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cooperck's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
sev32's review against another edition
4.0
Torn between a 4 and a 5 for this one.
This was, and this is no exaggeration, one of the most weird, cerebral, ambitious books I've ever read. I guess a book has to be a bit cerebral to tackle such big topics as the destructive, violent nature of capitalism and "development," the difference between "modernity" and "tradition" as it means for Middle Eastern countries, and the role of Islam itself in all that complexity. The book refused to draw easy conclusions but made lots of astute, believable observations about the nature of these things that at times, conflicted with each other. I think in general Khalid did an amazing job pointing to the bigger complexity.
Even as I've finished the book I find myself confused as to what Brother was, and what role he served throughout the novel. He seemed definitely parasitic, feeding on Youssef and draining him of life force, as well as denying him any intimate relationships with others. On the other hand though, Brother was the only one there for him as he was dying and saved him from pain on a handful of occasions. I guess Brother could be a number of things: a metaphor for some deeper, essential darkness that exists in all of us and makes us fallible and makes us human. I think especially with the issues brought up here Brother kind of reminds me of an inner battle, as with Youssef's lack of belief in Islam and desire not to pray, or his queerness and how difficult it was for him to seek and find romantic relationships.
Another really interesting thing about this book is the structure. The beginning of the novel is a bit more lighthearted as it explores the brothers' boyhood and Imam Salim's eccentricities before giving away to that action-packed middle section exploring their past, which seemed kind of like a different novel entirely. Then you have the tragic ending.
Another thing that kind of bothered me throughout the novel was the fraught relationships between the characters. The brothers obviously love and care for each other, but they often were sort of on the outs from each other, and when Youssef died, Dayo could not do anything to support him. Dayo knew he was destined for bigger things. The scene with the birthday party, where Youssef imagined everyone from his life gathered together celebrating him, was heartbreaking, especially knowing Youssef would die in Saudi and be buried with the rest of his family. Imam Salim always seemed to despise Youssef to a certain extent, extending in the hatred for Youssef's mother, Saba, which Youssef also shared in to a degree because Saba had reported on his father and got him killed. They all were tied together, as the novel mentions, through fate and a common goal, which made them overlook their personal feelings, but it just amplifies the feeling of tragedy that the love in the novel was really only to be found in such fleeting moments.
Whoo. This was a challenging read for me in terms of language and material, but also super rewarding. I'm def switching off to something a little lighter after this one. But excited to see what this author does in the future.
This was, and this is no exaggeration, one of the most weird, cerebral, ambitious books I've ever read. I guess a book has to be a bit cerebral to tackle such big topics as the destructive, violent nature of capitalism and "development," the difference between "modernity" and "tradition" as it means for Middle Eastern countries, and the role of Islam itself in all that complexity. The book refused to draw easy conclusions but made lots of astute, believable observations about the nature of these things that at times, conflicted with each other. I think in general Khalid did an amazing job pointing to the bigger complexity.
Even as I've finished the book I find myself confused as to what Brother was, and what role he served throughout the novel. He seemed definitely parasitic, feeding on Youssef and draining him of life force, as well as denying him any intimate relationships with others. On the other hand though, Brother was the only one there for him as he was dying and saved him from pain on a handful of occasions. I guess Brother could be a number of things: a metaphor for some deeper, essential darkness that exists in all of us and makes us fallible and makes us human. I think especially with the issues brought up here Brother kind of reminds me of an inner battle, as with Youssef's lack of belief in Islam and desire not to pray, or his queerness and how difficult it was for him to seek and find romantic relationships.
Another really interesting thing about this book is the structure. The beginning of the novel is a bit more lighthearted as it explores the brothers' boyhood and Imam Salim's eccentricities before giving away to that action-packed middle section exploring their past, which seemed kind of like a different novel entirely. Then you have the tragic ending.
Another thing that kind of bothered me throughout the novel was the fraught relationships between the characters. The brothers obviously love and care for each other, but they often were sort of on the outs from each other, and when Youssef died, Dayo could not do anything to support him. Dayo knew he was destined for bigger things. The scene with the birthday party, where Youssef imagined everyone from his life gathered together celebrating him, was heartbreaking, especially knowing Youssef would die in Saudi and be buried with the rest of his family. Imam Salim always seemed to despise Youssef to a certain extent, extending in the hatred for Youssef's mother, Saba, which Youssef also shared in to a degree because Saba had reported on his father and got him killed. They all were tied together, as the novel mentions, through fate and a common goal, which made them overlook their personal feelings, but it just amplifies the feeling of tragedy that the love in the novel was really only to be found in such fleeting moments.
