A review by jayisreading
When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Both tender and heartbreaking, Asghar shares a story of three orphaned siblings processing their grief while taking care of one another as they grow up. When We Were Sisters is told from the perspective of the youngest sibling, Kausar, and while I enjoyed the story, I wish we could have gotten the perspectives of the older sisters as well, Aisha and Noreen. I also wish more could have been said about gender, which was just barely explored (though I think you could say that to be the case for a lot of other themes that appeared in this book).

Something outstanding about this book is the lyricism and creative approach to storytelling. Asghar’s writing style demonstrates that they put a considerable amount of thought into every word in order to create beautiful moments throughout the book. But, again, I wish some of the themes that were brought up (e.g., gender, religion, sibling relationships, etc.) were explored more in depth, even if it meant sacrificing some of the beautiful writing. 
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