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A review by alexandraaforte
Hijab and Red Lipstick by Yousra Imran
4.0
This book gave me anxiety the entire time I was reading it - but I think that goes to how great and real the writing felt. I was an Islamic studies major in college and I'm always drawn to these own voices stories that are so different from mine.
I read an interview that the author did and she mentioned that this book first started out as a memoir but eventually she went in and changed names and rewrote it as a piece of fiction. The book is set in the format that the main character is giving her story to a journalist back in England. So I think that this book still reads very much like a memoir, even if we don't know which pieces are true and fabricated.
I also think that reading this book it's so important to have the distinction between the teachings of Islam and what is Middle Eastern culture. I think that a lot of the misconceptions that the west has about Islam is actually attributed to the culture, rather than the religion. I think the author at the end did a great job of distinguishing the two and explaining it to those who may not have a background in the region or the religion.
Overall, I thought this was a super powerful and informative story that I'm glad that I read.
*Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
I read an interview that the author did and she mentioned that this book first started out as a memoir but eventually she went in and changed names and rewrote it as a piece of fiction. The book is set in the format that the main character is giving her story to a journalist back in England. So I think that this book still reads very much like a memoir, even if we don't know which pieces are true and fabricated.
I also think that reading this book it's so important to have the distinction between the teachings of Islam and what is Middle Eastern culture. I think that a lot of the misconceptions that the west has about Islam is actually attributed to the culture, rather than the religion. I think the author at the end did a great job of distinguishing the two and explaining it to those who may not have a background in the region or the religion.
Overall, I thought this was a super powerful and informative story that I'm glad that I read.
*Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*