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indahmarwan's reviews
112 reviews
The Colour of God by Ayesha S. Chaudhry
5.0
When @sofia_reading mentioned that Ayesha S. Chaudhry is going to publish a book, I immediately check it up and it turned that the book is not an academic text but a memoir! It is always compelling that the scholar that you used to read their works for education purpose is writing something less theoretical but more personal one. So I was enthusiastic to read it.
I was hoping to find out how she became a Professor of Islamic Studies and Gender Studies. Yet book is beyond Ayesha S. Chaudhry’s personal memoir. This book is not only a South Asian descent woman’s memoir. This book is Muslim woman’s memoir. I could highlight every page as they all resonates with me.
She recollects her and her family’s lived experiences: as a Canadian Muslim woman from Pakistani parents who embrace puritanical Islam after failed attempt on assimilation because of racial discrimination. She explores the desire of belonging to the community where she lives in with her hijab and niqab on, patriarchal tyrants, her ideal of state & citizenship, taking ownership of one’s own body, typical (South) Asian mother-daughter relationship, and the loss of her loved one.
The book is fiercely honest, it lays bare the bitter truth of being raised in the fundamentalist Muslim household. Her voice here is many women’s voice out there which sometimes seen as oppressed by the West when it is actually their rejection to these people that then they decide to amplify their religious identities. She uncovers the stories of resistance to the patriarchal Islam and Islamophobic society and institution.
I was repeatedly heartbroken and entertained as she tells the stories eloquently from beginning to end. Could you imagine how a story of body hair could move from personal, philosophical, religious to political? She places Qur’anic verse, Prophetic and Urdu sayings making them relevant to the story she is telling, making the historical universal.
Behind her intellectual state today lays a long chain of distinctive spiritual events that is heartening to learn from. There no denying it goes into my Favourites List 2021, a very memorable one!
Thank you @oneworldpublications for sending me the e-ARC through @netgalley. If you reading a memoir from Muslim woman is on your #ReadingToChallenge list, then this book is unquestionably for you. It will be published on May 11th 2021 so you can pre-order now.
I was hoping to find out how she became a Professor of Islamic Studies and Gender Studies. Yet book is beyond Ayesha S. Chaudhry’s personal memoir. This book is not only a South Asian descent woman’s memoir. This book is Muslim woman’s memoir. I could highlight every page as they all resonates with me.
She recollects her and her family’s lived experiences: as a Canadian Muslim woman from Pakistani parents who embrace puritanical Islam after failed attempt on assimilation because of racial discrimination. She explores the desire of belonging to the community where she lives in with her hijab and niqab on, patriarchal tyrants, her ideal of state & citizenship, taking ownership of one’s own body, typical (South) Asian mother-daughter relationship, and the loss of her loved one.
The book is fiercely honest, it lays bare the bitter truth of being raised in the fundamentalist Muslim household. Her voice here is many women’s voice out there which sometimes seen as oppressed by the West when it is actually their rejection to these people that then they decide to amplify their religious identities. She uncovers the stories of resistance to the patriarchal Islam and Islamophobic society and institution.
I was repeatedly heartbroken and entertained as she tells the stories eloquently from beginning to end. Could you imagine how a story of body hair could move from personal, philosophical, religious to political? She places Qur’anic verse, Prophetic and Urdu sayings making them relevant to the story she is telling, making the historical universal.
Behind her intellectual state today lays a long chain of distinctive spiritual events that is heartening to learn from. There no denying it goes into my Favourites List 2021, a very memorable one!
Thank you @oneworldpublications for sending me the e-ARC through @netgalley. If you reading a memoir from Muslim woman is on your #ReadingToChallenge list, then this book is unquestionably for you. It will be published on May 11th 2021 so you can pre-order now.
Dog Songs by Mary Oliver
5.0
It has been a while I read poetry. When this book is available for e-ARC on @netgalley, I was bought by the lovely cover of sketched dog and I googled a bit about the author, Mary Oliver.
