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A review by themoonwholistens
The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human: Tales from Many Muslim Worlds by Marguerite Richards
3.0
This was such an emotional story and it’s evident how close each of these stories are to the the authors that wrote them. And it translates to me, as a reader, ten-fold.
⇢ trigger warnings//
One of the authors is a Filipino actually based in Manila, if I’m not mistaken, and I cannot express how happy that made me. Criselda Yabes wrote “Fron Sulu, a Farewell to Dad” and I might have teared up because of how close to home it hit me. Even though it wasn’t written in Tagalog there was something about the writing that felt familiar even though I have never read from this author before. It might have also been the mention of places that I grew up visiting that made the story feel close to my heart.
There were too many relatable stories and this is one of the non-fiction books I’ve read that contained a lot of stories that personally stuck. Even then, as what is normal for a short story collection, not all of the stories were for me but the number of stories that I resonated with trumps the ones that I felt like other people could relate to more.
I was surprised at the difference of backgrounsd the authors came from. Some were photographers, playwrights, poets, full-time writers, bloggers, etc. that came from parts of SEA and Euro-America. I think the authors were able to successfully convey their experiences in an enjoyable way for the readers to process. I would love to see more fully local SEA Muslim authors if they ever do another compilation similar to this however.
There were a lot of discussions brought up about the Muslim culture and how their history has shaped our present, especially how these all related. It took me some time to read, decipher, and process everything just because it’s not a culture that I’m particularly familiar with. Nevertheless, I learned a lot and I’m really happy I read this.
I’m glad I read this even though it was outside of my comfort zone, I always like learning more about other South East Asian cultures.
*Thank you to Frankie @ Penguin SEA for sending me a copy to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
⇢ trigger warnings//
Spoiler
suicide (mentioned and discussed), death of a loved one, child death, war,One of the authors is a Filipino actually based in Manila, if I’m not mistaken, and I cannot express how happy that made me. Criselda Yabes wrote “Fron Sulu, a Farewell to Dad” and I might have teared up because of how close to home it hit me. Even though it wasn’t written in Tagalog there was something about the writing that felt familiar even though I have never read from this author before. It might have also been the mention of places that I grew up visiting that made the story feel close to my heart.
There were too many relatable stories and this is one of the non-fiction books I’ve read that contained a lot of stories that personally stuck. Even then, as what is normal for a short story collection, not all of the stories were for me but the number of stories that I resonated with trumps the ones that I felt like other people could relate to more.
I was surprised at the difference of backgrounsd the authors came from. Some were photographers, playwrights, poets, full-time writers, bloggers, etc. that came from parts of SEA and Euro-America. I think the authors were able to successfully convey their experiences in an enjoyable way for the readers to process. I would love to see more fully local SEA Muslim authors if they ever do another compilation similar to this however.
There were a lot of discussions brought up about the Muslim culture and how their history has shaped our present, especially how these all related. It took me some time to read, decipher, and process everything just because it’s not a culture that I’m particularly familiar with. Nevertheless, I learned a lot and I’m really happy I read this.
I’m glad I read this even though it was outside of my comfort zone, I always like learning more about other South East Asian cultures.
*Thank you to Frankie @ Penguin SEA for sending me a copy to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*