Whoo. This was a challenging read for me in terms of language and material, but also super rewarding. I'm def switching off to something a little lighter after this one. But excited to see what this author does in the future.
zachcarter's review against another edition
5.0
The world is full of family you don't know.
What a gorgeous, messy, imaginative debut novel. It deals with some really interesting ideas, like the ethics and morals of revolution and world-building, and the concept of family, especially in a Muslim community. It's such a genre-bending novel that jumps from drama to sci-fi to political, religious and back, I felt like it was a mashup of The Matrix, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Terry Gillam's Brazil, and so much more. It's rare that I would want to re-read a novel so quickly, but I'm already putting this back on TBR to reread.
What a gorgeous, messy, imaginative debut novel. It deals with some really interesting ideas, like the ethics and morals of revolution and world-building, and the concept of family, especially in a Muslim community. It's such a genre-bending novel that jumps from drama to sci-fi to political, religious and back, I felt like it was a mashup of The Matrix, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Terry Gillam's Brazil, and so much more. It's rare that I would want to re-read a novel so quickly, but I'm already putting this back on TBR to reread.
elliottfinch's review against another edition
1.0
DNF: i really wanted to like this book. i liked it at first. the ideas he was exploring in the beginning were interesting to me. i liked reading about youssef, i liked what it was written in the form of a letter. i liked the concept of an imaginary friend that eats memories. i liked the setting. i was excited to get to know the characters. unfortunately i never did.
first of all: i think the writing was alright, but slightly too flowery without purpose. usually, writing that is heavy with metaphor adds to the atmosphere, or at least gives you insight into the characters state of mind. this book didn’t seem to use its style to flesh out its world. i found it strangely wooden. the characters felt underdeveloped to me, there was nothing human about them that made me care, it was all just a dark spiral. i felt like i was reading about people i didn’t know. dayo is smart. iseul is tall and plays basketball and has a nice wife and cute babies. youssef is… who even is he? what does he even CARE about? i spent 200 pages with these people and i couldn’t tell you one beautiful, interesting quality about any of them. in my opinion characters are the foundation of a good story, wanting to know them, wanting to hear their thoughts and ideas and perspectives on the world. there is no one here i care for. they are all strangers to me. all strangers except salim, who i hate with all my heart.
second of all: the plot, from what i read and the point i got to, was convoluted and unbelievable. the villains are like comic book characters, their actions and ideas are comically evil. i felt like laughing at the points that were supposed to be traumatic to the characters inside the story. that’s not great, in my opinion. i normally don’t feel that lack of empathy toward the characters.
last point:
i think this book should have come with a content warning. having your main character sexually assault another character (along with drugging them and taking photos of them) with no warning is upsetting. no matter what the character may have done. no one deserves that. the book seems to expect you to root for salim in this moment, but i felt like throwing up. it was too close to terrible violence that has happened to people i love and care for. i was ready to dismiss that and move forward, thinking “maybe this is just the worst point and i can read more from here that will be less heavy”.
unfortunately, after that salim did more irredeemable things. he tested his own makeshift drugs on animals, and administered them to children.
he killed a baby and a cat. ezra was glossed over rather quickly. not so with the cat. the descriptions of leviathans dead body made me so sad. she was basically the only character that was purely good and loveable. innocent trusting little levi who was sweet to youssef and a loyal companion to salim. that was the point i stopped reading. it wasn’t worth my mental energy anymore. this book made me feel disgusting. i wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. i don’t care to learn what happened to the characters, i don’t care what brother is or why he exists or how to get rid of him, i just feel awful inside after reading this. i usually make myself finish books even if i hate them but reading this feels like self inflicted torture. i would gladly use it for kindling to make a fire.
first of all: i think the writing was alright, but slightly too flowery without purpose. usually, writing that is heavy with metaphor adds to the atmosphere, or at least gives you insight into the characters state of mind. this book didn’t seem to use its style to flesh out its world. i found it strangely wooden. the characters felt underdeveloped to me, there was nothing human about them that made me care, it was all just a dark spiral. i felt like i was reading about people i didn’t know. dayo is smart. iseul is tall and plays basketball and has a nice wife and cute babies. youssef is… who even is he? what does he even CARE about? i spent 200 pages with these people and i couldn’t tell you one beautiful, interesting quality about any of them. in my opinion characters are the foundation of a good story, wanting to know them, wanting to hear their thoughts and ideas and perspectives on the world. there is no one here i care for. they are all strangers to me. all strangers except salim, who i hate with all my heart.
