Author: Sahar Mustafah
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5
Pages: 320
Date Started: 31 January 2022
Date Finished: 4 February 2022
This book was a random pick from the library shelf. I like to read books about immigrants and women who struggle and succeed. This book fits my mold of selecting a book.
The story is about Afaf Rahman, a daughter of immigrants from Palestine, living in Chicago. She is the principal of Nurrideen School for Girls. On an unfortunate morning, a shooter, radicalized by online hate groups attacks the school. Afaf is held at gunpoint and she takes us back to her memories.
Afaf remembers her childhood, her parents, the hate they faced in the United States, and as a teenager trying to make a mark and be visible in society. She is grateful that her father took her to pray and she finds peace and solace in religion and starts wearing hijab. Afaf not only believes in loving everyone but also in forgiving others who have erred.
Afaf sounded like a strong character throughout the book. A child trying to understand the relationship between their parents, to the adolescent who tries to fit into the friends group. As an adult, she is confident of what she wants and stands up for herself. I liked her character for being able to forgive the people she thinks have caused trouble.
The book was a good read overall. The storytelling kept me glued to the book, yet I failed to understand the motive! I could relate to Afaf in many ways. As a child, an adolescent, and a grown-up, she leaves her mark on the reader. Mustafah has done a great job of writing about the relationship of immigrant parents with their children, the children trying to find their identity while torn between the culture at home and outside, and as individuals when the kids grow up. I liked the way Mustafah wrote about Afaf embracing Islam. The turmoil she goes through before finding peace in religion is written very well.
Favorite lines from the book:
Like her father, both men have aged, but their faces are different than Baba's. Lines of happiness etch their foreheads and crow's feet proudly stamp the corners of their eyes. Baba's face is a battlefield, wrinkles deep like trenches.
Afaf doesn't notice anyone else from Hoover High School. It occurs to her that, aside from Kowkab, she is anonymous here. It suddenly feels like a chance to start over-the same as for Baba maybe.
Two human beings living in such misery together have colored Afaf's belief in marriage. It seems far worse than deliberately being alone.
So many things are possible as long as you don't know they are impossible.
Does the loss of a child negate the existence of another?
You lose a child, have a nervous breakdown, attempt suicide. And how do you go back to your life when you've failed at ending it? Do you simply wait for the misery to swallow you up one day?
Had Mama suppressed other dreams of being someone else, not the mother of a lost child? Not the wife of a broken man? For the first time, Afaf sees Mama as a shattered woman.
Religion doesn't make reality go away. But it shields us from the ugliness sometimes. Religion eases suffering.
