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Minor Detail

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About this listen

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 expulsion of more than 700,000 people – and the Israelis celebrate as the War of Independence. Israeli soldiers capture and rape a young Palestinian woman, and kill and bury her in the sand. Many years later, a woman in Ramallah becomes fascinated to the point of obsession with this ‘minor detail’ of history.

A haunting meditation on war, violence and memory, Minor Detail cuts to the heart of the Palestinian experience of dispossession, life under occupation, and the persistent difficulty of piecing together a narrative in the face of ongoing erasure and disempowerment.

©2020 Adania Shibli (P)2021 Tantor Media Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Middle East War

Critic reviews

‘All novels are political and Minor Detail, like the best of them, transcends the author’s own identity and geography. Shibli’s writing is subtle and sharply observed.’ — Fatima Bhutto, Guardian ‘An extraordinary work of art, Minor Detail is continuously surprising and absorbing: a very rare blend of moral intelligence, political passion and formal virtuosity.’ — Pankaj Mishra, author of The Age of Anger ‘An intense and penetrating work about the profound impact of living with violence – Shibli’s work is powerful and this translation by Elisabeth Jaquette is rendered with exquisite clarity and quiet control.’ — Katie da Cunha Lewin, Los Angeles Review of Books
All stars
Most relevant
A very powerful story. I don't think I'll forget it nor the ending.

Free Palestine

A harrowing but important story

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