Review: Unsettled by Reem Faruqi
Quick Info:
Book type: Verse Novel (story told in poems)
Target age: 8-12 years old
Recommended age: 11+
Plot: A story about Nurah, a young girl from Pakistan, moving to Georgia and learning to “blend in”. When she and her brother are finally able to join a new swim team, Nurah now has to decide how much she will give up in order to stand out.
Review:
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this book since I don’t usually read poetry and tend to have grievances with Islamic representation in books. Unsettled is a collection of poems telling the story of Nurah and her family’s move from Pakistan to America and how they settle in. It explores family ties, othering and assimilation in the perspective of a Muslim girl who actually LOVES her faith and culture. The two subplots are interesting, where one explores identity and the other her betrayal of her older brother in their shared hobby.
I love, love, love Nurah’s strong personality and her family’s connection and supportiveness and I will definitely be re-reading this (I’ve read it three times more since I made the original Instagram post!) I felt Islam was justly represented while still being able to show the struggles young Muslims can face. The family goes to the masjid, joins masjid programming, reads Surah Kahf together, pray together and all around are just an “average Muslim” family in a book for once instead of extremes.
The story was fast paced yet somehow was able to pack in many different themes and lessons from colorism, immigration, gender relations to topics surrounding miscarriages, abuse and dementia. While some themes were marked under “content” I do find that the author wrote about them in a tasteful manner.
Opinion:
While I highly recommend this book I feel some of the content is a bit distressing, scary or uncomfortable for a younger child to read. Mainly the concept of Stahr’s abusive father and Nurah’s mother’s miscarriage. That being said I would recommend this story mainly to middle schoolers or to a highschooler who is interesting in poetry and looking for an easier read.
Content:
The book explores gender interaction a bit. The main character shakes hands with a boy and freaks out a bit about it she also discusses crushes with a friend and experiences multiple crushes throughout the book.
The main character’s best friend ends up having a boyfriend and the main character feels awkward when her friend asks her to join the couple to Target. The main character declines.
The main character’s mother gets pregnant but loses the baby due to a miscarriage, there are a lot of medical terms used when describing it such as uterus, embryo, fertilized egg, and anembryonic pregnancy.
The main character’s best friend has an abusive dad, the friend tells the main character that her dad “hits [her and her mom] with his belt and cusses at us” The two end up being able to escape their situation with the help of the main character’s family.
“Idiot” is used once when talking about a terrorist attack
The main character tells some bullies to “shut up” multiple times.
The main character’s mother slaps her brother after talking back.
The main character’s brother shows off to a girl in swim practice and gets jumped by two boys.
Excerpts:
Excerpts from books are a glimpse of the content that is found and are not every instance of un-Islamic and/or “iffy” content.
Context:
The main character develops 2 crushes throughout the book but loses interest in Aiden, a non-Muslim boy in her class, after he makes fun of her grandmother. The second is her brother’s friend, Junaid, and while it is not said how he feels about her there is a bit of a gap between the two so it is possible he views her as a little sister. That being said, just because it’s at the masjid doesn’t mean it is halal.
Context:
The main character’s mother is pregnant for a small part of the story before she has a miscarriage. There is nothing vulgar about any of the descriptions but there is a lot of technical terminology.
Context:
On the main character’s first day of school, she panics when a non-Muslim boy, Aidan, tries to shake her hand and she just shakes it. She feels guilty for not speaking up and wonders what her grandmother would think of her.
Context:
The main character gets asked by Stahr to sit with her at lunch. Stahr tells the main character that she has an abusive father and makes her promise not to tell anyone. She also shows her bruises. Stahr and her mother end up leaving the abusive household.
Context:
Obligatory terrorist attack as a plot point in every kids and YA Muslim book. The father calls the terrorist an idiot.
Context:
The family is staying in a hotel until they are able to find a home in Georgia which leaves all of them stressed. The main character’s mother calls the family to read Surah Kahf on Friday as they usually do. Owais, the main character’s older brother, decides he doesn’t want to and talks back to his mother. Which results in her slapping him and him threatening to call cops. After the two see that the main character is crying they immediately apologize to one another.
Context:
A pair of boys, Jay and Cal, are making fun of a man who is missing a hand on the bus. After a few weeks of watching the main character has enough and yells at them to “shut up”. They end up leaving the man alone for the rest of the book. The main later thanks the main character.
Excerpts pt. 2
These excerpts are part of the book that I enjoyed or found interesting.
Babbles:
We’re so used to reading books about immigrating from the perspective of a child that sometimes we forget that the parents are also their own individual people. It was really interesting to see the main character realize that her parents are also starting from scratch and have the same desire to fit in that she does. It is also very wholesome and nostalgic to remember small programming in masjids.
Babbles:
It was refreshing to see a Muslim character turn to Allah SWT during times of hardship and seeing the masjid as a place of comfort. I would have loved to see more exploration of the main character’s friendships with the girls at the masjid.
Babbles:
I don’t have much to add onto about this poem other than that I really liked how the author corrected the “z” sound in “Muslim” that non-Muslims tend to say.
Babbles:
I really loved the main character’s development on deciding to wear the hijab and her mother’s reaction to it. I don’t have much to add to it but I do want to say that I loved how her mother was supportive in taking baby steps and practicing.
