Publication
Amsterdam Koppernik 2023
ISBN
9789083274355
Language
Collections
Description
"Minor Detail begins during the summer of 1949, one year after the war that the Palestinians mourn as the Nakba-the catastrophe that led to the displacement and exile of some 700,000 people-and the Israelis celebrate as the War of Independence. Israeli soldiers murder an encampment of Bedouin in the Negev desert, and among their victims they capture a Palestinian teenager and they rape her, kill her, and bury her in the sand. Many years later, in the near-present day, a young woman in Ramallah tries to uncover some of the details surrounding this particular rape and murder, and becomes fascinated to the point of obsession, not only because of the nature of the crime, but because it was committed exactly twenty-five years to the day before she was born. Adania Shibli masterfully overlays these two translucent narratives of exactly the same length to evoke a present forever haunted by the past"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member AnnieMod
A story told in two parts - two timelines, two women but in one place.
By August 1949, the Palestine war was over - and the army was deployed close to the borders on patrols - looking for infiltrators and anyone else who may wish ill to the new country of Israel. The group we meet is deployed in
It all starts innocently enough - the girl is taken to the camp and left on her own (although the bath she was given was anything but friendly and was designed to humiliate) but... things change quickly - soldiers don't leave her alone even after being warned off her and she is raped repeatedly - and then killed - as if she does not matter.
There is a play on the clean/unclean in this part - almost everything has a counterpart - and the daily cleaning takes almost sinister overtones because of the girl and because of a wound. And even if the commander does not tell the story, we see only what he sees - so in a way he does.
A few decades later, some time in the late 2000s or early 2010s (based on some dates that do show up as the past), a newspaper in Palestine runs a story about the rape and murder of the girl. Our unnamed second narrator, a young Palestinian woman from Ramallah, is stricken by the fact that the girl died exactly 25 years (to the day) before she was born. And that is enough to make her want to know more. Except that she cannot - she is not allowed in this part of the country because of where she lives in Zone A. But instead of giving up, she finally finds a way and starts on her way towards the desert.
Her repeated thoughts about crossing borders and her almost obsession with minor details sounds almost compulsive - and adding up some other details, it sounds like our second narrator is autistic or at least obsessive-compulsive to some extent (she even buys 4 different maps). Which explains a lot of what happens later - when she finally gets across the border and starts driving towards a desert on the other side of Israel. And while she is driving, we see Israel through Palestinian eyes - both compared to memories and compared to a map of 1948. And then the last sentence shatters you.
We never get any names - in either part of the story. It is a story that is about anyone - the first part does not even mention which war it is in so it almost can be either. Two women across the centuries end up in the same desert - and get connected in ways noone could have anticipated. It is a heartbreaking story that lacks redemption and hope - but then this is a tone which is pretty common for Palestinian authors.
Despite the hard topic, I still recommend this novella. It is exquisitely written even if it is not an easy read. It is a story about a war and what people do to each other - a story as old as the world.
By August 1949, the Palestine war was over - and the army was deployed close to the borders on patrols - looking for infiltrators and anyone else who may wish ill to the new country of Israel. The group we meet is deployed in
Show More
the Negev desert, close to the Egyptian border because the dunes are a perfect place for people to hide - and to get into the country. For most of that first story we follow the daily life of the commander of the group - the endless patrols who find nothing, the daily repetition which are almost ritualistic, the daily cleaning which feels almost like a cleansing. Until something changes - a group of people is found and after the gunfire is over, the only survivor is a girl, a young woman, dressed in black and covered in the tradition of her people. It all starts innocently enough - the girl is taken to the camp and left on her own (although the bath she was given was anything but friendly and was designed to humiliate) but... things change quickly - soldiers don't leave her alone even after being warned off her and she is raped repeatedly - and then killed - as if she does not matter.
There is a play on the clean/unclean in this part - almost everything has a counterpart - and the daily cleaning takes almost sinister overtones because of the girl and because of a wound. And even if the commander does not tell the story, we see only what he sees - so in a way he does.
