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brgntteva's review against another edition
4.0
Short stories, poems, plays, with some really stunning voices, say Kamila Shamsie or Selma Dabbagh. A great way to discover writers AND a really good view on racism and being a woman
tasleemreads's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
The things I Would Tell You is an anthology written about the realities of being a British Muslim woman. I enjoyed the mixture between poetry, essays, short stories and a play. The work in this book does not conform to a single theme and instead touches on multiple areas of interest; culture, gender, romance, abuse, identity, to name a few.
I fell in love with this book because I read pieces about myself, my childhood, my upbringing within the pages and also learnt from Muslim women who expressed struggles different to my own. Each voice in this book, being from a different age and ethnicity, speaks on their experience of being a Muslim woman having lived in Britain and of course, there is so much variety between each writer. I definitely recommend this book to everyone!
So many great pieces within this book and some of my highlights below:
✨Seema Begum's poem 'Uomini Cadranno' which she wrote when she was 14 years old!
✨Shaista Aziz 'Blood and Broken Bodies' is a powerful piece that begs Pakistani brothers and fathers to look at themselves, and not God, when they honour kill.
✨Hibaq Osman 'Thing Things I Would Tell You and other poems' expresses what it's like growing up the children of immigrants.
✨Azra Tabassum 'Brown Girl and other poems' is everything I wanted to hear growing up.
I will definitely be checking out other works from writers I've discovered within this book!
I fell in love with this book because I read pieces about myself, my childhood, my upbringing within the pages and also learnt from Muslim women who expressed struggles different to my own. Each voice in this book, being from a different age and ethnicity, speaks on their experience of being a Muslim woman having lived in Britain and of course, there is so much variety between each writer. I definitely recommend this book to everyone!
So many great pieces within this book and some of my highlights below:
✨Seema Begum's poem 'Uomini Cadranno' which she wrote when she was 14 years old!
✨Shaista Aziz 'Blood and Broken Bodies' is a powerful piece that begs Pakistani brothers and fathers to look at themselves, and not God, when they honour kill.
✨Hibaq Osman 'Thing Things I Would Tell You and other poems' expresses what it's like growing up the children of immigrants.
✨Azra Tabassum 'Brown Girl and other poems' is everything I wanted to hear growing up.
I will definitely be checking out other works from writers I've discovered within this book!
frlzimt's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book I picked up first and foremost because I wanted to support its cause. Giving a voice to British Muslim women, but also showcasing a wide array of British Muslim voices, is alone well worth the price of it. So I didn't even look inside before I bought it - and then ended up reading all but the last two stories in a little less than a day (the last two I savoured over breakfast during the first two days of the new week). This slim volume is teeming with compelling voices that range from traditional fiction over poetry and drama to nonfiction and opinion pieces.
"Only" 4 stars because one of its strengths is also, perhaps, a weakness - there is so wide a scope of voices and genres that inevitably it will also contain some that are less appealing to the individual reader. It is also, however, a wonderfully compact introduction to a number of highly interesting writers, and I will definitely be wanting more.
"Only" 4 stars because one of its strengths is also, perhaps, a weakness - there is so wide a scope of voices and genres that inevitably it will also contain some that are less appealing to the individual reader. It is also, however, a wonderfully compact introduction to a number of highly interesting writers, and I will definitely be wanting more.
jennmeadows's review against another edition
4.0
I picked up The Things I Would Tell You for Our Shared Shelf's January/February 2019 pick. I'm incredibly thankful for this book club because it continues to introduce me to a wide range of books that I may have not picked up otherwise. Our Shared Shelf continues to challenge me to make my feminism more intersectional.
I really enjoyed The Things I Would Tell You because it offered multiple views and interpretations on what it means to be a Muslim woman in the West, specifically Britain. Issues that were covered in this anthology ranged from gender roles to rape culture to media portrayal of Muslims to struggling with identity. Honestly, I flew through this anthology because it was beautifully broken up into different components. For ten pages you would be reading poetry, then you would jump to a short story, then you would start reading a script. I really appreciated how this anthology covered so much ground in many creative ways. It was an irresistible read!
