190 pages
Published 2022
Read from March 20 to March 24
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Though short, this novel brims with complicated questions and offers no easy answers or clear victories. Colonialism, empire, immigration, what it means to be from a culture that had once subjugated others but had subsequently been subjugated itself—all of them weighty topics, but layered still further with questions of medical ethics and balancing the needs of your community against the needs of your family. And all of it is set in a lush queer-normative culture rich with flavor and color and humanity.
My one complaint with Qilwa is its prose, which isn’t objectionable, really, but feels a bit workmanlike and clunky at times. At any rate, it took a while for the writing to click with my brain. Perhaps that’s on me and my ADHD-wrung attention span more than on Jamnia and their prose. I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book to anyone!
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