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A review by namakurhea
Guapa by Saleem Haddad
4.0
There is not a lot of books that I 'inhaled' but this is one! Guapa tells the story of Rasa, a gay man living in an unnamed Arab country. He grew up under the grip of his grandma, found liberation when he went to the US for his studies, got disillusioned, returned home and lived his life in secret before everything changed.
Rasa has got to be one of my favorite characters of this year. He stands outside of the bell curve, be it in terms of sexuality, politics, and national identity. One of the themes that stood out was when he did his studies in America. He wanted so bad to leave his country to embrace his sexual identity. Upon arriving at America, instead of that, everyone else see him for his ethnic identity. Irony kicks him harder when he started to become an activist for his country but then his own countrymen pointed out that he's am American now. Identity and self-making are huge themes within the book and Saleem Haddad did an amazing job, I think. Definitely recommend!
Rasa has got to be one of my favorite characters of this year. He stands outside of the bell curve, be it in terms of sexuality, politics, and national identity. One of the themes that stood out was when he did his studies in America. He wanted so bad to leave his country to embrace his sexual identity. Upon arriving at America, instead of that, everyone else see him for his ethnic identity. Irony kicks him harder when he started to become an activist for his country but then his own countrymen pointed out that he's am American now. Identity and self-making are huge themes within the book and Saleem Haddad did an amazing job, I think. Definitely recommend!