When I started reading this collection of poetry and prose about dogs, there was an issue of a Indonesian Niqabi woman who creates a shelter for 70 dogs in her own property. The debate was revolved around haram or halal and Islam is hostile to dogs resulting in the rejection of the neighbourhood of her and her shelter. I found it sad because she manages the shelter appropriately in terms of the sanitary and the health of the dogs and the fact that she does not only take care of dogs but also tens of cats and chicken.
I can recall the Islamic fable of a prostitute and a thirsty dog or the story of People of the Cave in surah Al-Kahf on how the dog stretched out in the entrance of the cave to keep these People from intruders. I was wondering when and why does Islam become vicious to dogs?
I am more like a dog person than a cat person. Probably because my father used to pet dogs (& never a cat) when I was little.
I found it so lovely that it comes with illustration of different types of dogs. The poetry and prose talk about the long-lasting friendship of dogs and the dog friends (Ms. Oliver doesn’t use the term of dog owner!♥️). In some of poetry, the dogs become friends with other dogs, the feeling of dogs being free in the nature, the loss when our dog dies and the sadness of Ms. Oliver seeing dogs who are always on leash and thinking that it is a kind of torture for the dog.
My favorite poetry, is Ricky Talks about Talking when Ms. Oliver talks to her new dog Ricky on how to understand him better as she is his new dog friend and Ricky answers to really ‘listen’ and they come to conclusion that to really ‘listen’ is to be present there when someone is talking showing that they care to each other. It really touched my heart. It was a conversation between human and dog. I found it funny when we can understand our pets better. But have we really ‘listen’ when we talk to other human?
When I started reading this collection of poetry and prose about dogs, there was an issue of a Indonesian Niqabi woman who creates a shelter for 70 dogs in her own property. The debate was revolved around haram or halal and Islam is hostile to dogs resulting in the rejection of the neighbourhood of her and her shelter. I found it sad because she manages the shelter appropriately in terms of the sanitary and the health of the dogs and the fact that she does not only take care of dogs but also tens of cats and chicken.
I can recall the Islamic fable of a prostitute and a thirsty dog or the story of People of the Cave in surah Al-Kahf on how the dog stretched out in the entrance of the cave to keep these People from intruders. I was wondering when and why does Islam become vicious to dogs?
I am more like a dog person than a cat person. Probably because my father used to pet dogs (& never a cat) when I was little.
I found it so lovely that it comes with illustration of different types of dogs. The poetry and prose talk about the long-lasting friendship of dogs and the dog friends (Ms. Oliver doesn’t use the term of dog owner!♥️). In some of poetry, the dogs become friends with other dogs, the feeling of dogs being free in the nature, the loss when our dog dies and the sadness of Ms. Oliver seeing dogs who are always on leash and thinking that it is a kind of torture for the dog.
My favorite poetry, is Ricky Talks about Talking when Ms. Oliver talks to her new dog Ricky on how to understand him better as she is his new dog friend and Ricky answers to really ‘listen’ and they come to conclusion that to really ‘listen’ is to be present there when someone is talking showing that they care to each other. It really touched my heart. It was a conversation between human and dog. I found it funny when we can understand our pets better. But have we really ‘listen’ when we talk to other human?
Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa
5.0
Let me say it. This is the kind of book that makes you crushed to the bones.
“I know in alone here. I’m not delusional. But the way memory animates the past is more real than the present.”
The story of Nahr (Arabic: River) began in The Cube, a solitary confinement where she spent countless days of being political prisoner. In The Cube, she shared her life journey, the stories of her family, three countries of Kuwait, Jordan, and Palestine which she passed before being a prisoner.
The main issue of being a Palestinian and woman are my main appeal of picking this book. Nahr experienced loss of love and faith on men, forced to seek refuge to Jordan in the US Kuwait (Iraq then) invasion, and the most painful one for me is Nahr to choose being a sex worker in order to become the breadwinner of her family. Once Nahr visited Palestine, she was charmed by the culture and the resistance; that she eventually joined one.
