Reviews with content warning for Islamophobia - We Have Always Been Here

beautiful, moving, reflective memoir that explores the complexities and beauties that appear in the intersections of identity. celebration of finding one’s own place, people and voice.

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salemander's review against another edition

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5.0

beautiful hopeful and inspiring. loved this book!

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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

2.75

we have always been here is a memoir focused on the intersection of habib's queerness and muslim identities. while it's good to see habib's gradual growth and self-discovery thruout the yrs - thru the different ppl, places and experiences she encounters - imo the book isnt as compelling as it could be. there are moments of brilliance here and there, but for such an interesting and rarely exploted subject matter of the life of a queer muslim woman, i expected it to be a bit better.

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lifewithjoce's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

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zee's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

Habib's story is highly moving and so captivating, especially surrounding her experience as an Ahmadi Muslim in Pakistan before the move to Canada. Following that, her resilient journey to escape the rigid expectations of her parents and discover her true self is amazing.

However, as the book goes on, it starts to gloss over what would seem to be important events to her personal discovery. As deep and moving as the first half of the book is, once Habib leaves high school the rest of the story skims very quickly and it seems to be a very surface level look at her story.

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