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The Lebs is a confronting, demanding, yet compulsively readable novel. It's a very real story of a marginalised community, which is focused on a tense, conflict riddled moment in Sydney in the early 2000s. Ahmad is both honest and authentic in the way he constructs this narrative, the culture of toxic masculinity that is presented is raw and unrelenting. But at its heart, The Lebs is a story about identity. In it, Ahmad considers in particular, how we are shaped by our cultural identity, what it means when that culture identity operates in opposition to others, and what happens when the expectations and by extension opportunities of your culture, are at odds with what you want for yourself, or who you feel you are. Although in some moments, its changes of direction felt a bit disconnected, ultimately I thought this was an excellent read.