Susan Abulhawa writes fiction with facts that I found very intelligently beautiful. The pro-Palestine perspective I had really enjoyed and become familiar with it. Despite the main character, I am saddened by the minimum mention of the male characters in most reviews, Nahr’s former husband, Muhammad, her brother Jehad, and the love of her life, Bilal. Three men who encountered imprisonment of the resistance the involved in and the different impacts of it especially in their masculinity.
What I mostly learned is from the Israeli occupation the characters went through not in the identical time, they have different effect for everyone: from Sitti Wasfiyeh, Mama, to Nahr, Jehad, and Bilal; from tired of being displaced or being resilient to changes to being resistant and in readiness to the predicament.
Above all pains and horrors, I love the emotions I felt when reading parts of Nahr and Bilal, I could soon smile while tears still hanging on my eyes because of how deep their affection to one another.
Abulhawa quoting James Baldwin,
“Here you were: to be loved. To be loved, baby, hard, at once, and forever, to strengthen you against the loveless world.”
“I know in alone here. I’m not delusional. But the way memory animates the past is more real than the present.”
The story of Nahr (Arabic: River) began in The Cube, a solitary confinement where she spent countless days of being political prisoner. In The Cube, she shared her life journey, the stories of her family, three countries of Kuwait, Jordan, and Palestine which she passed before being a prisoner.
The main issue of being a Palestinian and woman are my main appeal of picking this book. Nahr experienced loss of love and faith on men, forced to seek refuge to Jordan in the US Kuwait (Iraq then) invasion, and the most painful one for me is Nahr to choose being a sex worker in order to become the breadwinner of her family. Once Nahr visited Palestine, she was charmed by the culture and the resistance; that she eventually joined one.
Susan Abulhawa writes fiction with facts that I found very intelligently beautiful. The pro-Palestine perspective I had really enjoyed and become familiar with it. Despite the main character, I am saddened by the minimum mention of the male characters in most reviews, Nahr’s former husband, Muhammad, her brother Jehad, and the love of her life, Bilal. Three men who encountered imprisonment of the resistance the involved in and the different impacts of it especially in their masculinity.
What I mostly learned is from the Israeli occupation the characters went through not in the identical time, they have different effect for everyone: from Sitti Wasfiyeh, Mama, to Nahr, Jehad, and Bilal; from tired of being displaced or being resilient to changes to being resistant and in readiness to the predicament.
Above all pains and horrors, I love the emotions I felt when reading parts of Nahr and Bilal, I could soon smile while tears still hanging on my eyes because of how deep their affection to one another.
Abulhawa quoting James Baldwin,
“Here you were: to be loved. To be loved, baby, hard, at once, and forever, to strengthen you against the loveless world.”
The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
5.0
THE FORTUNE MEN
Nadifa Mohamed’s third book is released this summer!
It is a historical fiction of Mahmood Mattan, a Muslim Somali man who was wrongfully executed for a murderer of a Jewish shopkeeper in 1950’s Cardiff. It is Mohamed’s fiction version of Mahmood Hussein Mattan’s real life.
It was depressing and emotionally draining to learn about the characters’ lives but the complexity of issues brought up here is exceptional.
Mahmood Mattan was addicted to gambling, forcing his White wife Laura to kick him out from home, but they still loved each other and care for his three children. When Violet Volacki was murdered with a wide cut on her throat, her sister Diana was teaching her daughter Grace dancing a few steps away from the crime scene. Once the family mentioned that they saw a dark man left the front porch of the shop, the police led by Inspector Powell started their search of local boarding houses around the port. They were looking for the culprit who disrespected the authorities and Inspector Powell hated interracial marriages so Mattan was the one to arrest.
As the story moved to when Mattan was waiting for his trial, I learned about Mattan’s inner self and history: about him growing up in Somalia in the times of British colonial time, Italian occupation and post war phase. The development of Mattan’s character moved religiously as I reached to the conclusion. The prose of Mattan in his final moments was heart wrenching and poignant.
