Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - The Bad Muslim Discount

This book had a lot of great commentary about how the US treats the countries they're occupying and the immigrants within its own borders, especially Muslim Americans. The writing was also really well done. Masood definitely knows how to tell a story. Besides that, this book did not work for me.

It tries to have a discussion about Islam and being religious, but it didn't feel like it had any nuance to it. Like at all. Almost every single character who was religious was played off in some negative light. Anzar, one of the main characters who is pretty anti-religion, doesn't have one well spoken discussion about religion with anyone. It's just him thinking that being religious is, not necessarily bad, but, like, irrational or something and anytime a conversation sorted of started to discuss religion, he just shut it down and walked away.

TBH, I could not stand Anzar one bit. Throughout the book he was a condescending asshole who seemed to exist to be the "smartest" person in the room and to rile everyone around him up. I have met guys who are exactly like him and they were the most unpleasant people I have ever had the misfortune of talking to. And the worst part is he went through no character development. There was one point where he had a conversation with his professor where his professor basically told Anvar he was a condescending asshole, and I was hoping this would the start of some inner reflection for Anvar, but he dropped the class and shrugged his professor's words off and never thought about it again.

I wish this book would have focused more on Safwa who had actual hardships she was struggling to persevere through. Her disillusions with religion were understandable since she really only experienced religion through the violent men around her who used it as a way to control her. I wished we got to know her as a character more, and got to explore the complicated thoughts and feelings she had about the world around her and herself. It's really too bad that her story was often overshadowed by Anvar's.

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amandalorianxo's review

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emotional funny informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Rounding it up to 4.5 stars. I’m going to preface this by saying I am not Muslim so I can’t speak for any religious or non religious explanations but I will say that this was an insightful, funny, emotional depth of an adult novel that captivated me when it came to upbringings and life in Pakistan & Iraq. This character driven novel told by an own voices author tells the story of two characters, Anvar and Sawfa. We start off in the middle of the 90’s (95) up until 2016/17. Anvar’s parents are eerily similar to my own, my mother was the more religious, disciplinarian of the house while my father let his sense of humor and laidback disposition be the centerpiece of his personality. Another similarity? Having the intense and fortunate realization that his home country was no longer safe admits the growing unruly political climate. Sawfa was living in Iraq as a teen and she also comes to the conclusion that life in her country is no longer safe. Even though they both managed to get to California at different points in their life, the two wind up meeting down the road. Both characters have a lot of questions…. about their faith, their upbringing and even the way in which people treat one another. It’s not meant to be judge mental but reflective & mind growing. Each character is distinct in their own way & I definitely recommend this for anyone looking to learn through fiction.

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