4 stars
Palestinian America author writing arab women
Abusive marriage
Generational story
3 perspectives

This book was a debut novel which has be very excited for what emerges in the future from this author. There were a lot of feelings in my chest and times when I teared up or got angry enough that I was clenching my teeth.

This book is narrated by three women. It follows the life of a Palestinian woman as she leaves Palestine for life in America with her husband. Her mother in law and her daughter’s life after she has passed. It bounces between past and present and starts to paint a much different picture than one would assume.

It did remind me of minor detail for a moment because the daughter is trying to learn everything she can about this mother she barely knew and there are things that only we the reader will know because we get to see the past that wasn’t documented for anyone to find. Much like the girl in minor detail is trying o find out everything about this girl from the past that died but there were no records of her.

These women all struggle under the oppressive system and are looked down again and again.

It was a heartbreaking, emotional and raw story that I think many women, regardless of culture or heritage can relate to on some level.