Reviews - Fundamentally | The StoryGraph

1.24k reviews for:

Fundamentally

Nussaibah Younis

3.97 AVERAGE

micheleshel's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

edinburgh_lynn's review against another edition

3.75

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

morag_ramsey's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

amandalsb's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I was really interested in the topic of this book - deradicalisation program for ISIS brides - particularly given the author's expertise in the area. And while the book brushed on the topic and it was a key point of the plot, it never really delved into the programme beyond a surface level (because Nadia basically forgot about the programme and devoted all her energy to Sara). It was much more focused on individual characters, which is a problem because I hated every character. Nadia loses her shit at everyone - swearing, name-calling, etc - which made it hard to think of her as an adult woman with a PhD and not a teenager. Maybe I liked Sherri.

Setting most of that aside, I like the writing style and definitely laughed more than one. I also liked that the author didn't write this for non-Muslim audiences in terms of explaining key Islamic terms each time she introduced them. Instead, I was constantly looking up various terms and educating myself vs putting that responsibility on the author.