I really enjoyed The Things I Would Tell You because it offered multiple views and interpretations on what it means to be a Muslim woman in the West, specifically Britain. Issues that were covered in this anthology ranged from gender roles to rape culture to media portrayal of Muslims to struggling with identity. Honestly, I flew through this anthology because it was beautifully broken up into different components. For ten pages you would be reading poetry, then you would jump to a short story, then you would start reading a script. I really appreciated how this anthology covered so much ground in many creative ways. It was an irresistible read!
kaylasbookishlife's review against another edition
3.0
he Things I Would Tell You edited by Sabrina Mahfouz
This book has been on my TBR for a while now. And I was so excited that my library had copies of it!
I have read similar books with essays by primarily British Muslim women and have really enjoyed learning more about their experiences living in two cultures.
I’m so sad that I didn’t enjoy this book. In addition to short essays, there are also poems and scripts in here and I think that’s why I didn’t like it. I’ve mentioned before I am not a poetry person and often struggle to read it. I just felt really confused I’m most of the works. I wasn’t grasping the meanings of the poems or symbolism or other poetry things. I just felt like the pieces of literature were not written very clearly.
I hope you all enjoy this one more than I did. I think it’s a great option to check out if you enjoy poetry and anthologies with different types of literature inside!
This book has been on my TBR for a while now. And I was so excited that my library had copies of it!
I have read similar books with essays by primarily British Muslim women and have really enjoyed learning more about their experiences living in two cultures.
I’m so sad that I didn’t enjoy this book. In addition to short essays, there are also poems and scripts in here and I think that’s why I didn’t like it. I’ve mentioned before I am not a poetry person and often struggle to read it. I just felt really confused I’m most of the works. I wasn’t grasping the meanings of the poems or symbolism or other poetry things. I just felt like the pieces of literature were not written very clearly.
I hope you all enjoy this one more than I did. I think it’s a great option to check out if you enjoy poetry and anthologies with different types of literature inside!
greensandanne's review against another edition
5.0
Thought-provoking, alive, marvellous. All these words cover part of what is in this book.
I loved it, and think you will too!
All the pieces moved me, one of my favourites was "Under the Cypress Tree" by Fadia Faqir.
I loved it, and think you will too!
All the pieces moved me, one of my favourites was "Under the Cypress Tree" by Fadia Faqir.
rebekahmay's review against another edition
4.0
This book was just so much more than I was expecting it to be. It's hard to review as a whole because there is such a wide range of works in here, from short stories to poems to essays to plays, but what I can easily conclude is that every single one of them is good. Some are better than others, like in any collection, but there wasn't one work that I didn't like, or that I skipped, or that dragged at all. The sheer amount of talent in here is incredible. One of the women that contributed to this is 14. FOURTEEN. And it was genuinely one of the best pieces in this collection.
This collection is a window into the world of British Muslim women. First and second generation immigrants and refugees, mixed race Muslims, religious and non-religious, stories across the whole spectrum are featured in the book. It touches on so many aspects of life and different worries and loves and cultures.
I will be reading this collection again. I'd like to spend more time with it, to annotate it. I also want to find and pick up other works by the authors that contributed to this book. I genuinely highly recommend this book.
This collection is a window into the world of British Muslim women. First and second generation immigrants and refugees, mixed race Muslims, religious and non-religious, stories across the whole spectrum are featured in the book. It touches on so many aspects of life and different worries and loves and cultures.
I will be reading this collection again. I'd like to spend more time with it, to annotate it. I also want to find and pick up other works by the authors that contributed to this book. I genuinely highly recommend this book.
literaryinfatuation's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve read nothing but praise for “The Things I would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write” edited by Sabrina Mahfouz. I must say, it’s well deserved. This is a very eclectic collection, from poetry to essays and short stories. I’m not a fan of poetry but Seema Begum’s poem titled “Uomini Cadranno” took me by surprise. It’s deep and smart and written by a 14 year old! I also loved Fadia Faqir’s story “Under the Cypress Tree”, Kamila Shamsie’s “The Girl Next Door” and Leila Aboulela’s take on Camus. I have discovered so many authors I want to continue to explore.
martha_is_reading's review against another edition
3.0
An anthology of writing by British Muslim women, featuring well-known writers such as Kamila Shamsie alongside new, emerging talent.
