used less of her research perhaps. That said, I raced through it and really enjoyed it. The descriptions of Palestine were heartbreaking and beautiful, all at the same time.

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Initially I was not sure of this book : the story starts in The Cube ,a grey soulless cell where a woman is imprisoned and refusing to tell her story to a journalist. Nahr born in Kuwait to Palestinian refugee parents ,whiles away her time in the Israeli prison reflecting on the events that landed her there . When she is finally allowed paper and a pencil she starts to write her story .
This is a story told mostly from the viewpoint of the women -Nahr , her mother ,her grandmother ,the mysterious Um Baraq who befriends her when she needs extra money to fund Jehed ,her brother’s, education . The family are uprooted to Jordan when Iraq invades Kuwait ,as after the Americans arrive Palestinians are seen no longer as second class citizens but as collaborators. Having been briefly married to a man who has now left, Nahr travels to Palestine to seek a divorce. In Palestine she finally feels at home having been warmly welcomed by her mother in law ,she finds love with her husbands brother and acceptance from his friends . Here too she sees at first hand the behaviour of the Israelis and the struggle the Palestinians have to hang on to their land ,not surprisingly she becomes radicalised.
The fascinating culture and traditions of dance ,food , embroidery social interactions are described in rich detail throughout the book. Susan Abulhawa writes beautifully ,hauntingly and powerfully of the life of both Palestinians and refugees. She is unsparing in details that can be hard to read and believe at times - mans inhumanity to man in particular. This is a book that will live with me for a while ,a powerful fiction interspersed with facts .

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A powerful story, we are immersed into a culture and shown the gritty side of what it is to live in that world.
The story’s main narrative is a strong, and unapologetic woman who shows us that we must stick to what we know is right and stand by these decisions no matter what.

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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 was what it meant to be exiled and disinherited- to straddle closed borders, never whole anywhere. To remain in one place meant tearing one's limbs from another." Susan Abulhawa
.

The reader meets Nahr while she is in The Cube- a high tech solitary confinement cell in an Israeli prison, as she is reflecting back on her life and how she found herself a political prisoner.

Nahr is the daughter of Palestinian refugees living in Kuwait, until shortly after the US forces enter the country following the Iraqi occupation. She then relocates to Amman in Jordan and later to Palestine. She suffers many traumas and hardships, becomes a refugee, faces poverty, becomes a revolutionary, and finds friendships and love along the way.

Abulhawa based Nahr's character on the many interviews she conducted on Palestinian women which gave her character added authenticity. Despite a dark narrative, there is humour and hope, while giving readers a glimpse and much needed knowledge of the grim realities, complexities, and injustices of the Palestinian occupation from the perspective of a a fierce and passionate woman. I urge everyone to read this book in order to learn about a part of history and a part of the world that is still unfamiliar to many. 5/5

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Love this book, it shed a light on the political and social relationship between Kuwait, and Palestine in a 1990s from a female point of view. Deep story about identity and roots and wherever can be home.

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This was a beautifully written novel which taught me a lot about the Palestinian struggle. The tale is told from the perspective of a Palestinian woman imprisoned in solitary confinement in an Israeli jail and reflecting back on her life. Through these reflections the reader learns about the enforced displacement of Palestinians from their homeland, their struggle to make new lives elsewhere, their language, history and culture and their relationship to aspects of middle eastern politics. None of this is dry or preached but rather an impassioned, often harrowing story with three generations of Palestinian woman at the centre. The central character, who goes by three names, develops and matures through the story, learning in the process about love, loyalty, friendship and sisterhood. The author has clearly done considerable research to create her characters and story. I would highly recommend this book and will certainly be reading more from Susan Abulhawa.
My thanks to the publisher via Net Galley for sending me a complimentary ARC of this title in return for an honest review.

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I imagine that this story depicts the sort of events that happened to people all over Kuwait and surrounding areas, at this time in history. It is so well written. It moved me immensely. It gave a real insight into what it must have been like living there and I found it both sad and upsetting. Even so, it had a powerful effect upon me and when it ended, I found myself wanting to know what came next. The story has some excellent characters and I enjoyed meeting them and the roles they played in this excellent story.

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A powerful and fascinating novel from Susan Abulhawa.

Nahr is a political prisoner, imprisoned for terrorism offences, with an extraordinary life story behind her - love, power, sex, war, revolution...

While she's in confinement, for 16 long years in a solitary cell, she writes her story - and thus we get to know her and her history.

The characters in this book are vividly described, with Nahr's family and close friends coming to life from the page, they were so clear. I know very little about this area of the world or about the detail of its power and political struggles, so this was also an education for me.

Highly recommended.

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Nahr has been imprisoned for 16 years in 'The Cube' for acts of terrorism. As she recounts her story we come to learn her story, which is one of courage and passion.

A Palestinian refugee, Nahr is a complex young woman who sees injustice all around her. She is determined to provide her younger brother Jehad with every opportunity and finds herself selling herself in order to provide the money needed to provide for her family, and to enable him to go to University. She is abused and raped and decides to turn her back on that life. She endures a loveless marriage and a sudden abandonment.

Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait and while the outside world condemns this action, for her it is a time of happiness, of liberation. When the U.S. forces move in, life becomes unbearable and her and her family flee to Jordan.

As her family return to Palestine for a visit, she is encouraged to make the pilgrimage herself and it is here that she meets Bilal, the brother of her husband. This meeting is to change her life forever. She is able to get a divorce, and she is accepted by Bilal's friends and famiily in a way she has never experienced before. Bilal and her fall deeply in love and it is this love that sustains her throughout her imprisonment. Bilal is involved in national liberation and fueled by a commitment to justice for Palestinians. As the Israeli government kill, injure and displace thousands of Palestinians, acts of revenge are planned. Bilal does all he can to get Nahr back to Jordan to a place of safety, but she is arrested and held captive. It is only the thought that Bilal is still alive that sustains her. Their love is pure and it is incredibly moving to read about their story of healing one another. When she is eventually released she receives a coded letter that gives her hope and a moment of pure joy.

Politically and historically fascinating, heartbreaking and joyful, this is an absolutely stunning account of the cruelty of mankind, the complexity of nationalism and the redemption of love.

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I liked the first few chapters but as this progressed i disconnected with this book. The idea was interesting and it had some interesting moments in this but the book overall did not do it for me.

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