The ending was surprising for someone who went reading this book cluelessly. Mattan was resilient and hopeful in the legal systems, but still the state failed him. The final showed a strength of love between Mahmood and Laura and the boys, friendship between him and Berlin, and lastly, faith between Mahmood and his Creator.
I was drowning into reading the chapters as Mohamed has beautifully narrates Mahmood Mattan’s life into fiction with sensitivity and power.
Our forever fave @leilaabouleila was even under the spell of this book saying it was potent and urgent new novel. To everyone who loves historical fiction focusing on racial prejudice and faulty British justice system, this one is for you!
Post-read: Googled right away Mahmood Mattan right away and learned about the history of Somali sailormen from BBC and found the news that the family who’ve fought for justice for decades was finally compensated by the state. He was named “The Last Innocent Person to be Hanged in Wales” by Wales Online as the UK abolished hanging by murder in 1969.
Thank you @NetGalley and Viking for the e-ARC in return for an honest review.
#IndahMarwanReads
#TheReadingMama
#NadifaMohamed
#TheFortuneMen
Nadifa Mohamed’s third book is released this summer!
It is a historical fiction of Mahmood Mattan, a Muslim Somali man who was wrongfully executed for a murderer of a Jewish shopkeeper in 1950’s Cardiff. It is Mohamed’s fiction version of Mahmood Hussein Mattan’s real life.
It was depressing and emotionally draining to learn about the characters’ lives but the complexity of issues brought up here is exceptional.
Mahmood Mattan was addicted to gambling, forcing his White wife Laura to kick him out from home, but they still loved each other and care for his three children. When Violet Volacki was murdered with a wide cut on her throat, her sister Diana was teaching her daughter Grace dancing a few steps away from the crime scene. Once the family mentioned that they saw a dark man left the front porch of the shop, the police led by Inspector Powell started their search of local boarding houses around the port. They were looking for the culprit who disrespected the authorities and Inspector Powell hated interracial marriages so Mattan was the one to arrest.
As the story moved to when Mattan was waiting for his trial, I learned about Mattan’s inner self and history: about him growing up in Somalia in the times of British colonial time, Italian occupation and post war phase. The development of Mattan’s character moved religiously as I reached to the conclusion. The prose of Mattan in his final moments was heart wrenching and poignant.
The ending was surprising for someone who went reading this book cluelessly. Mattan was resilient and hopeful in the legal systems, but still the state failed him. The final showed a strength of love between Mahmood and Laura and the boys, friendship between him and Berlin, and lastly, faith between Mahmood and his Creator.
I was drowning into reading the chapters as Mohamed has beautifully narrates Mahmood Mattan’s life into fiction with sensitivity and power.
Our forever fave @leilaabouleila was even under the spell of this book saying it was potent and urgent new novel. To everyone who loves historical fiction focusing on racial prejudice and faulty British justice system, this one is for you!
Post-read: Googled right away Mahmood Mattan right away and learned about the history of Somali sailormen from BBC and found the news that the family who’ve fought for justice for decades was finally compensated by the state. He was named “The Last Innocent Person to be Hanged in Wales” by Wales Online as the UK abolished hanging by murder in 1969.
Thank you @NetGalley and Viking for the e-ARC in return for an honest review.
#IndahMarwanReads
#TheReadingMama
#NadifaMohamed
#TheFortuneMen
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak
4.0
The title is the time left before Leila, a sex worker who is murdered and her body thrown away in a dumpster in the outskirts of Istanbul, completely passes away. As her brain shuts down, the memories of her life are recollected from her birth, her childhood, her escape from the arranged marriage and the strict family who later disown her, to the life that she chooses with freedom.
This novel highlights Leila’s experience whose character and storyline is strongly and beautifully narrated. Above all the topics addressed here, I was charmed the friendships made by Leila with four of her friends: each is unique and Shafak gives us the chance to know their stories. The chapters before the ending was entertaining, presenting the power of love and friendship. Historical events and places in Istanbul made me feel like I know Istanbul eventhough I have never visited it.
