A review by jazairia
Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali

4.25

TW: sexual assault // attempted rape

4.5
an absolute delight! i cannot believe this is sk ali's debut novel and i cannot wait to get my hands on my own physical copy.

the story follows janna a young american hijabi in the wake of her sexual assault. janna is a teen going through different kind of ordeals; the aftermath of her parents' divorce, a muslim egyptian mother and a non religious indian father, her non muslim friends not understanding her faith or why she's wearing the hijab, her muslim friends not being open to her hanging out with (or have a crush on) non muslims, all the while dealing with her friend's cousin farooq who's oh so pious and yet tried to rape her. 

β€œit's only me to face everyone. just me, janna yusuf, insignificant nobody, whose sole redeeming feature is being friends with fidda noor, aka fizz, of the famously pious noor family. a family that boasts about fizz's only male cousin: a quran memorizer, a beacon of light for all youth.”



while faith is an important part of who she is, it doesn't define janna's whole person. she's a teen like everyone else, worrying about her appearence, falling in love and how her muslim identity falls into all of that. 
in spite of dark themes being some major topic addressed, ali managed to narrate a story brimming with hope, love, friendship, wit, faith and overcoming assault. it's a book that speaks to muslim readers but also those who have very little (or zero) knowledge of islam, sk ali effortlessly conveys bits and pieces of insight which won't leave you feeling overwhelmed but still help you grasp the general dogma of islam. 

i also found it interesting that fizz and aliya didn't trust nor believe janna when she finally came forward and courageously revealed that her cousin farooq is not who he pretends to be. meanwhile tats who seemed naive and self centered, and especially dismissive to janna's practice of her faith, actually put her first. when i first thought tats was a terrible friend, it turned out janna wasn't the greatest friend either.


i do felt like the ending was a bit rushed or cut short, i wish we had a few more chapters to depict how everything went down for farooq and how her story unfolds
with nuah...
or will it be the focus of book 2? 

all in all, a beautifully empowering and authentic story, i am overjoyed i finally picked it up my tbr <3 


β€œi shake off allthe feeling of ickiness he creates in me, every bit, and it rolls off like it's oily gunk. and then i stop. [...] i stop because it's gone.
the disgust i feel at me is gone. the gunk of self-blame dissolves to leave just me standing there.”



and i hope, for anyone going through any kind of assault or harassment, to know that you're not alone and just like janna, will have friends, family or professionals you can count on to talk to and eventually manage to overcome the situation you're in.



...
(haven't proofread my review please bear with any grammatical errors or typos and keep in mind english is not my first language)
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