A review by encharro
The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write by Sabrina Mahfouz

3.0

I read this book because Emma Watson told me to (via Our Shared Shelf). My first impression was that I probably didn't understand as much of it, especially the poetry, in no small part because I don't have as much cultural knowledge. And that's okay. I liked being confronted by that. There's a good mix of fiction/non-fiction. Poetry vs prose. British locale vs foreign locale. The role of religion was varied throughout as well. By that I mean for the majority of the stories, faith/religion are crucial; the story/poem wouldn't function the same if the character/author weren't Muslim. For some pieces it was more universal and the fact that the author identifies as Muslim is irrelevant to the writing. Obviously I had favorite pieces within the book but the collection as a whole is strong. There was only 1 dud for me but I won't name it here. Each piece is quite short so you could easily dip in and out of the book.