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reyna97's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
Autobiography of a man born in Pakistan that moved to the Bible Belt of the U.S. as a teenager and spent the rest of his life exploring his relationship to Islam.
dannb's review against another edition
4.0
I wish this was actually two books...the earlier/memoir book and the current journey that you don't get to until about 3/4 of the way through the book. Learned a ton! Recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about the 'everyday man's' Islam...and the struggle Muslims face in the world...both within Islam and without.
jereco1962's review against another edition
2.0
While it's difficult for my atheist mind to comprehend how anyone could believe in deities, I am nevertheless curious about those who do - there are so many, after all, of so many varieties. Hoping this book would lend me some insight into the Muslim mind, I found the book unsurprising and disheartening. Yes, I learned some Arabic words; yes, I learned some things about the Quran I never knew; and yes, I was drawn in by the author's seeming sincerity... But (and it's a gigantic 'but') how sad to learn that those who purport to follow the teachings of Islam are as ignorant and misguided as those who practice Christianity. It always annoyed me that so many Christians had not actually read the Bible (I have), and how much cherry-picking was done by so many to bolster their own personal idea of what the faith should be. How many times have I been condemned for "lying with a man" (Leviticus 20:13), but those same accusers conveniently ignore the line only a couple of paragraphs prior that states anyone who curses their own father or mother should be put to death (Leviticus 20:9), or that wearing mixed fabrics is verboten (Leviticus 19:19). So too, I learn, are many followers of Islam. Unfortunately, although the author is keen to point out the flaws in Allah's followers, he is less adept at showing us why he, himself, continues to believe. He is honest enough to let us in on his less-than-admirable motives while in college (he wanted to be BMOC, basically), and he tells us outright that he began courting a pious woman simply in order to get laid. But even after maturing a bit, he still seems driven by nothing more than a desire to be admired for something he never convinces us he himself believes. Sadly, he seems to have merely swallowed a few too many gallons of the Kool-Aid his parents impressed upon him as a child, despite the fact that his tale of a skeptic childhood rings the most true of the book's five sections. You have better things to do than read this one. Take a pass.
trupti's review against another edition
4.0
I almost feel inadequate reviewing this book because I’m sure I haven’t understood everything the author wanted to convey. But I loved what I grasped from it. That’s not to say the book is a difficult read, far from it.
Children of Dust is not merely a “memoir of Pakistan”, although the time the author spent in Pakistan, up-to the age of 10, was a large part of what constituted his religious outlook.
The book is divided into parts. The first part, when the author is a child, takes place in Pakistan. Here he describes living in a small town in Pakistan and going to a Madrasa which was a very traumatic experience. His parents were very religious and they wanted him to be a follower and a servant of Islam. When the family migrates to the US, the author starts to neglect Islam and concentrate on issues more important to teenagers-like fitting in, sexuality and finding ways to watch ‘Boy meets World’. It was refreshing to read first hand how a Muslim boy had to struggle with fitting in and also trying to follow his religion.
When he went to college far from home, although he struggled with same things he did before, he does become more friendly with people from his own community and gradually acquires a fundamentalist outlook. Without getting into too many details, he returns to Pakistan to find a pious girl and also to find out more about his ancestors. But instead of finding what he expected, he finds his ideas of an Islamic nation shattered. Here’s what he has to say after his visit to Pakistan.
I was sneered at by the very ones who were supposed to embrace me. I was rejected by the ones who were supposed to be purer-in character, in culture, in chivalry-than Americans. The brilliance that I’d associated with Islam just a few months earlier had now turned black. After a period of mourning and melancholy, I craved vengeance. I sought to undermine all that the presumably purer Muslims held sacred.
I found his shift in religious opinions very unsettling. It could be the result of blindly following what he had heard from his childhood and then finding out that not everything is what it is supposed to be. You would think a book about the authors religious journey will be boring, but it’s not, far from it. It’s fascinating, interesting, funny and most of all entertaining. And honest-very honest.
‘Children of Dust‘ is definitely unlike any memoir I have read before and I have read quite a few. Highly recommended.
Children of Dust is not merely a “memoir of Pakistan”, although the time the author spent in Pakistan, up-to the age of 10, was a large part of what constituted his religious outlook.
The book is divided into parts. The first part, when the author is a child, takes place in Pakistan. Here he describes living in a small town in Pakistan and going to a Madrasa which was a very traumatic experience. His parents were very religious and they wanted him to be a follower and a servant of Islam. When the family migrates to the US, the author starts to neglect Islam and concentrate on issues more important to teenagers-like fitting in, sexuality and finding ways to watch ‘Boy meets World’. It was refreshing to read first hand how a Muslim boy had to struggle with fitting in and also trying to follow his religion.
When he went to college far from home, although he struggled with same things he did before, he does become more friendly with people from his own community and gradually acquires a fundamentalist outlook. Without getting into too many details, he returns to Pakistan to find a pious girl and also to find out more about his ancestors. But instead of finding what he expected, he finds his ideas of an Islamic nation shattered. Here’s what he has to say after his visit to Pakistan.
I was sneered at by the very ones who were supposed to embrace me. I was rejected by the ones who were supposed to be purer-in character, in culture, in chivalry-than Americans. The brilliance that I’d associated with Islam just a few months earlier had now turned black. After a period of mourning and melancholy, I craved vengeance. I sought to undermine all that the presumably purer Muslims held sacred.
I found his shift in religious opinions very unsettling. It could be the result of blindly following what he had heard from his childhood and then finding out that not everything is what it is supposed to be. You would think a book about the authors religious journey will be boring, but it’s not, far from it. It’s fascinating, interesting, funny and most of all entertaining. And honest-very honest.
‘Children of Dust‘ is definitely unlike any memoir I have read before and I have read quite a few. Highly recommended.
tuscareads's review against another edition
4.0
This novel was extremely captivating. You follow the author through his life in four sections. One sees the protagonist change his mind over and over again about his relationship with Islam and his heritage as a Punjabi-American. How he travels from the extremes of super conservative to staunch reformer...
As a post 9/11 convert, some of what talks about drives me crazy, like his insistance that having converts in his family tree as a let-down and how he thinks the way to piety is through arabizing himself. How his old friends from Pakistan were actually unintelligent enough to believe Osama Bin Laden was somebody worth following like he was a scholar or something. How his old friends believed that America didn't allow Muslims to grow beards and that being in America auto-invalidated his Islam.
I loved his sense of humor though and that he was always cracking me up. Many of his conversations were raw and honest with people. As a reader, it felt like I was just sitting in the room with them. Overall, I really enjoyed reading about hus lifetime of experiences. We need more diverse authors. :)
As a post 9/11 convert, some of what talks about drives me crazy, like his insistance that having converts in his family tree as a let-down and how he thinks the way to piety is through arabizing himself. How his old friends from Pakistan were actually unintelligent enough to believe Osama Bin Laden was somebody worth following like he was a scholar or something. How his old friends believed that America didn't allow Muslims to grow beards and that being in America auto-invalidated his Islam.
I loved his sense of humor though and that he was always cracking me up. Many of his conversations were raw and honest with people. As a reader, it felt like I was just sitting in the room with them. Overall, I really enjoyed reading about hus lifetime of experiences. We need more diverse authors. :)
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