Too Soon by Betty Shamieh had so much potential, but sadly it fell a bit flat for me. I generally love a multi generational story, but what I struggled with throughout this book was that I didn’t feel equally invested in each of the characters.

I was the most interested in Zoya’s story, and found myself skimming the other chapters to get back to Zoya’s storyline. To be honest, the book could have worked better as a historical fiction focussed on Zoya only and the history of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. As someone who didn’t know a huge amount about the history of tensions through Palestine and Gaza, I was glad to read a contemporary novel that delves into this issue, but the narrative could have used some refinement.

I sadly didn’t feel a sense of connection to the main characters, particularly Arabella. I think a lot of this came down to the quality of the writing, which felt quite surface-level and perhaps didn’t spend enough of the early book building up the characters backgrounds.

I’ll be interested to read more from this author as I feel her storytelling has so much potential! This one just left me wanting more and I wish I could have rated it higher.

3 ⭐️

I found the main characters in this novel to be complex and full of depth. Through the alternating point of views the reader gains an understanding of the way the main characters' life experiences, trauma and complicated parental relationships have impacted the interactions between the three generations. I found myself shocked by how quickly the epilogue arrived and felt as though I could have read a whole novel on each of the women individually as they explored motherhood, family, the expectations of others, culture and their own desires and identities as individuals.