A few decades later, some time in the late 2000s or early 2010s (based on some dates that do show up as the past), a newspaper in Palestine runs a story about the rape and murder of the girl. Our unnamed second narrator, a young Palestinian woman from Ramallah, is stricken by the fact that the girl died exactly 25 years (to the day) before she was born. And that is enough to make her want to know more. Except that she cannot - she is not allowed in this part of the country because of where she lives in Zone A. But instead of giving up, she finally finds a way and starts on her way towards the desert.
Her repeated thoughts about crossing borders and her almost obsession with minor details sounds almost compulsive - and adding up some other details, it sounds like our second narrator is autistic or at least obsessive-compulsive to some extent (she even buys 4 different maps). Which explains a lot of what happens later - when she finally gets across the border and starts driving towards a desert on the other side of Israel. And while she is driving, we see Israel through Palestinian eyes - both compared to memories and compared to a map of 1948. And then the last sentence shatters you.
We never get any names - in either part of the story. It is a story that is about anyone - the first part does not even mention which war it is in so it almost can be either. Two women across the centuries end up in the same desert - and get connected in ways noone could have anticipated. It is a heartbreaking story that lacks redemption and hope - but then this is a tone which is pretty common for Palestinian authors.
Despite the hard topic, I still recommend this novella. It is exquisitely written even if it is not an easy read. It is a story about a war and what people do to each other - a story as old as the world.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Dreesie
3.5 stars
Two very different linked stories. One is narrated by a 1949 Israeli patrol leader, who is hiding a severe bug bite and letting his men do what they want with a captured Bedouin girl. The second in narrated by a young Palestinian woman (with anxiety and a stutter), in the present day, who
These stories is interesting--in the parallels between the two (dogs barking, sand dunes and disorientation); in the job of the patrol squad and their camp; in the modern day zones and checkpoints and colored IDs--but it really never answered some of the questions it set up. What bit the patrol leader and what does that mean for him? Why has the modern woman not been to any of the places she remembers in such a long time?
Mostly though, I am just so tired of violence against women being a plot point. It's why I don't often read mysteries or thrillers.
Two very different linked stories. One is narrated by a 1949 Israeli patrol leader, who is hiding a severe bug bite and letting his men do what they want with a captured Bedouin girl. The second in narrated by a young Palestinian woman (with anxiety and a stutter), in the present day, who
Show More
reads about the events in the first part and want to research more. These stories is interesting--in the parallels between the two (dogs barking, sand dunes and disorientation); in the job of the patrol squad and their camp; in the modern day zones and checkpoints and colored IDs--but it really never answered some of the questions it set up. What bit the patrol leader and what does that mean for him? Why has the modern woman not been to any of the places she remembers in such a long time?
Mostly though, I am just so tired of violence against women being a plot point. It's why I don't often read mysteries or thrillers.
Show Less
LibraryThing member CarltonC
sometimes it’s inevitable for the past to be forgotten, especially if the present is no less horrific
Haunting, fearful and unsettling.
I read a short history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict a couple of years ago and this short, powerful book brings the Palestinian perspective emotionally to
The first section is set in the Negev desert in August 1949, one year after the war that the Palestinians mourn as the Nakba - the catastrophe that led to the displacement and expulsion of more than 700,000 people - and the Israelis celebrate as the War of Independence.
The actions of an unnamed commander of an Israeli garrison are described in a detached manner, including his being bitten by a snake shortly after setting up camp, patrols of the surrounding desert, where they encounter and kill a group of nomads, except for a girl, who is taken back to the camp, where she is later raped, and then killed the following day.
The second section is narrated by an unnamed contemporary Palestinian woman, who has read the first section in a journal and travels from her house in Ramallah (north of Jerusalem) to Nirim, which is near the site of the camp in 1949, via Tel Aviv. Although narrated in the first person, this section is again emotionally detached, as the narrator tries to manage her fears. This section is powerful for me because of the descriptions of the restrictions on travel as much as the experience of explosions.
It’s not a happy story.
Haunting, fearful and unsettling.
