floatinthevoid's reviews
173 reviews

I never thought of picking this up if it weren't for a readalong I joined in. So I come in without many expectations. Suffice to say, I was pleasantly surprised I enjoyed this book.

Vesper is your regular early twenties gal struggling with life. She works at a restaurant/bar (?) for minimum wage, she ran away from home at 18, leaving the tight knight religious community that she grew up with, life never seem bright in her eyes. Her days are shitty, she doesn't really have ambition, and one day her day got so awful that she lose her job and got a wedding invitation of her ex and her cousin/bestfriend. If she go to the wedding, it means she was coming back to the community. But if she doesn't, she will missed the opportunity to get revenge besides, she's curious what will happen if Rosie and Brody saw her at their wedding. So she went. That's when her life was going downhill.

There's not much happens in the first 40% of the book. Mostly until that point, the author is unraveling the timeline from Vesper's ordinary day to the point where she decided to go back to her hometown. There's a plot twist revealed in the early chapters about the strange circumstances surrounding her childhood. That twist is good, because I wasn't aware that it is similar to the opposite of what I thought it was. But then the pace slowed down, she was welcomed by the people in the neighborhood. Vesper is overwhelmed by the familiarity and the unchanging environment. While trying to overcome the pain she endured in childhood now that she is back to where she grew up in, some odd things seem to occur.

I like the way the author writer Vesper's voice as the narrator. She is snappish, tired-done-with-life, and anti people-pleasing using short sentences to accentuate her idgaf personality. And when she was being mellow, I can feel that Vesper's voice shifted as well. The build up to the horror elements is a little cliche at first, but it really picks up later in the book. There's another important plot twist that determined the ending, that twist, I think is kind of hilarious. Not necessarily in a bad way, just a plain "of course, Vesper is that," because a predictable twist that makes sense the pieces of clues given here and there. The revealing of that twist is oddly trying to be lighthearted despite the good build up surrounded by the horror elements???? I don't know, I think during that reveal, the Gen-Z-ish manner is disconcerting.

I think I enjoyed a lot the slow and even rhythm of Vesper's character development. It's impressive how smooth the characterization too. All of the other characters are distinct in their own way as well, the only one that's a little cartoonish is her dad LOL. Her dad's role in the last half of the book is essential. The ambience surrounding that whole fiasco with her dad is sinister and creepy, well I really that part. During this part too that we got to see Vesper's worst traits though honestly she wasn't likeable to begin with. But. It really got good towards the end. I appreciate the author picking up unanswered questions about the religious community at the first half of the book. Everything wrapped up in a neat ending. I was expecting more cannibalism in it tho.

Overall an enjoyable read despite the predictable plot and cliche twist. 

Love prevails amongst the ruins. That is the closest to what I can say to describe this collection of poetry. Mosab has known violence since he was born. He never wondered why water is scarce or why so often electricity was cut off, that is until he saw a kid his age being carried on the shoulders of people. He was only eight when he started to realize the harsh environment he lived in. Using choice of words that gives the reader a glimpse of memories what childhood in Gaza is like, or what it could have been, Mosab's poetry is quite magnetic: it pulls you along to a journey of both the beautiful and the horrific, he asked you to not look away, to see and listen and remember. 

One theme that occurs often in his poetry is counting: numbers, time, people. People who live with military threats all their lives learned to count things more than what people in peaceful places need. 

Gazans lives are tied to counting days, looking at the clock, waiting, when it'll be their turn. 

For people who only witness the destructions caused by zionists through the screen, we use numbers to calculate how terrible the loss of that many people, we yell and shout this big numbers so the people in power would listen and do something– yet to them, 

It's their father, mother, brother, sister, granfather, cousin, neighbor, friends, teachers, they can't not believe that every live matters. It's human lives from their land that they have come to love and wants to protect, they are not numbers. But they still have to count their brothers and sisters in dire situations. 

Yet, despite the deaths and rubbles, Mosab saw "the strawberries have never stopped growing." That whatever they have they love.

"We love what we have, no matter how little,
because if we don’t, everything will be gone. If we don’t,
we will no longer exist, since there will be
nothing here for us."

Gazans knows how to love their land, the people, and the time they spent with others. They have to. 

About resilience, about survival, people in Gaza lived through the worst nightmares and still hope. They are desperate for little moment of peace, but they can't show the world they can't give up. There they were born and theirs it will always be. 

I think I have learnt so much about life from Palestinians for the last couple of months. I learnt so much about love from a place that constantly gets destroyed. Mosab is one of the many voices that I read and listen to, about what it's like to be Gazans, to be in a place so beautiful yet brutally destroyed so often. This collection of poetry is a testament of humanity. It should move you. If it doesn't, then I don't know what to tell you.