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A review by mermaird
Fatima Tate Takes The Cake by Khadijah VanBrakle
1.0
If you're looking for a book with good Muslim rep, this one is not it. (Minor spoilers ahead)
Fatima Tate is a Black Muslim girl who enjoys baking and dreams of becoming a pâtissier, but her passion is being refrained by her own mother who wants her to become a nurse. At the same time, Fatima also has a crush on a Muslim guy she met at a place she volunteered in, but never did she expect to be betrothed to him in such a short time.
I'll start with a few good things that I appreciate from this book:
- The beautiful cover itself.
- A ride-or-die kind of friendship between the Fatima and her best friend, Zaynab. Zaynab was always there for her, supporting every decision.
- Fatima standing up for herself at the end, even if it causes her grief and shame.
But these were not enough to cover the ick feeling I felt throughout the story. Firstly, what's the author's point of making Fatima's best friend a lesbian? This is normally a cliche plot for a Western contemporary book–but this is a character with Muslim reps. A book centering around Muslim community. I don't usually voice out my opinion on matters related to LGBT because I'm not knowledgeable enough for arguments, but it's clear as a day that Muslims aren't supposed to support LGBT. Call me conservative or old-fashioned, but if the Quran and Hadis say it's wrong, it is wrong. I can't believe I had to read a Muslim author writing "Love is love, and who the Hell are you to say what's haram", clearly trying to normalise this. Well, who are you to try making something haram into halal?
It's pretty much in the synopsis of the book itself that Fatima and her crush, Raheem, end up getting sexually involved before getting married, and it irritated me to no end. Raheem is definitely the most wrong here; him being an adult made him able to groom and manipulate Fatima into letting him touch her. But I would say that Fatima has her faults too. I have no idea how Muslims these days are so casual with men and women touching each other (ie: hold hands, hugging, etc), and the author seems to want to try normalising that as well. No. If you're not married or blood related, it's not even necessary to touch each other except when medical attention is needed (or something alarming that may be permissible). Yet, Fatima gave no second to think about it. She simply let him kiss her, and in no time, took off her hijab and let him do her. It disappointed me so much.
I know that this is the case of so many Muslims of this generation, and the author is depicting something real happening out there, but I still think the author could have written a better way to deal with it. When Fatima confided with Zaynab about what she did with Raheem, there did not seem to be any remorse or much fear of a sin so big. She asked Zaynab if Zaynab did it with her girlfriend and the conversation that follows end up in a laughter. I understand that these characters are minors, but I still feel uncomfortable with the way the author is trying to portray these things.
There are so many issues regarding matters that the author tried to paint as Islamic "tradition", when it's really non-permissible in Islam; I really just wanted to get this book over with. It did not help that the author's writing style is also rather on-the-surface. There was no depth and details at all. The story literally jumped into Fatima already having a crush on Raheem, and there was no build up to it. There was no reason for readers to root for her affection. Apart from the Muslim rep, I had also looked forward to the baking parts since it seemed like the main essence of the story, but every scene of Fatima baking felt like reciting a recipe. There was no magic in it, no sweet aroma or taste being described enough for me to imagine how the desserts she baked would look or taste like. It pains me that I had to skim all the baking parts.
At this point, it truly feels like I'm hating on this book. Perhaps I am, but with good reasons so. I can tolerate bad Muslim characters, but I can't tolerate authors who try to normalise the bad things.
To answer the question that some of the characters questioned in the book:
- Muslim female and male are allowed to be friends, but there are limits to it. Touches are non-permissible, whether innocent or friendly.
- Some Muslims do date before getting married, but it's advisable to have a chaperone in order to avoid any unnecessary issues arising.
As a Muslim reader who wants more books with Muslim rep by Muslim authors, this book really disappointed me.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the digital copy in return for my honest review.
(edit on 11/06/2023: I previously wrote Fatima to be Brown instead of Black, so thank you to the person in the comment for correcting me)
Fatima Tate is a Black Muslim girl who enjoys baking and dreams of becoming a pâtissier, but her passion is being refrained by her own mother who wants her to become a nurse. At the same time, Fatima also has a crush on a Muslim guy she met at a place she volunteered in, but never did she expect to be betrothed to him in such a short time.
I'll start with a few good things that I appreciate from this book:
- The beautiful cover itself.
- A ride-or-die kind of friendship between the Fatima and her best friend, Zaynab. Zaynab was always there for her, supporting every decision.
- Fatima standing up for herself at the end, even if it causes her grief and shame.
But these were not enough to cover the ick feeling I felt throughout the story. Firstly, what's the author's point of making Fatima's best friend a lesbian? This is normally a cliche plot for a Western contemporary book–but this is a character with Muslim reps. A book centering around Muslim community. I don't usually voice out my opinion on matters related to LGBT because I'm not knowledgeable enough for arguments, but it's clear as a day that Muslims aren't supposed to support LGBT. Call me conservative or old-fashioned, but if the Quran and Hadis say it's wrong, it is wrong. I can't believe I had to read a Muslim author writing "Love is love, and who the Hell are you to say what's haram", clearly trying to normalise this. Well, who are you to try making something haram into halal?
It's pretty much in the synopsis of the book itself that Fatima and her crush, Raheem, end up getting sexually involved before getting married, and it irritated me to no end. Raheem is definitely the most wrong here; him being an adult made him able to groom and manipulate Fatima into letting him touch her. But I would say that Fatima has her faults too. I have no idea how Muslims these days are so casual with men and women touching each other (ie: hold hands, hugging, etc), and the author seems to want to try normalising that as well. No. If you're not married or blood related, it's not even necessary to touch each other except when medical attention is needed (or something alarming that may be permissible). Yet, Fatima gave no second to think about it. She simply let him kiss her, and in no time, took off her hijab and let him do her. It disappointed me so much.
I know that this is the case of so many Muslims of this generation, and the author is depicting something real happening out there, but I still think the author could have written a better way to deal with it. When Fatima confided with Zaynab about what she did with Raheem, there did not seem to be any remorse or much fear of a sin so big. She asked Zaynab if Zaynab did it with her girlfriend and the conversation that follows end up in a laughter. I understand that these characters are minors, but I still feel uncomfortable with the way the author is trying to portray these things.
There are so many issues regarding matters that the author tried to paint as Islamic "tradition", when it's really non-permissible in Islam; I really just wanted to get this book over with. It did not help that the author's writing style is also rather on-the-surface. There was no depth and details at all. The story literally jumped into Fatima already having a crush on Raheem, and there was no build up to it. There was no reason for readers to root for her affection. Apart from the Muslim rep, I had also looked forward to the baking parts since it seemed like the main essence of the story, but every scene of Fatima baking felt like reciting a recipe. There was no magic in it, no sweet aroma or taste being described enough for me to imagine how the desserts she baked would look or taste like. It pains me that I had to skim all the baking parts.
At this point, it truly feels like I'm hating on this book. Perhaps I am, but with good reasons so. I can tolerate bad Muslim characters, but I can't tolerate authors who try to normalise the bad things.
To answer the question that some of the characters questioned in the book:
- Muslim female and male are allowed to be friends, but there are limits to it. Touches are non-permissible, whether innocent or friendly.
- Some Muslims do date before getting married, but it's advisable to have a chaperone in order to avoid any unnecessary issues arising.
As a Muslim reader who wants more books with Muslim rep by Muslim authors, this book really disappointed me.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the digital copy in return for my honest review.
(edit on 11/06/2023: I previously wrote Fatima to be Brown instead of Black, so thank you to the person in the comment for correcting me)