I read a short history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict a couple of years ago and this short, powerful book brings the Palestinian perspective emotionally to
Show More
life, even if the narratives appear detached.The first section is set in the Negev desert in August 1949, one year after the war that the Palestinians mourn as the Nakba - the catastrophe that led to the displacement and expulsion of more than 700,000 people - and the Israelis celebrate as the War of Independence.
The actions of an unnamed commander of an Israeli garrison are described in a detached manner, including his being bitten by a snake shortly after setting up camp, patrols of the surrounding desert, where they encounter and kill a group of nomads, except for a girl, who is taken back to the camp, where she is later raped, and then killed the following day.
The second section is narrated by an unnamed contemporary Palestinian woman, who has read the first section in a journal and travels from her house in Ramallah (north of Jerusalem) to Nirim, which is near the site of the camp in 1949, via Tel Aviv. Although narrated in the first person, this section is again emotionally detached, as the narrator tries to manage her fears. This section is powerful for me because of the descriptions of the restrictions on travel as much as the experience of explosions.
It’s not a happy story.
Show Less
LibraryThing member kjuliff
From Little Things Big Things Grow
This a a book I will never forget. It shows the true horror that can be enacted when one group of people see another group of people as less than human.
The book is in two parts and starts off describing an officer of the Israeli army getting ready for his day in
During that day in 1949 a Bedouin girl is captured and abused physically and mentally. A dog has followed her. She has her clothes torn from her body. They are thrown carelessly into a heap and petrol poured over them. They are burned. Her long hair too is covered in petrol and cropped. The dog howls. All this described in minute detail. She is then put in a hu and the officer leaves the camp and the detail of camp life stop. For the reader there is silence except for the howling of the dog. But we know and can imagine what is happening.
Many years later in the Occupied Territories an Arab office worker learns what happened to the girl in the camp from a newspaper article. She becomes obsessed with the story, as the day of the girl’s capture is the day after her own birth
She can’t get hold of any official documentation because she is Arab. So she decides to go to the area of the camp to see if there is any record there. This is no easy task as being a non Israeli she can’t rent a car or even travel without a pass, and even then she has to line up at checkpoints. Nevertheless she manages and her efforts and trip south are described in minute detail.
Arriving south she rents a room in the Israeli Area A. She luxuriates in bathing in hot water and in having continuous electricity. The next morning she gets inter the rental and drives. There is a smell of petrol. A dog follows her.
The book ends fittingly. I’ve written all that is necessary.
It is shattering. It is brilliantly written. In both partís it is fearful and unsettling.
I highly recommend this novel.
This a a book I will never forget. It shows the true horror that can be enacted when one group of people see another group of people as less than human.
The book is in two parts and starts off describing an officer of the Israeli army getting ready for his day in
Show More
his camp in what is now known as southern Israel. It is 1949, one year after the war that the Palestinians mourn as the Nakba, and the officer’s actions and ablutions are described in minute detail. Every action, every part of him putting on each item of clothing is described. At first I thought that the character was suffering from OCD, but eventually it came to me - every detail, every thing we do has its importance.During that day in 1949 a Bedouin girl is captured and abused physically and mentally. A dog has followed her. She has her clothes torn from her body. They are thrown carelessly into a heap and petrol poured over them. They are burned. Her long hair too is covered in petrol and cropped. The dog howls. All this described in minute detail. She is then put in a hu and the officer leaves the camp and the detail of camp life stop. For the reader there is silence except for the howling of the dog. But we know and can imagine what is happening.
Many years later in the Occupied Territories an Arab office worker learns what happened to the girl in the camp from a newspaper article. She becomes obsessed with the story, as the day of the girl’s capture is the day after her own birth
She can’t get hold of any official documentation because she is Arab. So she decides to go to the area of the camp to see if there is any record there. This is no easy task as being a non Israeli she can’t rent a car or even travel without a pass, and even then she has to line up at checkpoints. Nevertheless she manages and her efforts and trip south are described in minute detail.
Arriving south she rents a room in the Israeli Area A. She luxuriates in bathing in hot water and in having continuous electricity. The next morning she gets inter the rental and drives. There is a smell of petrol. A dog follows her.
The book ends fittingly. I’ve written all that is necessary.
