Nahr was an ordinary young woman in the 1980s, part of a family of Palestinian refugees living in Kuwait. She reflects on her life and what ultimately landed her in this prison. It’s told from the perspective of Nahr while she’s in solitary confinement in “The Cube” in Israel. ReviewĪgainst the Loveless World is a stunning book. 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. 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.

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. Against the Loveless World by Susan AbulhawaĪ 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.Īs 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. Now that I’m focusing on Arab American Heritage Month, this was the first book I wanted to dive into. It was one of my most anticipated new releases last summer, and though I bought it several months ago, I was waiting for the right time. In the case of Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa, it was both that enraptured me before I’d even read its summary. With new terms thrown at her – asexual, aromantic – Georgia is more uncertain about her feelings than ever.Sometimes a book’s title is enough to capture your attention and make you need to read it.

Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush – but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she’s sure she’ll find her person one day.Īs she starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, Georgia’s ready to find romance, and with her outgoing roommate on her side and a place in the Shakespeare Society, her ‘teenage dream’ is in sight.īut when her romance plan wreaks havoc amongst her friends, Georgia she starts to question why love seems so easy for other people but not for her. No boys, no girls, not a single person I had ever met. The fourth novel from the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman, author of the graphic novel series Heartstopper – now a major Netflix series.

Loveless book review