An intriguing but idiosyncratic combination of fiction, art, and political writing.
A debut work argues for a basic-income policy using the tale of a Lebanese woman in America.
Growing up in Beirut, LouLou has a traditional family that discourages any behavior it deems sexual or inappropriate. The Lebanese civil war is raging and religious fervor is on the rise. Organizations like Hezbollah insist that Muslim women wear hijabs. “Uninformed about sexuality at the age of sixteen,” LouLou muses, “I didn’t know the name for vagina in my own Arabic language, nor in my second and third languages, French and English.” At the age of 20, she and her siblings leave the country to live with an uncle in Austin, Texas, where she begins to take college classes. There, she finds herself in an arranged marriage to Maher, a Lebanese man, while in love with an American named Rafael, who turns out to be keeping secrets from her. Feeling as if she has no control over her life, she runs away from her family only to end up homeless, broke, and trapped in an abusive relationship. Interspersed with LouLou’s story are brief essays on the topic of basic income, which Nassif argues would mitigate or prevent many of the problems that afflict LouLou and people like her. The author’s prose is urgent and conversational, whether narrating LouLou’s trials or opining on the necessity of basic income. “If the poor women and men of suburban Beirut had a basic income,” Nassif writes, “many would become free to choose their authentic path without others deciding it for them. Many of these Lebanese women wouldn’t have covered themselves with a hijab or a chador in order to marry and receive income from the Hezb.” Accompanying the text are several striking, full-color illustrations by the author, depicting surreal visions of sexuality and human relationships. It’s an odd, slightly unstable mix of genres. LouLou’s story is memoiristic, without the normal shape of a novel, and the basic-income material, while well argued, feels almost like a non sequitur. Even so, the work cumulatively offers a remarkable portrait of a woman whose well-being is constantly threatened by the caprices of the men around her.
An intriguing but idiosyncratic combination of fiction, art, and political writing.Pub Date: March 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-692-07136-6
Page Count: 135
Publisher: Noon & Ta', LLC
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A loving and approachable coming-of-age story about generational change.
Strict traditions face encroaching modernity in this memoir of a Muslim girl.
The author was a jeweler’s daughter in Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka, in the community of Galle Fort—at first blush, a traditional Muslim neighborhood. But in the 1950s, things were changing; already, the women of the island went out more than they had in years past and veiled themselves less. Before she reached the age of 12, Azad was allowed to spend time with her Christian friend Penny, ride a bicycle, and wear a bathing suit in public, and her doting, conservative father (whom she calls “Wappah”) was rarely unable to deny his daughter’s wants. However, her father still was committed to “the fierce protection of female honor” and still expected the women of his family to make a “good marriage,” so the author was “brought inside” when she came of age. But she was still interested in furthering her education and charmed by her English friends and Western comic books, so she hoped to attend university in the near future. But after her cousin ran off with a young man and Wappah reacted to the situation in an unexpectedly violent manner, subtle changes to custom and culture became more difficult to achieve. Azad’s debut memoir focuses on her memories of childhood and how she struggled against the more stringent aspects of her Muslim upbringing. However, her story is also the story of Galle Fort as the old-school residents struggled with young people becoming more Westernized. The setting is beautifully drawn, and its history comes alive. Just as important is the author’s father’s journey as a man who’s open to change but unsure of it. The book introduces many facets of Muslim culture with great respect, and Azad stingingly portrays Western prejudices, as when the author’s classmates face ridicule for using henna. She also relates her older family members’ opinions on such subjects as marriage while showing just how radical seemingly small changes can be in a traditional environment.
A loving and approachable coming-of-age story about generational change.Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 249
Publisher: Perera Hussein Publishing House
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Observant, affecting writing about an Australian childhood.
Moncrief’s debut memoir recalls the joys and sorrows of growing up in an Australian country town.
“It was the late 1960s,” remarks the author, “but we were still living in what was effectively 1950s rural Australia.” Along with his older brother, Darren, Moncrief was raised in Tilburn, 30 miles outside of Melbourne. The memoir focuses predominantly on vivid memories from the author’s childhood in a quiet town where “everyone minded their own business and kept mostly to themselves.” Moncrief recalls journeys to a racetrack with his father, who trained horses, befriending a lizard that lived under the back step of the family home, and nursing an injured sparrow back to health. These sensitive recollections are interspersed with tales of cruelty and abuse. As a young boy, the author admits, he received so many bloody noses from his brother that one of his nostrils became “permanently blocked.” The memoir also charts the author’s coping with his parents’ divorce and grappling with adolescence. Each chapter is built around a particular person or event that left an impression on the author’s young mind. One, for example, discusses the author’s first sight of a pregnant woman and his father’s remarking, “pregnant women are beautiful.” This heavily anecdotal approach has the potential to grow tiring, but Moncrief avoids that by capturing a young boy’s naiveté in a satisfyingly amusing manner: “I couldn’t imagine what was wrong with her—that big, swollen stomach bursting forth from her body!” The author has the power to tug at the reader’s emotions—after his lizard was killed by a bully, he writes sorrowfully: “[I] pushed his little body into the crack from where I’d taken him the night before. ‘I’m so sorry, little mate,’ I said. ‘I love you so much.’ ” Moncrief puts a recognizably Australian stamp on the memoir by using Aussie vernacular, from dunny (toilet) to chooks (chickens). Tenderly evoking the minutiae of childhood while celebrating liberation from its horrors, this thoughtfully written, well-balanced book will encourage readers to reflect on their own upbringings.
Observant, affecting writing about an Australian childhood.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72839-716-0
Page Count: 234
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: April 22, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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