Against the Loveless World

How does this novel depict life in the diaspora and the experience of displacement? How does Nahr’s experience resemble or diverge from the experience of other Palestinians in the text?

Analyze the depiction of Palestinian culture in the text. What aspects of Palestinian culture are explored? What is the wider significance of these cultural elements?

How does the novel explore gender dynamics, both within and outside of marriage? How do different characters navigate these gender dynamics?

How does the novel explore the nature of sexuality and desire? How do Nahr and the other characters experience their sexuality as a force of oppression and/or of liberation?

How do Nahr, Bilal, and/or the other characters conceive of the idea of resistance? What different forms does resistance take?

Several of the characters wrestle with their identities. How do different characters experience identity in Against the Loveless World, and how do notions of identity shape their conceptions of selfhood?

How does the author interweave historical events, such as the Nakba or the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, into the fictional elements of the text? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this narrative approach?

Explore the role of community in the text. How does the novel explore the nature of community? What are the various forms that community can take? How does community interact with, or serve as an alternative to, a sense of nationhood in the novel?