Welcome to Litsy!

This is heartbreakingly good. Yara is a wife, mother, and a college art teacher and she is not fulfilled. It is affecting her mental health, but when she has it so much better than her own mother how can she complain?
This is a second - coming of age story, Yara is a well drawn character, her Palestinian heritage shines through and is well drawn into her American story. I loved the use of counseling and Yara in general.

It is Wednesday already but this has been my reading spot this week. This and hiking.

Am getting through the tagged, Bear by Phillips (#camplitsy24), Mad Women's Ball, and I Have Lost My Way.

I love this hotel right on the water in Skagit Bay Washington State.

This ended up being quite good. Unfortunately I kept finding myself comparing it to her first one, but this one is still good on its own. A look at a second generation Palestinian American woman and her struggle with mental health. It was interesting seeing the immense cultural impact that added to her struggle. It‘s a quiet study and because of that turns quite beautiful with our mc‘s revelations.

Another one I had such higher hopes for after loving the debut novel A Woman is No Man.
In some ways this was great because the MC was going through a terrible time with anxiety and depression which I felt was done well but it‘s not fun to spend an entire novel in the head of a person suffering so much. Was it intentionally miserable? Also, the sections with connection to the past was too thin, though I did like the ending.

We are following Yara & her mental health journey. She's the daughter of Palestinian parents. She's married to Fadi, has two daughters. She's an art teacher, a photographer and boy does she whine.

I'm here for all books looking at female mental health, generational trauma and cultural stereotypes but this book did nothing but double down on those stereotypes.

Yara is a textbook case of everything men say we are. She hurt my eyes to read about.

Loved this. A reminder that following your own path is always going to be the right answer, and that you can always rise from the pain and the expectations put upon you.

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4⭐️/5⭐️

Very powerful book. Watching Yara‘s journey of self-discovery and growth is inspiring and worth the journey. Life should not be a constant battle; it should have joy and peace and love.
“I‘ve been enduring all along, Baba,” she finally said. “And so have you. But now I want to live.”

This was heavy, sad, & at times very sluggish & too navel-gazey. It tells the story of a Palestinian-American woman's struggles with trauma. It's not a political book, but it does depict the ways in which our circumstances are shaped by politics. My issue is with the writing, which was clunky at times & at other times overwrought. It also brushed over money issues in a way that was unrealistic. Sometimes it read like YA. I wanted to like it more.

I was truly blown away by this novel. Yara is dealing with a lot of feelings and emotions. Everyone around her expects her to keep her composure and just be happy. She has a blowout with a colleague that requires her to go to therapy for the sake of keeping her job. She soon realizes the physiological effects she‘s having stems from generational trauma. This was very therapeutic to read, my review can‘t do it justice so just read it!

Finishing this one today! It‘s been a great week off celebrating birthdays and our anniversary, but my diet starts November 1st!!

Happy Sunday everyone!!

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The perfect night 🍷 📚 🔥 ❤️ I love my new little firepit!

Reading more of this book is reminding me of being married to my ex who was/is a narcissist 😫

#BOTM

Here we go 🤗

Starting this one tonight 💙👁️🩵 this cover 🤍

What are you reading?

#BOTM

I love this cover 🩵👁️💙

#Eyesoncover well just one!
#AutumnPlease

Has anyone read this one yet?!
#TBR

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I ordered this from #botm without really knowing what it was about. I loved the depictions of Palestine and character progression of Yara. The talk of art, food, and mental illness ticks a lot of boxes for me.

So interesting to read a fiction book about someone with #cptsd! I‘ve read a lot of non-fiction about it but this was my first fiction book where complex trauma is directly stated.

If you know of any others please share them!

Plane reading. Almost finished it while flying from Halifax back to NYC!

Very interested to read at the moment as it‘s about a Palestinian mother who moved to the US and focuses on the daughter born in Brooklyn, Yara. She‘s grown and married herself but lives in a strict household despite having some freedoms (she works at the local University) she still feels oppressed by her life and yearns for more. Beautiful descriptions of her time in Gaza.

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I felt connected to Yara and cared about her journey with her mental health and self-discovery, but this felt a little repetitive and straightforward. I liked “A Woman Is No Man” more than this one, but I think this book will resonate with a lot of people and I will still read Etaf Rum‘s next novel. 🎧

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I really wanted to like this after loving her debut, but it was a big sophomore slump for me. It just dragged. I read the first half but skimmed the second.

Yara is the Brooklyn-born daughter of Palestinian immigrants. She didn‘t want a marriage like her parents had, but while her husband allowed her to get a college degree and work, she‘s still drowning in wifehood and motherhood. A microaggression causes work trouble leading her to therapy.

Palestinian-American Yara yearns to stretch her wings but is held back by a husband who is more traditional than he claims to be and a racist world that dismisses her. And frankly, she‘s pissed. I love an exploration of women‘s anger (we need more of those!), and this wraps into inherited trauma and mental illness. Really good read.

I‘m always down for an immigrant story because they are unique and I‘m left considering situations I‘ve never had to confront. This time the American-born children of two Palestinian refugee immigrant families are arranged in marriage. Yara is a young mother of two with a masters degree but desperately unhappy. What I‘m left thinking … Family is important, yes; but geez, for sanity‘s sake, women need their own friends, as well ↓

He wasn‘t being very cooperative!! What‘s in your 📦?

#BOTM

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#Adayinthelifeoftux
#Catsoflitsy

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Wow! I‘ve been reading all day because I just couldn‘t stop until I finished this beautiful novel.
This was not an easy read as it‘s about a woman dealing with childhood trauma and depression and her way towards healing. Loved it!

Had to get the tagged book because A Woman is no Man stayed with me forever. The next two are #blameitonLitsy choices and The Conellys because Ireland. #BOTM

I was so indecisive today, but decided on these! I‘m on a memoir kick apparently 🤷🏻‍♀️

#BOTM

Picked my #BOTM!

I can‘t decide!!! 😫🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

What are y‘all choosing?!

#BOTM

#botm I really loved A Woman Is No Man from Etaf Rum so high hopes for Evil Eye.
I have seen so many glowing reviews of Shark Heart I have to pick it up!
And as someone who used to live blocks from one of the houses Ted Bundy took a victim I am grabbing Bright Young Women, I like how it seems to be focused on the victims and the friends left behind and not him.

https://www.booklistqueen.com/upcoming-book-releases/

Are any of these on your #Anticipated5starReads list?!!

#Bookbinge