From the Bookshelf of Bound Together…

Against the Loveless World

Susan Abulhawa

Start date: September 19, 2020

Finish date: October 2, 2020

Discussion: Hear...Hear...Lead by Karen

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Sep 16, 2020 Diane S ☔ rated it it was amazing

Impactful and Haunting. There are a few books that have haunted me through the years, books that when I hear the titles take me right back. This will join that very short list. Nahr is such a complete character, we understand her thoughts, her actions, whether we agree with them or not. We first meet her in the cube, a new form of solitary confinement, she is now middle aged and reflecting on her last life. This will take the reader from Palestine, to Kuwait, to Jordan and back to Palestine.

She ...more

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Sep 19, 2020 ☮Karen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2020, audio, overdrive, giveaways-goodreads, war-other, hear-hear-on-bt

Nahr is writing her story from The Cube, her prison cell in Israel. Her story begins with being born in Kuwait to a Palestinian refugee couple. She works hard all her life but finds the family always needs more money, and, in order to send her brother to university, she reluctantly turns to prostitution. The night that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait she had found herself in a gang rape situation, and said that Saddam saved her life. She loved living under Sadam until he was ousted. Her husband ha Nahr is writing her story from The Cube, her prison cell in Israel. Her story begins with being born in Kuwait to a Palestinian refugee couple. She works hard all her life but finds the family always needs more money, and, in order to send her brother to university, she reluctantly turns to prostitution. The night that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait she had found herself in a gang rape situation, and said that Saddam saved her life. She loved living under Sadam until he was ousted. Her husband had abandoned her, and to obtain a divorce, she decided to go to Palestine for the first time, where she meets and adores her husband's mother and brother, Bilal. This experience and these people would change her life. But the rebel in her would not die, only flourish in her new home.

It is one woman's story (derived actually from a conglomeration of three women's stories). It is not only about her struggles and disappointments, but also her joys, her beloved family connections, and hope against all odds.

My favorite part was the chapter that included some quotes from James Baldwin's writings.
"...if we had not loved each other none of us would have survived." and
"You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a nigger." and finally
"Here you were: to be loved. To be loved, baby, hard, at once, and forever, to strengthen you against the loveless world."
Powerful stuff.

I loved this author's Mornings in Jenin and had all the same emotions here. I believe it is good to read about the Middle East conflict from different points of view because like most stories, there are good and bad people, good and bad actions, on both sides. Abdullah expresses her people's words with great beauty and eloquence. She is very convincing, but I don't doubt that her story is slanted. I will never understand everything about that conflict that never ends, so I try to keep an open mind.

The audiobook is narrated by the author, who has simply a very lovely voice. Told from the perspective of Nahr in a sad sort of way, Abulhawa's voice is perfect to depict Nahr's struggles and genuine sadness, as well as her f*ck it all attitude. But the narration for me was also full of problems.

The volume of Nahr's voice never changed. I needed to turn it up as high as it would go to hear her. But when reading any other voice, Abulhawa spoke much louder, which made audio listening quite difficult if not impossible at times. And some of the female voices were grating. I finally set it aside and read the ARC copy I had won from Goodreads. ...more

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Mar 15, 2021 Irene rated it really liked it

I appreciated that this novel brought me into a setting which I have not often encountered in fiction. The narrator is a Palestinian woman held in an Israeli prison for over a decade. In her largely solitary confinement, she writes the story of her gradual radicalization. We journey with her from a contented childhood in Kuwait, the daughter of Palestinian exiles, through her family’s flight to Jordan and finally to her resettling in Palestine. I was not surprised to learn that the author is an ...more

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