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A review by awesometeefa
Hijab and Red Lipstick by Yousra Imran
4.0
Thanks Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Sara and her siblings were raised in London by their Muslim parents - her British mother and Egyptian father. Like most Middle Eastern men, Sara's father is strict in implementing Islamic teaching and Middle Eastern culture to his children - so strict that Western music was banned in their household ("the words in the songs are from the devil!"). As she was entering her teenage years, her father uprooted the whole family to a city in the Arabian Gulf. If she thought her life in London was restricted, she now finds her life in the Gulf even more confined with more rules to obey and a father who thinks he knows best in raising good Muslim children. Readers are in for a ride through Sara's teenage years, then as a university student and graduate as she embarks on a journey in finding herself and the true meaning of being a Muslim woman.
***
Reading Hijab & Red Lipstick is like listening to a friend who is confiding in you about the story of her life. The way of writing is honest and straight-forward, yet you can feel the pain, the misery that the characters are going through and it's heart-breaking at some pages.
The story sheds light on women suffering in countries where the patriarchy rules supreme and it's eye-opening for me. I think religious extremism exists in all religions and this book shows a glimpse in that. Through her honest writing, Imran makes it clear that this story is not about a woman despising her religion, it's about a woman's quest in understanding the true teaching of Islam and escaping the extremists who misunderstand it and ultimately it led her in her journey to self-discovery. Hijab & Red Lipstick is a story that needs to be read by women and feminists - Muslim or not.
Sara and her siblings were raised in London by their Muslim parents - her British mother and Egyptian father. Like most Middle Eastern men, Sara's father is strict in implementing Islamic teaching and Middle Eastern culture to his children - so strict that Western music was banned in their household ("the words in the songs are from the devil!"). As she was entering her teenage years, her father uprooted the whole family to a city in the Arabian Gulf. If she thought her life in London was restricted, she now finds her life in the Gulf even more confined with more rules to obey and a father who thinks he knows best in raising good Muslim children. Readers are in for a ride through Sara's teenage years, then as a university student and graduate as she embarks on a journey in finding herself and the true meaning of being a Muslim woman.
***
Reading Hijab & Red Lipstick is like listening to a friend who is confiding in you about the story of her life. The way of writing is honest and straight-forward, yet you can feel the pain, the misery that the characters are going through and it's heart-breaking at some pages.
The story sheds light on women suffering in countries where the patriarchy rules supreme and it's eye-opening for me. I think religious extremism exists in all religions and this book shows a glimpse in that. Through her honest writing, Imran makes it clear that this story is not about a woman despising her religion, it's about a woman's quest in understanding the true teaching of Islam and escaping the extremists who misunderstand it and ultimately it led her in her journey to self-discovery. Hijab & Red Lipstick is a story that needs to be read by women and feminists - Muslim or not.