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Minor Detail

by Adania Shibli

Narrator Siiri Scott

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Translator Elisabeth Jaquette

Length 3 hours 57 minutes

Language English

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Bookseller recommendation

“Adania Shibli's Minor Detail is a haunting literary masterpiece that touches on the history and oppression of Palestine and its people. The author perfectly describes the daily life where gunshots, checkpoints, and bombings are the norm. Broken up into two sections: the summer of 1949, when Israeli soldiers brutally r*ped and murdered a teenage Bedouin girl, and the present day, when a young Palestinian woman searches for more information on that same brutal crime, showing that the trauma in Palestine continues to carry on generation to generation. I cried so hard as this hit very close to home as a Palestinian-American. I encourage everyone to read this novella for perspective, and while it may be a hard read, it will stay with you forever.”
— Anna • Underground Books

Bookseller recommendation

“Minor Detail is a Palestinian story in two parts. The first part takes place in 1949 and follows a woman who is being held captive by the military. The second part is set years in the future and follows a woman who is investigating the disappearance of the woman in part one. Shibli’s writing is brutal at times, but the beauty of her prose shines through even the darkest moments. ”
— Brittany • Ruby's Books

Summary

A searing, beautiful novel meditating on war, violence, memory, and the sufferings of the Palestinian people.

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.

Contains mature themes.

Fiction Fiction - Literary