As a Jewish reviewer, I cannot objectively review this book. I recommend reading other reviews for better insight.

Such an important read, especially with everything going on today. Abulhawa's writing is stunning and haunting, and you couldn't help but root for Nahr and everyone she loved. Heartbreaking and powerful.

Against the Loveless World was a challenging and powerful read. It’s a story of Nahr’s solitary confinement and how she was imprisoned. I found it to be an eye opening look at the way Palestine has been oppressed and colonized. Not an easy read but very worth it in my opinion.

A sweeping and lyrical novel that follows a young Palestinian refugee as she slowly becomes radicalized while searching for a better life for her family throughout the Middle East, for readers of international literary bestsellers including Washington Black, My Sister, The Serial Killer, and Her Body and Other Parties.

As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the 70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children, and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she’s forced to prostitute herself, and the US invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been. After trekking through another temporary home in Jordan, she lands in Palestine, where she finally makes a home, falls in love, and her destiny unfolds under Israeli occupation.

A blend of fact and fiction with characters existing during the Israeli conflict.

This book is absolutely incredible. This was told from a perspective that really allowed me to see life through a new lens, and appreciate books that are a window into someone else's world. There is so much history to unpack here and I'll be working through how this book made me feel and think for some time. Excellent story!

That is to say, it is a work of art. A true masterwork, Against the Loveless World deserves to be treasured. These are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. A novel of this caliber is one that you don't just read; you enter and live within for a few precious hours, and then you can't stop thinking about it for many more hours, days, weeks. That's it for the rest of your life.

There are very few novels of this type that I have read. Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. Toni Morrison's "Song of Solomon" is a perfect example of this type of citation. James Baldwin's "Just Above My Head." To swim with two boys, by Jamie O'Neill. A Magnet at the Castle's Crossroads By Kia Corthron, Carter. This is Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Wolff. Sarah Waters's Affinity. Death of a River Guide by Richard Flanagan. The novel by Alice Walker with the eponymous purple cover. Russell Banks' Cloudsplitter. Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis. Then this happens. Now Against the Loveless World. What is it that connects these books, which I consider to be among the best ever written? Each one is focused on an important topic. That is to say, it is not a "kitchen-table book," in the sense that it is not focused on the mundane aspects of one or two middle-class white people's lives. Most of the fictions we've been fed by the literary elite in the United States have such a narrow focus, and it's a problem. We shouldn't limit ourselves to such a certain point of view when we read. They are consistent with and reinforce the existing quo. Of course they do, as we are only allowed to see the world through the eyes of the capitalist elite. The books that count are the ones that challenge the status quo, that live beyond the boundaries of bourgeois literary acceptability, that lure the reader into a plot that opposes, defies, and rejects the racist, imperialist, colonialist, and cis heterosexist masculine gaze.

Combating a Loveless World is Crucial. It's important because of three major characters, in my opinion. In the first place, there are the characters, including Nahr, the main character, and a handful of supporting characters who play pivotal roles. Palestine is the third.

Complex, well-developed characters. Nahr, a Palestinian lady, has a life full of twists and turns. Her life has been shaped by oppressive social structures, including imperialism, invasion, occupation, colonialism, racism, misogyny, and socioeconomic status. Abulhawa demonstrates this with deft artistry as Nahr leads us through her narrative. But the setting isn't everything, and Nahr is one of the most memorable protagonists I've ever come across thanks to the exquisite way she and her unique character and personality are depicted. This includes her flaws and mistakes as well as her beauty, intelligence, fierce devotion, loyalty, tenderhearted courage, and fierce determination. Making me care for her, share her emotions, share her pain, share her joy, and share her love. One of the most multifaceted, complicated, thinking, feeling, completely fleshed out characters I've ever experienced is Nahr, and the reader is given the rare opportunity to experience life through his eyes.