The big caveat to this rating is that I totally misconstrued what this collection was - I assumed it was a collection of essays! Not sure why. It's actually a mix of short stories, poetry and essays, the latter being very much in the minority. I don't generally get on very well with poetry or short stories, so that impacted my enjoyment of this book.
It's hard to give an overall rating, so instead I rated each part individually:
Under the Cypress Tree by Fadia Faqir - 2 stars
Home, to a Man, and other poems by Amina Jama - 3 stars
Cutting Someone's heart Out With a Spoon by Chimene Suleyman - 4 stars
Us by Chimene Suleyman - 5 stars
Sentence, and other poems by Aliyah Hasinah Holder - 4.5 stars
The Girl Next Door by Kamila Shamsie - 4 stars
The Right Word and other poems by Imtiaz Dharker - 3 stars
Islamic Tinder by Triska Hamid - 4 stars
This Body is Woman by Nafeesa Hamid - 3 stars
Mezzaterra by Ahdaf Soueif - 5 stars
Uomini Cadranno by Seema Begum - 3 stars
The Insider by Leila Aboulela - DNF
Fallujah, Basra and other poems by Shazea Quraishi - 3 stars
Blood and Broken Bodies by Shaista Aziz - 5 stars
Stand By Me by Miss L - 4 stars
Staying Alive Through Brexit: Racism, Mental Health and Emotional Labour by Aisha Mirza - 5 stars
The Things I Would Tell You and other poems by Hibaq Osman - 3 stars
Brown Girl and other poems by Azra Tabassum - 3 stars
Take Me There by Selma Dabbagh- 5 stars
Last Assignment to Jenin by Selma Dabbagh - 4 stars
Belongings and other poems by Asma Elbadawi - 4 stars
My Other Half by Samira Shackle - 3.5 stars
Battleface by Sabrina Mahfouz - 4 stars
An Eye That Sees by Hanan al-Shaykh - 4 stars
The big caveat to this rating is that I totally misconstrued what this collection was - I assumed it was a collection of essays! Not sure why. It's actually a mix of short stories, poetry and essays, the latter being very much in the minority. I don't generally get on very well with poetry or short stories, so that impacted my enjoyment of this book.
It's hard to give an overall rating, so instead I rated each part individually:
Under the Cypress Tree by Fadia Faqir - 2 stars
Home, to a Man, and other poems by Amina Jama - 3 stars
Cutting Someone's heart Out With a Spoon by Chimene Suleyman - 4 stars
Us by Chimene Suleyman - 5 stars
Sentence, and other poems by Aliyah Hasinah Holder - 4.5 stars
The Girl Next Door by Kamila Shamsie - 4 stars
The Right Word and other poems by Imtiaz Dharker - 3 stars
Islamic Tinder by Triska Hamid - 4 stars
This Body is Woman by Nafeesa Hamid - 3 stars
Mezzaterra by Ahdaf Soueif - 5 stars
Uomini Cadranno by Seema Begum - 3 stars
The Insider by Leila Aboulela - DNF
Fallujah, Basra and other poems by Shazea Quraishi - 3 stars
Blood and Broken Bodies by Shaista Aziz - 5 stars
Stand By Me by Miss L - 4 stars
Staying Alive Through Brexit: Racism, Mental Health and Emotional Labour by Aisha Mirza - 5 stars
The Things I Would Tell You and other poems by Hibaq Osman - 3 stars
Brown Girl and other poems by Azra Tabassum - 3 stars
Take Me There by Selma Dabbagh- 5 stars
Last Assignment to Jenin by Selma Dabbagh - 4 stars
Belongings and other poems by Asma Elbadawi - 4 stars
My Other Half by Samira Shackle - 3.5 stars
Battleface by Sabrina Mahfouz - 4 stars
An Eye That Sees by Hanan al-Shaykh - 4 stars