The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
karieh13's review against another edition
3.0
It took me a while to start enjoying “The Writing on My Forehead”. Though I realized this at the time, my copy gives me further proof in that the first marker I placed denoting something I wanted to comment on was on Page 71.
Until then, I hadn’t felt much from or about the character. The words and the story were interesting enough, but there wasn’t much…energy, or life behind them. And then finally,
“Something flickered in my mother’s eyes. Suddenly, the person I had though of as my biggest obstacle switched sides to become my biggest ally. The first sign of support came in the form of silence. That night, my mother offered no further argument against my going.”
Although it’s not the main character, young Saira Qadar that says these words, it is in this scene that it felt like she started to really think about things bigger than herself, started to realize what members of her family had experienced in their lives, started to understand that they had an impact on her life, on the choices she would face.
This book is story about the past and the future…letting go of one and making the decision to move into the other. Saira’s story seems mostly that of an observer…a passive one at first, and then one that moves into the stories and sometimes changes them irrevocably.
A character that enters her life much later on says it far better than I. “Fiction is truer than journalism, you ask? But journalism is based on facts. Facts. What could be truer than facts? Well, facts are often disparate and contradictory. Their complexity eludes our understanding. How to assimilate them – these unruly, misshapen entities? Journalists are reporters. Reporters are supposed to report. The temptation to do more than report is irresistible, however – all for a good cause, of course. To clarify, explain, contextualize – to help people understand what we ourselves do not.”
I love the idea of facts as “unruly, misshapen entities”. So often facts are portrayed as cold, unchangeable, set in stone. But facts, especially those about and within the lives of human beings, are rarely ever the same when seen through different eyes.
“In journalism, truth is too easily rendered irrelevant, subject to the design and construction of facts. In fiction, facts are irrelevant, subject to the storyteller’s quest for truth.”
Saira, as she moves through the lives of her grandparents, parents, relatives and the world beyond, experiences firsthand the great divide that can live between facts and truth. And as she does so, the emotion, the feeling behind her words is finally revealed.
“…in journalism, you have to maintain your distance. You can’t bear witness if your eyes are full of tears.”
That distance proves to be very difficult for Saira, especially when it comes to the big secret of the novel (that’s not a secret at ALL so it bothered me how carefully Haji was trying to write her way around it).
As Saira grows up, the facts she discovers come with a price. As she becomes more involved in the story that is her life, she starts to understand how sometimes it is impossible to make a choice that is right on all counts. Most choices are right for some people and once made, seem incredibly wrong to others.
“And is that not something you will regret? Later?” Her question was in the wrong tense. The answer I repressed was a bittersweet mixture of regret and remorse already realized, processed and assimilated into who I was. Later was not something I worried much about.”
By the end of the book, I cared a great deal for Saira, and although mine is a life very different from hers…I felt that I’d been shown a great many truths. There is some joy and a great deal of sorrow in this book, but in the end there is the story of a girl who becomes a woman…in a family and a world she may not completely understand, but is determined to experience .
Until then, I hadn’t felt much from or about the character. The words and the story were interesting enough, but there wasn’t much…energy, or life behind them. And then finally,
“Something flickered in my mother’s eyes. Suddenly, the person I had though of as my biggest obstacle switched sides to become my biggest ally. The first sign of support came in the form of silence. That night, my mother offered no further argument against my going.”
Although it’s not the main character, young Saira Qadar that says these words, it is in this scene that it felt like she started to really think about things bigger than herself, started to realize what members of her family had experienced in their lives, started to understand that they had an impact on her life, on the choices she would face.
This book is story about the past and the future…letting go of one and making the decision to move into the other. Saira’s story seems mostly that of an observer…a passive one at first, and then one that moves into the stories and sometimes changes them irrevocably.
A character that enters her life much later on says it far better than I. “Fiction is truer than journalism, you ask? But journalism is based on facts. Facts. What could be truer than facts? Well, facts are often disparate and contradictory. Their complexity eludes our understanding. How to assimilate them – these unruly, misshapen entities? Journalists are reporters. Reporters are supposed to report. The temptation to do more than report is irresistible, however – all for a good cause, of course. To clarify, explain, contextualize – to help people understand what we ourselves do not.”
I love the idea of facts as “unruly, misshapen entities”. So often facts are portrayed as cold, unchangeable, set in stone. But facts, especially those about and within the lives of human beings, are rarely ever the same when seen through different eyes.
“In journalism, truth is too easily rendered irrelevant, subject to the design and construction of facts. In fiction, facts are irrelevant, subject to the storyteller’s quest for truth.”
