Let me begin by stating that even though only five months of 2026 are over, it has felt like a year. These months have been eventful. I got promoted to lead HR at my organization. It’s been an ongoing lesson in worthiness and boundaries. Some days feel hard and some days I amaze myself. 

 

This book is beautiful in every way. It felt like the five months of 2026. 

 

It is soaked in family and the identities we create with the people in them. It explores how each person is looking for a place to belong. 

 

I picked this up from my new favorite bookstore which is a shanty on the side of the main link road that sells secondhand books. I go there once every two months looking for treasures. 

 

The story follows an Indian Muslim family of five, that moved to the US. It covers how they navigate a life in a country determined to misunderstand them and their devotion to their religion. I’ll be honest, I never knew too much about Islam and I’m not claiming to be an expert now. But my Masters made me better acquainted with the religion and Islamic countries and rewired my brain from the way the world outside Islam looks at the religion. A decolonized education should be mandatory for literally everyone. Their language, their devotion and some of the wedding traditions inspired me. I do not believe in organized religion. I am building my own world with the Divine and often I take different little excerpts from certain religions and add them into my relationship with the Divine. 

 

The writer wraps you up in the love and sacrifices of four family members in particular. The mother Laila, the older sister Hadia and the only and youngest child Amar. It is only at the very end that you understand the life,  dreams and worries of the father, whom initially you cannot help but feel anger for. 

 

Spoilers ahead. This book does not have a happy ending and there are moments when you will cry. But all the characters are described and told in such depth that you find yourself realizing that irrespective of religion and nationality, families are all the same. The worries, the dreams, the secrets and the fears. 

 

I felt a deep sense of sympathy and understanding for the love story of Amar and Amira. In part because I’ve been Amira. Until recently I was her. In love with someone battling so many demons. Both from family and the world around. I met this person again after so long and caught myself wishing he had changed. But neither he nor I have and so the love we have for eachother is stuck in the past. And I’ve decided it should stay there. That was not an easy decision. But made nonetheless. 

 

There are three places where the book really got me.