"Heartbreaking and humanizing novel that portrays the horrors of Israeli violence on generations of Palestinians. The novel depicts the many terrors (e.g., torture, killing) that Israeli soldiers have inflicted upon Palestinians, and though it was difficult and at times nauseating to read, I felt appreciative to Susan Abulhawa for capturing these plights so that we as readers are forced to reckon with them (obviously, reading about these topics is not even close to the suffering of actually living them.) I’m also grateful that Abulhawa highlighted the full humanity of our Palestinian protagonists in this novel, their deep love for one another and their homeland as well as the trauma and anguish they’ve faced.

This book was published in 2006 and it’s honestly so sickening – like actually makes me want to throw up – that the same horrible violence portrayed in this novel is happening right now. Over 15,000 Palestinians have been killed in the past two months. As someone living in the United States, it’s sickening to know that my tax dollars are going to fund Israel’s crimes against humanity. for a permanent ceasefire now."

"i wrote it. so, my rating isn't all that relevant to readers. but for what it's worth, it came from a place of love, and I put pieces of my heart in this narrative."