I’m bored

I’m disliking this brash New York voice. Also it feels like it is written for readers who have very little knowledge of Palestine.

I was so excited for this book but it is dragging. The use of the philosophy class as a way for the main character to discover himself is way too cliche. The last straw for me was the inaccurate soccer scene (a wall during a penalty shootout?? Where is the editor?)

This book is FUNNY which made me power through this far, but I can’t do it anymore. It’s clear the author is familiar with the UN “peacebuilding” world (as am I), but all of the characters need more development. They are completely flat stereotypes, to the point of cringe. The bleeding heart who can’t let anything go, the misogynist himbo head of security, the woman in charge trying to prove herself, the French gay man sleeping with locals. The last straw for me was when he did a slut drop on the dance floor. Don’t even get me started on Sheikh Jason.

There’s a certain bro-y type of humor happening that I can’t put up with for another 700 pages. One example: there’s no reason to use the R word, even satirically. 

Too absurd/weird for me right now. Might work for me in a different mood, idk.

I don’t know if it’s the original writing or the translation, but I’m both confused and bored.

This is a fever dream and I’m not in the right head space for it right now.

This is probably brilliant but I can feel myself forcing myself to read it. Wrong time/mood, I guess. 

I can’t care about these characters. Not enough distinction between them. Too much jumping around in time and POV. Maybe it’s just a slow start but I want to move on to something more compelling.