![]() In contrast to Sara, Naeem’s interior and exterior world are drawn with detail and provide an arresting insight into the world of a devout, honourable and committed Muslim son trying to do right by all of the conflicting influences in his life and struggling to avoid falling short on all sides. More backstory and context could have fleshed out her motivation, which would have made her ill-fated love affair feel more authentic. As the only character in the novel whose strong connection to Muslim faith isn’t reflected in her home life (her parents are Muslim but less strict in enforcing the religion’s social expectations), it is hard to understand where Sara’s devoutness has come from. ![]() The characters and their relationship are more developed in the second half of the novel, but the reader has to fight against this initial barrier to entry.Īdding to the disconnect is Sara’s two-dimensionality. They have never directly spoken, but spark a love affair entirely off the back of a single Facebook message. Though the driving force is the tension between Sara and Naeem’s desire for each other and their obligations to their faith, the initial attraction is a little undercooked. This is an ambitious debut and a slow burn. As her best friend disappears into Naeem, Abida battles against the gendered double standards in the MSA and the racist stereotyping of her non-Muslim peers, desperate to have her voice heard while combating the limitations of how both communities – Muslim and non-Muslim – see women like her. ![]() But Sara and Naeem are drawn together and must navigate their desire with the pressure of Naeem’s family’s expectations and, more importantly, the expectations of Allah.Ībida, meanwhile, is running for the presidency of the MSA, an institution that has only seen two other women presidents in its lifetime. ![]() In their world, men and women do not mingle except within sanctioned environments and in the company of others. ![]()
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