Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from my local library. Support your libraries! All opinions are my own. 

 

Book: Salt Houses 

 

Author: Hala Alyan 

 

Book Series: Standalone 

 

Rating: 5/5 

 

Diversity: Palestinian Muslim MCs and characters, Indian characters, Kuwaiti Muslim MCs and characters 

 

Recommended For...: Adult readers, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, War, Palestine, Contemporary 

 

Publication Date: May 2, 2017 

 

Genre: Historical Fiction 

 

Age Relevance: 18+ (Religion, Parental Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, War, Genocide, Violence, Gore, Torture, Sexual Content, Rape, Sibling Death, PTSD, Postpartum Depression and Anger, Alcohol Consumption, Racism, Alcoholism, Parental Abandonment, Disapora) 

 

Explanation of CWs: There are multiple scenes of grief, death, parental death, and sibling death. Pregnancy and miscarriage are shown. The book features scenes and discussions about the Islamic religion. There are scenes discussing and showing war, violence, torture, blood and body gore, and genocide. There is some sexual content and a scene with rape. PTSD and Postpartum Depression and Anger are shown. There is a couple of scenes involving alcohol consumption and alcoholism. Racism is shown and discussed. Parental Abandonment is mentioned. Diaspora (the dispersion of this family from their home in Palestine) is shown and discussed throughout the book. 

 

If This Was a Taylor Swift Song: Marjorie 

 

Publisher: Harper 

 

Pages: 312 

 

Synopsis: On the eve of her daughter Alia’s wedding, Salma reads the girl’s future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel, and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is uprooted in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967.  Salma is forced to leave her home in Nablus; Alia’s brother gets pulled into a politically militarized world he can’t escape; and Alia and her gentle-spirited husband move to Kuwait City, where they reluctantly build a life with their three children. When Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait in 1990, Alia and her family once again lose their home, their land, and their story as they know it, scattering to Beirut, Paris, Boston, and beyond. Soon Alia’s children begin families of their own, once again navigating the burdens (and blessings) of assimilation in foreign cities.  Lyrical and heartbreaking, Salt Houses is a remarkable debut novel that challenges and humanizes an age-old conflict we might think we understand—one that asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can’t go home again. 

 

Review: I really liked this book! This book focuses on one family throughout many generations in the Middle East area. There's talk and discussion about Israeli forces, both back in the 60s and into the 2010s. The book is multi-POV, skipping a couple of decades each time to jump to a new family member to increase the story. The book had distinct voices in each of the POVs. My favorite part of the book is how well it told the story of grief for family, land, and time. I thought it had great world building and character development as well.
 
 My only issue is that it's a little funky to get into at first but then after it's such a good read. There's also a lot of bulk to each chapter and I felt sometimes some stuff was just fluff, but it was very well done overall. 

 

Verdict: It was an eye-opening book and I would love to see more people talk about it. Highly recommend!