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Against the Loveless World
519 pages
A fierce, unflinching portrait of a woman claiming her own agency and capacity for love amidst the brutal machinery of displacement and occupation.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like sitting in the dark with a fiercely intelligent, unapologetic friend as she recounts a life of profound upheaval. The narrative is anchored in the claustrophobic stillness of solitary confinement, yet it blooms outward into a sprawling, vibrant memoryscape of Kuwait, Jordan, and Palestine. The prose is lyrical but never delicate; it possesses a visceral, urgent edge that pulls you through moments of devastating grief and surprising, subversive humor. It is a deeply immersive experience that refuses to separate the personal from the political, capturing the messy, beautiful reality of finding joy and love under occupation. This book will captivate readers who are drawn to morally complex heroines and stories of radical, unyielding resilience.
- Mood
- claustrophobic
- passionate
- sorrowful
- resilient
- Tone
- defiant
- intimate
- unflinching
- darkly humorous
- urgent
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- intergenerational displacement · female bodily autonomy · the cost of resistance · radicalization · finding joy under occupation
- The writing
- Lyrical and visceral, blending poetic introspection with stark, unapologetic realism.
- The arc
- Moves from youthful disillusionment and survival-driven compromises to a fierce, radicalizing love and defiant endurance.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave politically engaged, character-driven fiction centered on complex, morally ambiguous women navigating systemic oppression.
Content notes
- solitary confinement
- sexual violence
- sex work
- military violence
- displacement
- torture
About the book
2020 Palestine Book Awards Winner 2021 Aspen Words Literary Prize Finalist
“Susan Abulhawa possesses the heart of a warrior; she looks into the darkest crevices of lives, conflicts, horrendous injustices, and dares to shine light that can illuminate hidden worlds for us.” —Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize–winning author
In this “beautiful...urgent” novel (The New York Times), Nahr, a young Palestinian woman, fights for a better life for her family as she travels as a refugee throughout the Middle East.
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. Nahr’s subversive humor and moral ambiguity will resonate with fans of My Sister, The Serial Killer, and her dark, contemporary struggle places her as the perfect sister to Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties.
Written with Susan Abulhawa’s distinctive “richly detailed, beautiful, and resonant” (Publishers Weekly) prose, this powerful novel presents a searing, darkly funny, and wholly unique portrait of a Palestinian woman who refuses to be a victim.
Description from Open Library.
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