SOMEBODY LOVES YOU

A lyrical debut novel narrated by a girl who won’t speak.

That Arshi primarily works as a poet will come as no surprise: Her first novel is made up of short, tight chapters—some less than a page—that are themselves made up of sentences composed with a great deal of intensity. Arshi emphasizes the lyricism of the line and the strength of the image rather than more, say, prosaic matters. Plot, for example, is not at a premium. At the book’s center is a family: two sisters, Ruby and Rania, and their parents. Ruby narrates the book’s events, such as they are. Her observations are poignant, unique, and frequently witty. At a party, Ruby notes that she feels “a pinch of jealousy”—a friend of hers “looks normal and beautiful, or she’s done a really good job of acting that way, which is equally impressive.” That Ruby is Arshi’s narrator is already a point of tension in the book: Ruby doesn’t speak—not to her family, her friends, or to anyone else—but as narrator, she speaks quite clearly to her readers, who quickly get a sense of her unique voice. This gimmick doesn’t always work, likely because Arshi doesn’t fully explore either Ruby’s silence or her reason for maintaining it. Ruby’s mother seems to be suffering a psychological breakdown, and her sister, Rania, suffers an act of sexual violence, but these issues, too, go undeveloped. Arshi’s approach to fiction is prismatic, and while the result is frequently moving, not one of the strands of her story ends up resolved.

In her first novel, Arshi prioritizes the elegance of her sentences over the development of her characters and story.