second of all: the plot, from what i read and the point i got to, was convoluted and unbelievable. the villains are like comic book characters, their actions and ideas are comically evil. i felt like laughing at the points that were supposed to be traumatic to the characters inside the story. that’s not great, in my opinion. i normally don’t feel that lack of empathy toward the characters.
last point:
i think this book should have come with a content warning. having your main character sexually assault another character (along with drugging them and taking photos of them) with no warning is upsetting. no matter what the character may have done. no one deserves that. the book seems to expect you to root for salim in this moment, but i felt like throwing up. it was too close to terrible violence that has happened to people i love and care for. i was ready to dismiss that and move forward, thinking “maybe this is just the worst point and i can read more from here that will be less heavy”.
unfortunately, after that salim did more irredeemable things. he tested his own makeshift drugs on animals, and administered them to children.
he killed a baby and a cat. ezra was glossed over rather quickly. not so with the cat. the descriptions of leviathans dead body made me so sad. she was basically the only character that was purely good and loveable. innocent trusting little levi who was sweet to youssef and a loyal companion to salim. that was the point i stopped reading. it wasn’t worth my mental energy anymore. this book made me feel disgusting. i wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. i don’t care to learn what happened to the characters, i don’t care what brother is or why he exists or how to get rid of him, i just feel awful inside after reading this. i usually make myself finish books even if i hate them but reading this feels like self inflicted torture. i would gladly use it for kindling to make a fire.
jwilly19's review against another edition
4.0
This was a pretty stunning first novel. Khalid creates believable, compelling characters effortlessly, and his prose is simply beautiful. I’m not sure he kept perfect control of every tendril of the plot or what he was trying to say with them, but still, this book is hugely rewarding, original and impressive.
bushraboblai's review against another edition
5.0
The premise of the book itself seemed like something I would be obsessed with. Three Muslim orphan boys of different ethnicities adopted by an imam on Staten Island who is mystical and mysterious? Then a voyage into Saudi Arabia in their adulthood to find the truth about their father and what happened to their biological parents? Sounds like an odyssey story that deserves to be an instant classic.
There are aspects of my identity that I don’t completely feel safe discussing on the internet as it sends certain demographics of people into violent fits of rage. Reading the first part, which is narrated by Youssef (which by the way, is my favourite name) manages to express all the uncertainty, love, apprehension, and coming into your own moral understanding while living in a world that seems to be built to ostracize you is something that has been relevant for many decades for Muslim youth in America and only now are the younger generations able to express how unfair and ridiculously unnecessary it all is. I also think about the connection to the name of the Prophet Yusuf (AS) who became orphaned due to being sold into slavery by his own brothers (another metaphorical backstabbing) and how he is transported to a foreign society (Egypt) where he is put through trials and tribulations simply due to him being an outsider. I think this theme particularly applies to the parallel queer storylines of Youssef himself, and his adopted father and biological father dealing with this othering and the danger that comes along with it in a conservative religious school in the middle of Saudi Arabia
I might be the sole voice here, but I also really enjoyed the second part where Salim writes a letter to his sons and the whole thing is a little confusing and narratively doesn’t make sense. The reason I like this is because it reflects his mental state after the Saudi Arabian government has messed with his memories. I think that was a really clever rhetorical choice.
That same lack of cohesion and structure is reflected in the third part of Youssef’s narration as he suffers from the same disease and we see how being in a ~certain~ ultra high tech city in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert messes with his mental skills and cognition even more.
What I like best in the book is the exploration of the human character: the dangers of fundamentalism in a religion founded on the basis of peace, Sufism, the mysticism of religion, being a harassed group while following a religion, and growing up in America in the shadow of the melting pot propaganda while having lateral violence being committed to people that look like you at the same time.
