Tag: Book Review
-
Book Review: The Blind Owl
While existentialism emphasizes an individual’s search for meaning, absurdism acknowledges the impossibility of attaining certainty in an irrational world. Both philosophies are profoundly reflected in Sadegh Hedayat’s The Blind Owl. Isolated and alienated, the narrator struggles to find meaning amid psychological fragmentation and blurred boundaries between reality and hallucination. Ultimately, the narrative engages with nihilistic…
-
Book Review: the Granada Trilogy
Colonialism, deportation, and apartheid: history repeats itself. Actors change, yet politics prevail, as individual stories lose to mass graves. The Granada Trilogy by Radwa Ashour follows consecutive generations of the Muslim family of Abu Jaafar and his children after the fall of Granada in 1492. Radwa Ashour (1946-2014) was an Egyptian novelist, university professor, and…
-
Book Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns
A few weeks ago, the Taliban issued a law in Afghanistan permitting men to beat their women and children, provided they do not leave any fractures or open wounds. With this law, domestic violence is treated as a matter of discretion rather than a criminal offense, and women and children continue to suffer under the…
-
Book Review: Utopia
As the world we live in crumbles in anticipation of a third World War, unprecedented economic deterioration, and multiple genocides, the media shows a different reality – from Red Carpet events to celebrity culture. Meanwhile, the real issues at stake spiral into endless doomscrolling. The reality we live in today echoes Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger…
-
Book Review: Orhan’s Inheritance
Originally published in 2015, Aline Ohanesian’s debut novel, ‘Orhan’s Inheritance,’ is a beautiful and emotional historical fiction about the Armenian Genocide. While not recognized by many, the Armenian Genocide, facilitated by the Ottomon Empire in an attempt to expel Armenians from the Ottomon Empire after World War One, resulted in the killing of approximately 1…
-
Book Review: Mornings in Jenin
There are no words that can do this book justice, especially not at a time when the people of Gaza are being brutally bombed, starved and deprived of their most basic of rights; not when there’s a colonial entity conducting raids and random acts of violence in the West Bank, nor when there’s increased settler…
-
Book Review: Bitter Orange Tree
I haven’t read a book as captivating as Bitter Orange Tree by Jokha Alharthi in a really long time. Through prose that is delicate, the writer crafts a narrative that feels less like a traditional novel, and more like a beautifully curated collection of poignant moments. The expression is so beautiful that I was in…
-
Book Review: Cockroach
When I first started reading Rawi Hage’s Cockroach, I was not immediately hooked. Unfamiliar with his writing style, I had picked up the book because I recognized the name. A follow-up to his acclaimed De Niro’s Game, Cockroach explores mental illness, immigration and an immigrant’s struggle for survival. The pacing of the book was not…
-
Book Review: The Book of Disappearance
What would happen if all the Palestinians vanished, all at once, from everywhere? In today’s political context, a lot can be inferred. But in Ibtisam Azem’s ‘The Book of Disappearance,’ this premise becomes a reality. Right from the start, Azem’s compelling writing and distinctive narrative hook the reader – a liberal Zionist journalist can no…
-
Book Review: Evil Eye
Have you ever wondered what your life would look like if you didn’t have to live up to society – and more often, to your family’s – expectations? Maybe you would’ve chosen a different career path, maybe you would’ve ended up with a different partner. Maybe, just maybe, you would’ve done what really makes you…