Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Hijab Butch Blues

Being queer on top of being an immigrant on top of being Asian on top of being a woman - that’s been a difficult journey. Each identity is always complex, but altogether, it’s a tightly tangled giant ball of yarn. So while I couldn’t completely identify with her, given I’m an atheist, I could understand a lot of what she talked about from my perspective, and it felt like she might understand me too, which is why I loved this book.

Content Warnings

arayo's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative reflective

5.0

Content Warnings

amina_writes_books's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.0

this books written narrative style is not at all unique from a literary point of view. There's allot of harsh transitions initially from the writers early days to present day at the start of the narrative, then this drops off entirely. The focus on the various prophets is unique, however Ill executed. And as the author "radicalizes" in her journey, her interpretations of the Quran become more and more abstract, and less and less backed by the tasfirs she supposedly has read. As someone who was raised a practicing Muslim and who is also queer, this book only highlights the abusive and oppressive nature of Islam as a whole. Very let down by this read as it had so much promise for many like me.

Content Warnings

mfrisk's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

3.5

I read this book for a Queer book club I started and so the discussions we had around this book and the additional depth I gained from hearing how others felt about this book definitely shaped how I read and understood it. I felt that this book overall was very impactful and would highly recommend it as a book for book club groups as it gets into a variety of topics surrounding intersectional queerness including how queerness intersects with race, religion, immigration status, physical appearance, and how to navigate relationships, change, and to strive towards a better and more just world.

I think this book was incredibly impactful and really the main gripes I had with the book were focused on the structure of the book itself. At times more towards the first half of the book the switches between childhood and adulthood felt more jarring in terms of the flow of the story as well as the interweaving of stories from the Quran. While I saw the value in the stories being told and the reflection it made the book slower to get into initially but became more relevant as the book went on to better understand Lamya’s later adulthood experiences and their changing ways of navigating different spaces.

Content Warnings