There are aspects of my identity that I don’t completely feel safe discussing on the internet as it sends certain demographics of people into violent fits of rage. Reading the first part, which is narrated by Youssef (which by the way, is my favourite name) manages to express all the uncertainty, love, apprehension, and coming into your own moral understanding while living in a world that seems to be built to ostracize you is something that has been relevant for many decades for Muslim youth in America and only now are the younger generations able to express how unfair and ridiculously unnecessary it all is. I also think about the connection to the name of the Prophet Yusuf (AS) who became orphaned due to being sold into slavery by his own brothers (another metaphorical backstabbing) and how he is transported to a foreign society (Egypt) where he is put through trials and tribulations simply due to him being an outsider. I think this theme particularly applies to the parallel queer storylines of Youssef himself, and his adopted father and biological father dealing with this othering and the danger that comes along with it in a conservative religious school in the middle of Saudi Arabia
I might be the sole voice here, but I also really enjoyed the second part where Salim writes a letter to his sons and the whole thing is a little confusing and narratively doesn’t make sense. The reason I like this is because it reflects his mental state after the Saudi Arabian government has messed with his memories. I think that was a really clever rhetorical choice.
That same lack of cohesion and structure is reflected in the third part of Youssef’s narration as he suffers from the same disease and we see how being in a ~certain~ ultra high tech city in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert messes with his mental skills and cognition even more.
What I like best in the book is the exploration of the human character: the dangers of fundamentalism in a religion founded on the basis of peace, Sufism, the mysticism of religion, being a harassed group while following a religion, and growing up in America in the shadow of the melting pot propaganda while having lateral violence being committed to people that look like you at the same time.
barton_brb's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
birkenstock_official's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Amazing read I picked up on a whim. Thoroughly a worthy read, and while dense and convoluted at times manages to benefit from difficulty in reading it. The third act stumbles a bit from an otherwise tight narrative, but pulls itself together to stick the landing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Sexual violence and Animal cruelty
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
3.0
‘Your grandfather knows memory is often a lie, sealed with the hot wax of repetition.’
From the publisher’s blurb:
‘In 1990, three boys are born, unrelated but intertwined by circumstance: Dayo, Iseul, and Youssef. They are adopted as infants and live in a shared bedroom perched atop a mosque in one of Staten Island’s most diverse and precarious neighborhoods, Coolidge. The three boys are an inseparable if conspicuous trio: Dayo is of Nigerian origin, Iseul is Korean, and Youssef indeterminately Middle Eastern. Nevertheless, Youssef is keeping a secret: he sees a hallucinatory double, an imaginary friend who seems absolutely real, a shapeshifting familiar he calls Brother.
The boys’ adoptive father, Imam Salim, is known for his radical sermons, but at home he is often absent, spending long evenings in his study with whiskey-laced coffee, writing letters to his former compatriots back in Saudi Arabia. Like Youssef, he too has secrets, including the cause of his failing health and the truth about what happened to the boys’ parents. When Imam Salim’s path takes him back to Saudi Arabia, the boys will be forced to follow. There they will be captivated by an opulent, almost futuristic world, a linear city that seems to offer a more sustainable modernity than that of the West. But they will have to change if they want to survive in this new world, and the arrival of a creature as powerful as Brother will not go unnoticed.’
Yes, there is a lot happening in this novel. The story unfolds over three parts. Part 1 ‘Spirit of America’ focusses on the boys’ childhood and their relationship with Iman Salim. Youssef is our narrator, and he brings the boys and their surroundings to life. Initially I found Brother confusing, but as the story unfolded, I became accustomed to his presence. Sort of.
‘I have kept your history from you for so long, there is a chance you might see it as part of an orchestration.’
I wanted to know more about Iman Salim, and in Part 2 ‘The Barbarians’ he recounts his life in Saudi Arabia and how he came to adopt Dayo, Iseul, and Youssef. Iman Salim is a complex character and, while I occasionally felt sympathy for him, I found it difficult to care for him. Life is full of difficult choices.
‘Boys, terror is fear that overwhelms the mind.’
In Part 3 ‘The Reunion of Broken Parts’, Imam Salim has returned to Saudi Arabia. Dayo, Iseul and Youssef, all adults now, journey there. This is a futuristic Saudi Arabia, one full of both innovation and dark secrets, a dystopia which I can imagine and accept.
‘The world is full of family you don’t know.’
If you are looking for a neat linear narrative, look elsewhere. This is a complex novel which raises several issues including family, guilt, sexuality, and control by the state. While it has elements of both dystopia and science fiction, it does not neatly belong to either category.
Worth reading.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
mirandaosmelak's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
It's an ineresting book with fascinating insights into religous fundamentalism, but... character soup. I feel like some character just seemed a bit samey and I didn't understand that much many of them.