It is shattering. It is brilliantly written. In both partís it is fearful and unsettling.
I highly recommend this novel.
Show Less
LibraryThing member KallieGrace
I don't really have words for this. Definitely read it. Be prepared for a heavy load of emotions. Free Palestine.
LibraryThing member archangelsbooks
A slim volume packed with TNT density. A work of extraordinary command. The way Shibli takes you along the two unrelated/related incidents in this novel is nothing short of brilliant.
LibraryThing member labfs39
The book opens on August 9, 1949, exactly one year after the Deir Yassin massacre in which 110 Palestinian men, women, and children were murdered in their village on the outskirts of Jerusalem. An Israeli officer and his men are in the South Negev desert along the Egyptian border searching for
"We cannot stand to see vast areas of land, capable of absorbing thousands of our people in exile, remain neglected; we cannot stand to see our people unable to return to our homeland. This place, which now seems barren, with nothing aside from infiltrators, a few Bedouins, and camels, is where our forefathers passed thousands of years ago. And if the Arabs act according to their sterile nationalist sentiments and reject the idea of us settling here, if they continue to resist us, preferring that the area remain barren, then we will act as an army.
The second chapter is about a woman in the present day who reads and becomes obsessed with an article about the girl's death because it occurred exactly 25 years to the day before she herself was born. She decides to investigate the incident further, but is hampered by borders: those that physically limit the movement of Palestinians and those that she has internalized in order to protect herself in a highly violent and unpredictable environment that is Israel.
It's the barrier of fear, fashioned from fear of the barrier.
The writing is very spare, and at first I was confused by the focus on minor details in the book (even despite the book's title, my first clue). Why write the minutiae about how the Israeli captain washes up and shaves every day? But as the story unfolded, I realized that every word was there for a reason.
But despite this, there are some who consider this way of seeing, which is to say, focusing intently on the most minor details, like dust on the desk or fly shit on a painting, as the only way to arrive at the truth and definitive proof of its existence.
Obsessions with cleanliness versus decay, the howling dog, chewing gum: every detail would have meaning. Everything ties together despite the fragmentation of history and the unending cycles of violence. The ending is as devastating as it is inevitable.
Show More
Arabs. They set up camp, and that night, the officer is bitten in the thigh by a spider. After several days of searching, they discover a small group of Bedouin by an oasis. Within minutes the Arabs and their camels are slaughtered, all except for a young woman and a dog. Four days later, she too would be dead."We cannot stand to see vast areas of land, capable of absorbing thousands of our people in exile, remain neglected; we cannot stand to see our people unable to return to our homeland. This place, which now seems barren, with nothing aside from infiltrators, a few Bedouins, and camels, is where our forefathers passed thousands of years ago. And if the Arabs act according to their sterile nationalist sentiments and reject the idea of us settling here, if they continue to resist us, preferring that the area remain barren, then we will act as an army.
The second chapter is about a woman in the present day who reads and becomes obsessed with an article about the girl's death because it occurred exactly 25 years to the day before she herself was born. She decides to investigate the incident further, but is hampered by borders: those that physically limit the movement of Palestinians and those that she has internalized in order to protect herself in a highly violent and unpredictable environment that is Israel.
It's the barrier of fear, fashioned from fear of the barrier.
The writing is very spare, and at first I was confused by the focus on minor details in the book (even despite the book's title, my first clue). Why write the minutiae about how the Israeli captain washes up and shaves every day? But as the story unfolded, I realized that every word was there for a reason.
But despite this, there are some who consider this way of seeing, which is to say, focusing intently on the most minor details, like dust on the desk or fly shit on a painting, as the only way to arrive at the truth and definitive proof of its existence.
Obsessions with cleanliness versus decay, the howling dog, chewing gum: every detail would have meaning. Everything ties together despite the fragmentation of history and the unending cycles of violence. The ending is as devastating as it is inevitable.
Show Less
Awards
National Book Award (Finalist — Translated Literature — 2020)
Warwick Prize for Women in Translation (Longlist — 2021)
The International Booker Prize (Longlist — 2021)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction — 2020)
Original publication date
2016