A review by libraryoflanelle
Behind You Is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj

Did not finish book. Stopped at 56%.

This was a DNF for me, which really saddens me as I was so excited for it! 

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Swift Press for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own. 

 

Please hold any comments until you’ve read my whole review. 

 

I am sharing my experience in the interest of safety for my fellow autistic/disabled humans. 

 

‘Behind You is the Sea’ is a collection of interlinking stories from multiple Palestinian families living in the US. 

 

I’ll start by saying that, much like other 🇵🇸 literature I have read, I am grateful to the author for sharing these stories. This review is not to take away from that by any means. 

 

That being said, as readers and reviewers we owe it to ourselves and the book community to read with discernment and through our own lens of truth and safety. 

 

Onto the reason I DNF’d this book. Sadly, I found myself let down by the harmful language around autism and disability in the story titled ‘The Hashtag’. 

 

I have cross checked my arc copy with someone in the US with a physical copy (thanks again). I can confirm that the following is in the final US copy of the book and is therefore relevant to my review. 

 

CW: mention of the diagnosis and history of Asp***** ahead and some icky disability comparison. 

 

In this story the MC has an autistic son, diagnosed with ‘Asperger’s’, which is no longer a diagnosis. Hans Asperger was directly involved in the nart-sey youu-gen-ics movement. Whilst some people do still identify with this term, for others it is unsafe. 

 

The MC goes on to express gratitude that her son was not born with “a severe disability” that would be “more challenging”. This an ableist comparison-centric view of disability, which did not sit well with me as a member of the disabled community. 

 

Other aspects of this book had a lot of potential and were it not for having to stop reading for my own safety, I do believe I could have enjoyed it overall. 

 

I hope people find this review helpful.