Since I don't have enough space to do so, please take my word for it that the supporting cast is just as rich and fully realized as Nahr himself. It's a literary and political outrage when a book written here makes its readers care for the Palestinians in it. How horrible, ridiculous, and heinous that recognizing the humanity of Palestinians is a cause for celebration. However, such is the state of American literature and politics now. The bourgeois literary elite silences Palestinian voices at the behest of U.S. imperialism, which has invested heavily in the Zionist colonialist settler state. Therefore, it is reason for celebration and should be widely disseminated when a work including such voices achieves mainstream success. These are the kinds of works that deserve praise. If you read it, you will have a greater grasp of the Palestinian plight.

The reader is intellectually, emotionally, and politically engaged by the way Abulhawa presents all this with the highest talent, with beautifully lovely prose, with a page-turning storyline, with un-put-down-able pace. This will provide light on the Palestinian experience for those who are unfamiliar with it. This is a blessing for those of us who have already made up our minds about which side we're on.

Every masterpiece, in my opinion, is borne of some sort of anguish. Excellent art addresses such themes as love, sorrow, pain, struggle, and brotherhood. The artwork in Against the Loveless World is superb.

This novel is stunning in its beauty and heartbreak, as well as its soaring intensity and cutting intensity. You'll feel like crying. And let it inspire you to take action.

The thing that I most adore about books is that it gives you different perspectives from people around the world, be it fictitious or real.

‘Against the Loveless World’ is about Nahr, born in Kuwait to Palestinian refugees. She dreams of having a normal life - falling in love, raising children, opening a beauty salon. But as things unfold, she has to do a lot just to survive, like moving to Jordan and then to Palestine under Israeli occupation or even trying to do something to contribute to getting her home back.

Resilience is an underlying but powerful theme of the book. The narration goes back and forth between the past and the present, but drags a little in some parts. But the most noticeable thing is about how women are judged on the basis of the things that they do to survive - where just trying to keep yourself from poverty while being a refugee demands things from you that you didn’t know you weren’t capable of giving.

Also, this story is not just about the struggles and the pain. It is also about joy, family and finding friendships in the time of conflict.

All in all, a necessary but human outlook into the conflict that the world has been talking about.

Incredible story! I am at a complete loss for words. Writing was flawless and helped me understand the conflict in the Middle East.

This book was interesting and kept me engaged. It is not the most memorable book I have ever read, but is worth the time.

This is a beautiful and moving story that unpacks the intricacies of conflicts in the Middle East. I appreciated the humanity given to the characters in the story, the unique perspective and the willingness to dive into the heartbreak so many face. There is quite a bit of strong language in the book surrounding rape and other violence, so you may want to know that going into the story.

What a phenomenal book. Powerful, defiant, and enlightening. Nahr is such a complex and memorable character. I am sure I will be reading this again in the future.

I thought this was ok. The characters were extremely inconsistent in their behavior. The random tangents on history made the story very choppy and dry. Could have been great but was just lacking any emotion.

Wow! EASY 5 star read. This is about finding love, forgiveness, hope and the power of friendship. Incredible story. Captivating. I could go on and on. This will stay with me for a long long time.

This was a beautiful book that I could not put down. I do plan to pass it along to my friends as it’s an important story that should be told.

“The way you live your life in our culture, without apology or shame, even if with sadness, makes you extraordinary and special, Nahr. You, more than any of us, are a revolutionary, and the irony is that you don’t even see it,” he said. The real irony, I thought, was that it was only in that moment with him, when I was truly seen and valued, that I did not feel shame.
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AGAINST THE LOVELESS WORLD follows Nahr both past and present as she recounts her life as a Palestinian woman and the struggles endured. Yet in the hardship, she manages to find herself and the beauty in the world. I alternated between the audiobook and physical copy, and at times, allowed myself to participate in immersive reading. Both formats have their benefits: the audiobook has the correct pronunciation, and the physical copy has the spelling and the glossary.

"I’d gone to Palestine to get a divorce, but I’d left with a sense of my worth as a woman who could engage with the world intellectually, who could love and be loved; a woman who could understand that the vast outdoors was more beautiful than anything humans could make."

