Reviews

this was a compelling plot, following the life of a Palestinian american principal at an Islamic school for girls who comes face-to-face with an Islamophobic school shooter

while the scenes of the shooting are harrowing & tense, horrifyingly showing the shooter’s descent into online spaces riddled with anti-Muslim sentiment & his horrifying mindset leading up to the shooting, they are not the main focus of the book. instead, most of the book focuses on Afaf & how her life has unfolded from her fraught childhood to finding solace in Islam to her role as principal of the school

i felt like this book had an important story to tell about the role of faith in people’s lives, rising anti-Muslim sentiment in america, & generational trauma. however, it felt incredibly heavy-handed & i wanted more nuanced critical insights — especially regarding the generational trauma. this thread felt super surface-level, as the author mentions but never deeply explores the connections between Afaf’s parents’ Palestinian heritage/history & their family conflicts

overall a unique & interesting story that i just wish had been told with a little more craft, nuance, & depth!

gauravgary's review against another edition

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3.0

This book touched very important topics on immigration,child abuse/neglect,religion,religious persecution of women and education. Unfortunately it doesn’t dig down deep and leaves a lot to be desired. It comes close to acknowledging the faults of religion and religious people, but stops short of calling them out for what they are and then suddenly justifying their importance. This book felt incomplete or haphazardly edited, it felt like during editing process bunch of chapters were straight deleted. It got 3 stars for writing style and for starting the conversation.

annasforages's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

wow my heart is so warm yet so weary after reading this magnificent work.
it took me awhile to get into the book bc reading slump, but once (MINOR SPOILER ALERT) Nada ran away and we reach Afaf's adolescence, I couldn't put it down.
I am not super familiar w Islamic practices, but I think this book so beautifully portrays the mystery & hope religion can give you, especially in times of loss & despair.
will 100% recommend this to anyone/everyone!!! esp those who would benefit from reading a different cultural and religious POV