Nahr is a Palestinian growing up in Kuwait. She is also (years late) a political prisoner held in solitary confinement in an Israeli prison. The contrast between these two timelines is very effective: outside, Nahr's life is constantly imperiled by History: the struggle and trauma of being a refugee in a relatively hostile country, of negotiating borders that isolate people from their family and their land, the war in Iraq, the expulsion of Palestinians from Kuwait, then later in the book life under Occupation in the West Bank, the first Intifada, the Israeli repression. Things keep happening and make normality impossible. Inside, it is just Nahr, a toilette, and the camera that surveils her. Very occasionally an obnoxious journalist, or a prison guard. Time loses all meaning. These were, arguably, the strongest pages. This is worked very well.

What worked less / I didn't love: (1) gender roles, goddam it Susan, is really the only conceivable role for women freedom fighters to distract guards by waving their butts? (2) instructive vignettes - OK, I do understand you want to educate your audience, but sometimes these were really heavy-handed (3) I totally understand wanting to be contrarian, I also understand being annoyed by Western hypocrisy, but don't think that with the benefit of hindsight is possible to write a book about political prisoners whilst fangirling about Saddam.