However, the portray of Turkish, Middle Eastern culture and the kind of Islam depicted here as the background of Leila’s life concern me as I believe her readers are mostly Western people interested in Middle Eastern culture/Islam. So for anyone who is interested in reading this book (or Shafak’s other fiction books) should bear in mind that this is fiction which cannot represent the whole culture or religion.
This novel highlights Leila’s experience whose character and storyline is strongly and beautifully narrated. Above all the topics addressed here, I was charmed the friendships made by Leila with four of her friends: each is unique and Shafak gives us the chance to know their stories. The chapters before the ending was entertaining, presenting the power of love and friendship. Historical events and places in Istanbul made me feel like I know Istanbul eventhough I have never visited it.
However, the portray of Turkish, Middle Eastern culture and the kind of Islam depicted here as the background of Leila’s life concern me as I believe her readers are mostly Western people interested in Middle Eastern culture/Islam. So for anyone who is interested in reading this book (or Shafak’s other fiction books) should bear in mind that this is fiction which cannot represent the whole culture or religion.
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
5.0
This book depicts the stories of twelve characters who are mostly women, Black and British. The format of the writing might be confusing at the beginning but as I continued I could care less about and even enjoyed it. “They tell the stories of their families, friends, and lovers across the country and through the years.”(Goodreads) - Which I find fascinating on how they are all connected to each other. How the ending ties them all up together brings great pleasure for me, closing the book with a smile.
From all the characters, I found Waris’ story highly resonates with me. It is not only because she is Muslim woman with the hijab but probably because this conversation I kept highlighting and took a minute for me to stop as I thought her voice was mine.
“…as Waris continues talking, says she’s learned to give good as she gets if anyone says any of the following
…
that she’s oppressed and they feel her pain
…
if anyone asks her if she’s going to have and arranged marriage
if anyone asks her why she dresses like a nun
if anyone speaks slowly to her like she can’t speak English
if anyone tells her that her English is really good
if anyone asks her if she’s had FGM, you poor thing”
“it is compared to half a million people who died in the Somali civil war, I was born here and I’m going to succeed in this country, I can’t afford not to work my butt off, I know it’s going to be tough when I go on the job market but you know what, Yazz? I’m not a victim, don’t ever treat me like a victim, my mother didn’t raise me to be a victim.”
That last sentence really hit me hard.
All the stories amplify the diverse voices of contemporary Black British with a dynamic feminist perspective. Girl, Woman, Other is another first of authors I surprisingly adore and I would definitely look at Mr. Loverman.
#BernardineEvaristo #GirlWomanOther
#bookreview #bookstagram
From all the characters, I found Waris’ story highly resonates with me. It is not only because she is Muslim woman with the hijab but probably because this conversation I kept highlighting and took a minute for me to stop as I thought her voice was mine.
“…as Waris continues talking, says she’s learned to give good as she gets if anyone says any of the following
…
that she’s oppressed and they feel her pain
…
if anyone asks her if she’s going to have and arranged marriage
if anyone asks her why she dresses like a nun
if anyone speaks slowly to her like she can’t speak English
if anyone tells her that her English is really good
if anyone asks her if she’s had FGM, you poor thing”
“it is compared to half a million people who died in the Somali civil war, I was born here and I’m going to succeed in this country, I can’t afford not to work my butt off, I know it’s going to be tough when I go on the job market but you know what, Yazz? I’m not a victim, don’t ever treat me like a victim, my mother didn’t raise me to be a victim.”
That last sentence really hit me hard.
All the stories amplify the diverse voices of contemporary Black British with a dynamic feminist perspective. Girl, Woman, Other is another first of authors I surprisingly adore and I would definitely look at Mr. Loverman.
#BernardineEvaristo #GirlWomanOther
#bookreview #bookstagram
回家之路 by Yaa Gyasi
5.0
I. can’t. believe. it!
A debut novel can be this stunning!
