A review by laurahastoomanywips
The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A very thought provoking and sometimes emotional read. Told across two voices: The main one being Afaf, a headteacher at a Muslim girls school. The other the man who one day walks into her school and shoots dead 14 of her pupils and their class teacher.
It is told via flashback telling what the build up was to him deciding to attack the school and Afaf's life from childhood building up to that day. She is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, telling the difficulties she experienced being a from an immigrant family, her father's drinking and his conversion to Islam, her mother's mental breakdown after her older sister ran away from home and Afaf's own conversion to Islam, becoming a teacher, meeting her husband and dealing with the fallout from the 9/11 attacks.
Showcases the mental health issues and gun laws that allow things like this to happen and also how the "echochambers" on the Internet have a part to play in fueling the hatred of the "others" often given as an excuse for these acts.
Definitely a "current" issue given the attacks in Buffalo and Texas that occurred this month.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings