Quite a few of the reviews here comment on the fact that this is the work of previously inexperienced writers and that this affects the quality of the writing. I would actually disagree quite vehemently with that. I found the writing very strong and emotive. At no point did I find it jarring or simplistic. The characters are all well-defined, the writing is often beautiful, and the concept of the book itself - a piece of collaborative fiction written by residents of the Shatila camp - makes it worth a read. Luckily, the book stands as a piece of literature above and beyond the interesting concept.

I won't mention specific plots in this review because I think this one is best read with as few expectations and as little knowledge as possible, but each of the narrative threads was compelling. Usually, when reading a book with multiple perspectives, I get much more attached to certain plots than others, and almost resent the ones I like less for taking up space that could be dedicated to the one I prefer (this is very bad of me, I know.) It's the mark of a solid book that none of these character perspectives or narrative arcs outshone the others to the detriment of the rest; it all felt very cohesive.

My only real criticisms of this book are the structure; for a novel which is comprised of interconnected stories about characters, it wasn't always clear how they knew one another. Some narrative threads were given much more resolved conclusions than others, which sometimes felt a little patchy; I was equally invested in all the storylines, so would have liked them all to be given the same treatment. I also didn't always feel, despite the authors' lived experiences, that the camp itself came to life. It was hard to get a feel for the place, perhaps because each of the writers (and thus each of the characters) felt so differently about it. Sometimes it was described as almost hellishly brutal, an unstable place which is at war with itself, and at other times it seems like a real refuge, almost a sanctuary. Although perhaps that contradiction is, in itself, the nature of the camp, in which case I would have liked that to have been more of a theme. For a book which is purportedly about a specific place, the place itself almost seemed to take a back seat to the character arcs rather than feeling enmeshed with and a part of them.

This is a book that should be read, and I'm glad it was written in the unique way it was.