I had a hard time with this book. I wanted to love it. There were moments where I was swept up by the language and the tragedy of it. I got swallowed up in the descriptions and in the concept. But when I got down to it... this story went no where. 

The Association of Small Bombs is about the ramifications of an explosion in a marketplace that takes the lives of two brothers. We follow along the lives of their parents, the extended family and their friend who escaped the blast. 

The biggest event happens before you have even read the first line. And from there, we see its effects as it sizzles like a fuse through the lives of many, those closest to the blast and those who only felt the trembling through the shoulders of a loved one as they cried. The title is a fitting one, as this book describes the explosion, the disintegration, the crumbling and the ruin of the lives of many who are connected in large and small ways. Not one of the explosions is larger or more grand than another, but when placed together in one compilation, you see the effects that many small bombs can have. 

In theory, I should have loved this book. The concept I described above? Right up my alley. Just abstract and beautiful enough to pique my interest and continue to hold it. I forced myself to get halfway through the book before I allowed myself to skim the rest of it though. I was just bored - bored with the whole thing. I'm not one to need action, not one to need punching and drama; beautiful language will usually suffice. But this time, it did not. 

I think also there were moments where we went from abstract and fluid to crude and carnal. Why was that necessary? Maybe I'm just sensitive, but it totally threw me off and threw me out of this book. It just didn't seem like it fit, it seemed disjointed and left me wishing I was reading something else. 

p.s. Before I started skimming, there were 7-10 f-bombs, and a couple references to sex. Most mild, except a couple where one character is imagining raping someone, or "jamming" himself inside of a woman. I was blindsided by those comments and basically skipped the rest of the chapter. Does it make my opinion less valid if I skip parts of books? I don't think so. I decide what goes in my head.