Against the Loveless World

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussions of the source text’s depictions of sexual assault, rape, sexual exploitation, abuse, anti-gay bias, and political violence.

Nahr is the novel’s protagonist and narrator. Nahr is a Palestinian woman who is, at the beginning of the novel, incarcerated in a high-security Israeli prison. Nahr is bold, resourceful, and intelligent. She is an important mouthpiece for the novel’s interest in female sexuality and, through her incarceration, she represents the struggles of Palestinians both in Palestine and in the diaspora.

Nahr’s childhood is filled with turmoil and conflict. Her parents’ stormy marriage comes to an end when her father dies in the arms of another woman, and she struggles both in her home life and at school. She feels ill-at-ease socially, but defies the social expectations placed upon her as a young Palestinian girl. As a foreigner, she also feels out of place in Kuwait and faces discrimination. Although born in exile, she initially finds a sense of connection to her family’s Palestinian homeland through Eastern dance. Nahr gets married at a young age to Mhammad. Their marriage is unhappy, with Mhammad eventually leaving Nahr when Nahr is 19. Nahr later discovers that Mhammad is secretly gay and in love with an Israeli soldier.