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A review by savvylit
Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Lamya H is an immensely skilled memoirist. Hijab Butch Blues is full of emotionally evocative remembrances and shrewd reflections in equal measure. I appreciated her unique perspective as a devout Muslim and queer woman. The ways that she strengthened her sense of self alongside her faith were fascinating to experience secondhand.
That being said - and this is entirely my personal preference - I did not love the amount of religious parables retold throughout this memoir. I think it worked for Lamya's narrative, but I sometimes felt like I wanted to just know her and not the prophets of yore. Perhaps it's because I was already familiar with many of these parables as they're the same as many Christian ones (Jesus, Moses, Jonah) and that was the faith in which I was raised. Or perhaps it's because I am an atheist and religious parables in general give me the ick. If not for the parables, this would have been a five-star memoir for me.
That being said - and this is entirely my personal preference - I did not love the amount of religious parables retold throughout this memoir. I think it worked for Lamya's narrative, but I sometimes felt like I wanted to just know her and not the prophets of yore. Perhaps it's because I was already familiar with many of these parables as they're the same as many Christian ones (Jesus, Moses, Jonah) and that was the faith in which I was raised. Or perhaps it's because I am an atheist and religious parables in general give me the ick. If not for the parables, this would have been a five-star memoir for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Lesbophobia