Saira, as she moves through the lives of her grandparents, parents, relatives and the world beyond, experiences firsthand the great divide that can live between facts and truth. And as she does so, the emotion, the feeling behind her words is finally revealed.
“…in journalism, you have to maintain your distance. You can’t bear witness if your eyes are full of tears.”
That distance proves to be very difficult for Saira, especially when it comes to the big secret of the novel (that’s not a secret at ALL so it bothered me how carefully Haji was trying to write her way around it).
As Saira grows up, the facts she discovers come with a price. As she becomes more involved in the story that is her life, she starts to understand how sometimes it is impossible to make a choice that is right on all counts. Most choices are right for some people and once made, seem incredibly wrong to others.
“And is that not something you will regret? Later?” Her question was in the wrong tense. The answer I repressed was a bittersweet mixture of regret and remorse already realized, processed and assimilated into who I was. Later was not something I worried much about.”
By the end of the book, I cared a great deal for Saira, and although mine is a life very different from hers…I felt that I’d been shown a great many truths. There is some joy and a great deal of sorrow in this book, but in the end there is the story of a girl who becomes a woman…in a family and a world she may not completely understand, but is determined to experience .
misspalah's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“That, my friends, is the difference between journalism and fiction. Power. The power that transforms a relatively obscure—no matter how highly acclaimed—literary figure into worldwide headlines. The contents of Salman Rushdie’s novels—his stories—will never, never have the impact that the story about Salman Rushdie had. There is a lot of posturing about this—about Rushdie’s right to expression from one side, about the blasphemous nature of his work from another—but what he expressed was read neither by the vast majority of those who claimed his work to be insupportably offensive nor by those whom they, in turn, offended. They—those rioting hordes, those mullahs and fatwa-issuing ayatollahs—relied on the news. The same goes in the so-called Western world—so-called, because this kind of delineation, it seems to me, is a dangerous affectation that has nothing to do with the fact that “we live in one world, all of us, with equal responsibility to care for it and equal opportunity to exploit and defile it. In the so-called Western world, few cared about Rushdie’s novel per se. It was its effect that was the story, not its content. If that effect had not been reported on here, Salman Rushdie’s book would have remained tucked away, however highly appreciated, in the literary niche where brilliant writing remains buried. Am I right? Can we agree on this? That there is more power in journalism than in fiction?” Majid Khan paused for a long moment.”
- The Writing on My Forehead by Nafisa Haji
.
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This is the perfect embodiment of third culture individuals (TCI) story. We followed the journey of Saira growing up in typical Pakistani & Indian Culture but no longer wanted to be tied in with the values that her parents and grandparents grew up with. Saira was torn between chasing her freedom with whatever her parents felt would bring shame to the family and incompatible with the values that they have taught her. I am not going to lie that I was more invested with the story of Saira’s grandparents whom she called (Big Nanima, Nanima and Nana) in the first part of the story. The dynamics that they shared knowing that the fate of being abandoned by her husband could have gone to Big Nanima instead of Nanima or the possibility that Nana might have been happy with Big Nanima if he was married to her somehow intrigued me. BUT the book was not about them. They were one of the secrets that has been concealed from outsiders despite many knew about the affairs that Saira’s grandfather left her grandma to be with some white woman in England. That alone strengthen Saira’s resolve and determination that she refused to be married off at the young age and wanted to pursue her studies / take her time as much as she can to figure out her future. Then, Saira met her cousins from her father’s side, Mehnaz and Mohsin. They were raised differently (almost too Americans) and it did come as a surprise to her. They eventually bonded once Mohsin revealed that their paternal grandfather was a freedom fighter (which is another secret) and towards the end of life, he was hugely disappointed with the choices that both his sons opted (Mohsin’s father and Saira’s father). One chooses to capitalize wealth by siding with the riches and the other choose to serve western countries instead of returning to motherland and working with its people. Over the period of teenagerhood and adulthood, Saira and Mohsin grew more closer, and it did put a huge distance for her, and her family given that Mohsin has been disowned after revealing that he’s gay. Saira pursued journalism as a career option and often collaborated with Mohsin to publish newsworthy material. The second half of the book was good but not as good as the first half, at least in my opinion. I felt that many gaps were left unexplored. I don’t know whether its intentional or the author felt readers are capable in filling in themselves. I don’t dwell much on the dynamic that Saira has with her sister because I believe it was almost universal experience of being a girl to be compared to our sister or female cousin. Of course, the favorable one is always the pretty one or the demure one. It was never the bold one, the brainy one or the courageous one. We were often pitted against each other by our mother, aunties, grandmothers, and extended relatives. It was like a rite of passage especially if you are growing up in Asian family. I knew exactly how Big Nanima, and Saira’s felt of being overlooked and ignored. Overall, this is an impressive novel for a debut. The author served a multi layered family stories that emphasized cultural and historical ties to their identity and how one’s choice may alter one’s destiny throughout their whole life. This would be 5 stars if the ending was not rushed.
lariluna's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
bak8382's review against another edition
3.0
Saira has been trying to break free of her family traditions since she was a child; as an adult she chooses a career as a journalist while her sister marries and raises a daughter. All that changes when tragedy forces her to come home, and she looks to the past to make sense of her future.