I wish I would have read this book prior to the conflict in 2020. There is a lot of a history to it, and I am currently working on educating myself. I appreciated Nahr’s unflinching voice. The way that she described her perception of Americans and the Western World was first shocking, then eye-opening, and finally, sobering. This is a heavy book, and the trigger warnings should absolutely be taken into consideration prior to reading or recommending it. AGAINST THE LOVELESS WORLD enlightened me in so many ways, and it is one that will stick with me for quite some time. This striking book deserves all of the stars and will have a place in my Top 10 of 2021. Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Officially adding this to my list of favorite books of all time. Abulhawa's writing absolutely blew me away and I found it hard to want to put this down. So much so that I read over half of it in one day.

Against the Loveless World was a seamless combination of fact and fiction in unabashedly depicting the Palestinian refugee experience in the war torn Middle East. It does feel weird to say that I loved a story depicting so much struggle and tragedy, but there is also survival of family and friends in multiple countries - many authors have tried to share stories within different countries and fail. This was an absolute success in storytelling.

With struggle and tragedy, comes survival and raw emotion. I was utterly riveted by Nahr's story, both her time before becoming a political and the time before and after.

I highly recommend this book!

This a stunning story. There was a lot to like about this book, and a lot that worked. One thing I want to say is that I know there are some people who have criticisms of this book. Because I don't identify with any of the perspectives in this story, it's not up to me to agree or disagree. So please do read reviews from both perspectives before diving in. Overall I loved the structure (having flashbacks, and a slow unveiling of the story) kept me hooked. I love the theme of love, both given and unrequited. And I loved Nahr. There were parts that dragged, but overall this was a truly wonderful book.

This story is a beautiful slow build about how a woman became radicalized. It's a portrait of how big change doesn't occur all at once, and instead occurs as a result of small choices and experiences over time. It's a story about one woman, reflecting upon how she wound up in a prison cell, and yet it highlights the connections she had to so many. Her name is Nahr, though she is indeed a woman of three names, three identities, with only herself understanding the intricacies of them all. This book will expose you to another way of life and hardships most of us could never imagine. It will make you laugh in moments and cringe in others. The title implies being against a loveless world, though it says nothing about all the love contained within that world, and this world has a lot of heart.

This is the best book I have ever read in my life. I fell in love with the story, the writing, the immersive experience of fighting for your home, for the ground under your feet. I love Nahr and her story will stay with me for a long time to come. Palestine needs to be free and we need more stories like this to illuminate the world on the lies we have been fed for too long.

Published Aug 25,2020 Thank you @Netgalley and @atriabooks for my ARC ,

"Maybe it was easier because the trauma of forced displacement was already well known to them. They were experienced refugees, better equipped to handle recurring generational trauma".

No one had ever kissed me with such love, and it occured to me that happiness can reach such depths that it becomes something akin to grief."

Chararacters: Nahr is every woman who is Palestinian, she is unapologetic, real and someone you would want to sit down with coffee and let her tell you her story. There is no picture perfect life for Nahr; she survived loss; rape, poverty and being a prisoner of war. Through her words we learn of her love of family , friends like Um Buraq, and unconditional love she had for Bilal. The strength she had to withstand 16 years in solitary confinement. I was completely at awe with this character, and quite possibly is the best written I have read in quite a long time. If this is a fact that people are locked away in the middle East for that length of time, the question is why is there no UN team trying to change this barbaric practice?
Description of world events: This book changed everything about the way I perceive the US media. The Palestinian people have been displaced and pushed out of their homes and in the beginning Nahr/ Yaqoot is born as a refugee. She is forced to move from Kuwait to Jordan, till she finally is back in Palestine at the end of the story. This history is never taught in our schools , these stories are kept silent and this author , although this is fiction, has graciously given us a view of culture and people that is beautiful. This book should be required reading at least in the form of critical discussion in high school or college level World History. The Palestinian people deserve to live and thrive and not be forced away from their homes, businesses and farmland. It also goes without saying the vinyard described in the story, the family feasts that were prepared were details that made this almost a poetic work of art.
I re read this with a buddy read with Bookstagrammers, and my review can also be found on RosegalleyReview@wordpress.com. This book should be required reading in schools, I wish I had read it sooner.