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A review by indahmarwan
The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah
4.0
It’s been almost a month since I finished this book. I refrained myself of writing the review firstly because I was emotionally affected in reading it and secondly because I joined a book club discussing about the book a few weeks ago, so I needed the validation of all my emotions. It’s definitely one of the best non-fiction I read in 2020!
Diving into the book without knowing about the storyline, I was fascinated since the very beginning. It started with a scene where a woman was trapped inside a school for Muslim girls in Chicago on a murderous shooting.
That woman is Afaf, a Palestinian American whose life drawn in the book early in her childhood when her teenage sister mysteriously disappeared and tore her family apart. The book flows into navigating Afaf’s life in her search for identity and a place where she fits in. The stories inside cover extensive themes: second generation immigrant identity crisis, complex family relationship, mental health, addiction, the loss of family member, the longing of homeland, and the after effect of 9/11 (radicalisation, Islamophobia, etc.).
I felt the warmth when Afaf firstly came to the Muslim community but my heart sank when I got to Afaf’s pilgrim story. All of the drama within the family really made me jumbled up in emotions but not quite so in the return of Afaf’s long lost sister, Nada. The response of Afaf and his brother was not what I expected them to have and the story of Nada while she disappeared was a cliché. The conversation between Afaf and the shooter too was not enlightening as I thought the moment should be life-changing even for the shooter too.
Despite all, Sahar Mustafah has shown a remarkable debut. She successfully brings the Muslim/Islamic story in a simple, unapologetic storytelling. I personally think this book is a contribution to the positive conversation of Muslim and the West so equally important for both Muslim and non-Muslim readers. She has all of my support for her subsequent books!
Diving into the book without knowing about the storyline, I was fascinated since the very beginning. It started with a scene where a woman was trapped inside a school for Muslim girls in Chicago on a murderous shooting.
That woman is Afaf, a Palestinian American whose life drawn in the book early in her childhood when her teenage sister mysteriously disappeared and tore her family apart. The book flows into navigating Afaf’s life in her search for identity and a place where she fits in. The stories inside cover extensive themes: second generation immigrant identity crisis, complex family relationship, mental health, addiction, the loss of family member, the longing of homeland, and the after effect of 9/11 (radicalisation, Islamophobia, etc.).
I felt the warmth when Afaf firstly came to the Muslim community but my heart sank when I got to Afaf’s pilgrim story. All of the drama within the family really made me jumbled up in emotions but not quite so in the return of Afaf’s long lost sister, Nada. The response of Afaf and his brother was not what I expected them to have and the story of Nada while she disappeared was a cliché. The conversation between Afaf and the shooter too was not enlightening as I thought the moment should be life-changing even for the shooter too.
Despite all, Sahar Mustafah has shown a remarkable debut. She successfully brings the Muslim/Islamic story in a simple, unapologetic storytelling. I personally think this book is a contribution to the positive conversation of Muslim and the West so equally important for both Muslim and non-Muslim readers. She has all of my support for her subsequent books!