It's always interesting to me to read about a culture that I'm unfamiliar with, and it was great to get a historical context within this modern day story.
This novel sparked an interesting discussion in my book club about the keeping of family secrets, and what the consequences can be.
It's always interesting to me to read about a culture that I'm unfamiliar with, and it was great to get a historical context within this modern day story.
This novel sparked an interesting discussion in my book club about the keeping of family secrets, and what the consequences can be.
dajana88's review against another edition
3.0
Trebala je biti za četvorku, lijepo napisan roman, nije razvučen, dobro povezivanje prošlosti i sadašnjosti, ali onda me kraj razočarao. Po meni nepotreban zaplet jer i bez toga roman ima smisla.
dajana88's review against another edition
3.0
S jedne strane Istok: Pakistan, islam, Sadiq i Deena.
S druge strane Zapad: SAD, kršćanstvo, Jo, Angela i Faith.
Iako se u pozadini dva različita svijeta sukobljavaju, likovi čije životne priče pratimo tragaju za istinom, traže oprost i žele se zbližiti.
Radnju pratimo iz različitih perspektiva i polako slažemo mozaik, povezujemo likove i njihove sudbine. U tim različitim perspektivama leži i najveći minus romana - svaki lik pripovijeda na isti način, osim što se kod onih koji govore urdu ubacuju riječi i izrazi na tom jeziku. Da je autorica uložila malo više truda u oblikovanje likova njihovim specifičnim načinima pripovijedanja, roman bi bio itekako bolji. Ovako je samo prosječan - oslanja se na emocije (priznajem, izmamio mi je suzu pred kraj) i znatiželju čitatelja (zato sam ga brzo i pročitala).
*Ispunjeni ciljevi: pročitana knjiga s moje police, pročitana knjiga spisateljice*
S druge strane Zapad: SAD, kršćanstvo, Jo, Angela i Faith.
Iako se u pozadini dva različita svijeta sukobljavaju, likovi čije životne priče pratimo tragaju za istinom, traže oprost i žele se zbližiti.
Radnju pratimo iz različitih perspektiva i polako slažemo mozaik, povezujemo likove i njihove sudbine. U tim različitim perspektivama leži i najveći minus romana - svaki lik pripovijeda na isti način, osim što se kod onih koji govore urdu ubacuju riječi i izrazi na tom jeziku. Da je autorica uložila malo više truda u oblikovanje likova njihovim specifičnim načinima pripovijedanja, roman bi bio itekako bolji. Ovako je samo prosječan - oslanja se na emocije (priznajem, izmamio mi je suzu pred kraj) i znatiželju čitatelja (zato sam ga brzo i pročitala).
*Ispunjeni ciljevi: pročitana knjiga s moje police, pročitana knjiga spisateljice*
beltorres91's review against another edition
4.0
Me gustó y me entretuvo bastante, me gusta leer sobre culturas que no conozco. Quizás el final no me convenció mucho, no me cierra del todo lo que se revela, pero dentro de todo es un buen libro, con una narrativa simple, que cuenta la historia de una chica que se debate entre lo que quiere y lo que se espera de ella.
dzidzigerica's review against another edition
5.0
This book is just wonderful.
It is beautiful and moving,and yet really tragic.
It is sad,and I just love how the writer describes emotions of the characters.
Worth reading.
It is beautiful and moving,and yet really tragic.
It is sad,and I just love how the writer describes emotions of the characters.
Worth reading.
emmaaraldsen's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
maigahannatu's review against another edition
4.0
Saira is an American of Indo-Pakistani descent. This story is one of a third-culture kid, living between two cultures and the tensions that can cause. It is also a story of family secrets many of which come to light while Saira is growing up. I thought this was a good book. I appreciated that even though some of the family secrets dealt with infidelity, there were no steamy bedroom scenes. The story was told with sufficient details and I felt was more powerful than adding in details we didn't need to know. I thought parts of the story were fairly predictable, but other than that it was well written. It does include some language that some might find offensive.