Homegoing is portrays a long history of colonialism and slavery in Ghana and America. The story begins with a two half sisters from different villages, Effia and Esi, in 18th century Ghana. They both exist in contrasting fate. Effia marries an Englishman and lives in a castle called Cape Coast Castle where beneath it Esi is imprisoned with thousands other into the Gold Coast slave trade. Two different storylines for each sister finally lead to their children and grandchildren in America. This amazingly covers a three-century historical events such as Asante and Fante struggle against slavery and colonisation to Southern America plantation, Civil War, Great Migration, coal mines in Alabama to the present day.
Reading this book has made me learn so much of the history of Ghana colonisation and America slavery and black. Ya Gyasi has an unquestionable talent to encapsulate the history within 300ish pages with twelve fascinating characters in it. Yes, this book reveals the horrors of slavery and colonialism: violence, murder, and sexual assault, and those might be disturbing to some. The character in each chapter flashes in the storylines and can causes to confusion but the family tree is provided in the beginning of the book if you need a reference. All the flaws are put aside with the astonishing debut and we have to hear the voice of the suppressed, “the other side” of history.
I can’t recommend this book enough to everyone who loves historical fiction, wants to learn about Ghana to America slavery period.
A debut novel can be this stunning!
Homegoing is portrays a long history of colonialism and slavery in Ghana and America. The story begins with a two half sisters from different villages, Effia and Esi, in 18th century Ghana. They both exist in contrasting fate. Effia marries an Englishman and lives in a castle called Cape Coast Castle where beneath it Esi is imprisoned with thousands other into the Gold Coast slave trade. Two different storylines for each sister finally lead to their children and grandchildren in America. This amazingly covers a three-century historical events such as Asante and Fante struggle against slavery and colonisation to Southern America plantation, Civil War, Great Migration, coal mines in Alabama to the present day.
Reading this book has made me learn so much of the history of Ghana colonisation and America slavery and black. Ya Gyasi has an unquestionable talent to encapsulate the history within 300ish pages with twelve fascinating characters in it. Yes, this book reveals the horrors of slavery and colonialism: violence, murder, and sexual assault, and those might be disturbing to some. The character in each chapter flashes in the storylines and can causes to confusion but the family tree is provided in the beginning of the book if you need a reference. All the flaws are put aside with the astonishing debut and we have to hear the voice of the suppressed, “the other side” of history.
I can’t recommend this book enough to everyone who loves historical fiction, wants to learn about Ghana to America slavery period.
Manchester Happened by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
4.0
When I was looking for books from her, I was bought by the cover design and the title of the book. I wasn’t into reading reading novel at that moment, so this short story collection of hers that I picked up.
The twelve stories take places in Manchester and Kampala and discover the journey finding a place to call home in either of the cities which she divides into two part: Departing and Returning.
My favourite story is Let’s Tell This Story Properly which unveils the strength, confidence and practicality of the woman protagonist named Nnam whose husband suddenly died in their bathroom in the age 45. What’s more shocking is the fact she learns back in Uganda as she is going to his husband funeral. How she handles the surprise is brilliant and I do look up to her character. The wisdom is taken.
Although I failed to engage in some of the stories, I found the stories are culturally enriching in a specific context of the Ugandans in Manchester. This book has introduced me into Uganda, a country, a culture, a history I know a little about. I definitely will get into Kintu soon.
The twelve stories take places in Manchester and Kampala and discover the journey finding a place to call home in either of the cities which she divides into two part: Departing and Returning.
My favourite story is Let’s Tell This Story Properly which unveils the strength, confidence and practicality of the woman protagonist named Nnam whose husband suddenly died in their bathroom in the age 45. What’s more shocking is the fact she learns back in Uganda as she is going to his husband funeral. How she handles the surprise is brilliant and I do look up to her character. The wisdom is taken.
Although I failed to engage in some of the stories, I found the stories are culturally enriching in a specific context of the Ugandans in Manchester. This book has introduced me into Uganda, a country, a culture, a history I know a little about. I definitely will get into Kintu soon.