Book: Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm
Reviewed by Weird | weird.reads.books
Rating: 5/5
Our Cut of Salt left me with a much deeper understanding of the Palestinian displacement and trauma that began in 1948. While I was already aware of the Israeli occupation and the ongoing conflict, this book brought a deeply human, relatable perspective to the tragic history, showing what happens to a family forcibly displaced from their home during the Nakba and how that horror reverberates across generations.
The story is told through three generations of women, Nuhad (the grandmother), Haifa (the mother), and Marina (the daughter), along with the unique perspective of the sentient, haunted house from which Nuhad’s family was forced to flee.
When Marina, a young Palestinian-American woman, decides to travel to Palestine to visit her ancestral homeland and her grandmother’s hometown of Haifa, her mother (also named Haifa) is hesitant. Marina ultimately goes, unearthing buried family secrets and learning firsthand the horrors her family endured. Meanwhile, the house in Haifa has held onto the family's grief and anger for decades, actively attempting to expel any occupants who aren't Nuhad's descendants.
As a horror novel, this isn't built on jump scares. Instead, it's atmospheric, haunting, and deeply reflective. The real-world horrors hit the hardest from graphic descriptions of the Nakba to the quiet indignities and microaggressions Haifa and Marina endure in daily life, such as invasive airport security interrogations and public hostility. The haunted house serves as a physical manifestation of residual rage, a voice for the anger Nuhad’s family was forced to suppress just to survive. The author doesn't shy away from graphic detail, so I definitely recommend checking content warnings beforehand.
If you appreciate stories exploring generational trauma like This House Will Feed, The Hacienda, and The Only Good Indians, this is a must-read. It's the kind of book that stays with you long after the final page, and a powerful reminder of why I love the horror genre.
Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Thank you to Deena Helm and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. All opinions are my own.