Title: A Place For Us
Author: Fatima Farheen Mirza
Year: 2018
Genre: Domestic Fiction
A Place For Us is the debut novel by Fatima Farheen Mirza. When an Indian-Muslim wedding reunites a family with their long estranged brother and son, parents Rafiq and Layla must confront their mistakes and secrets of the past, secrets they thought would remain buried.
The book was selected by our book club and admittedly wasn’t voted for by me but I went into it without any prior knowledge of the book apart from the title and the genre, which is one I don’t typically read.
The novel begins at the wedding itself, which is that of Rafiq and Layla’s oldest daughter, Hadia who is headstrong and has chosen to marry Tariq out of love, not tradition. Middle child Huda is determined to follow in her older sister’s footsteps. However, Amar, the youngest and sole son of the family, has been estranged for three years from the family, he has returned at Hadia’s invitation to play the role of brother of the bride.
However just what has happened to fracture this family? What secrets threaten to resurface and can Amar find his way back home to his family?
Over the course of the rest of the novel, the action shifts perspectives between all the family members as well as different times in their lives, finding times where the family found love and unity, and times where their differences seemed insurmountable and threaten to pull them apart. From Layla and Rafiq first coming to America, to raising their children where each of them, in their own way, straddle two cultures – the traditional Islamic culture of their small community and growing up in American society.
As a result the book shows a mirror to what it is like growing up in America in a minority culture and also the differences between generations in such a culture and how one culture can influence another, for better and for worse.
Mirza does an incredible job of creating the family and they really feel like real people rather than characters, with the events in the novel feeling very real and described almost as if we are an outsider looking in on various snapshots in this family’s life, which I imagine was Mirza’s intentions in the opening where it is apparent for Rafiq and Layla that appearances are everything and us looking into this private moments almost feels intrusive but fascinating to find out what goes on behind closed doors.
I found myself resonating with all three siblings in different ways – I think everyone can resonate with the feeling of rebelliousness and wanting to find your own path in life, where cultures and what our parents want for us can seem entirely at odds with it. Of the three probably Hadia I resonated with the most who wants to use her education to create her own path, whereas Amar who isn’t particularly academic but is creative and artistic would like to use these skills but is instead forced down a road that he does not want to go down.
There is also an interesting dynamic of sibling rivalry between the three siblings, especially Hadia and Amar who perhaps without realising it does do some morally ambiguous things in order to get ahead in her parents affections at key points in the story but it is written in a way that feels very real and I think many people with siblings can resonate with some aspects of it in some way.
The book also tackles many themes throughout the novel – the role of women within Islamic cultures and attitudes towards women, that Hadia and Huda are told to wear their scarves to avoid prying eyes and that all boys are just “acquaintances, not friends” whereas Amar is able to do more things than his sisters, although even he is stopped from seeing the woman that could have ended up saving him, his friends sister Amira.
The book also explores race and changing attitudes to race, in particular Muslims throughout America with 9/11 being alluded to within the book which leads to Amar being attacked by bullies at school because of his race and religion which is heartbreaking and upsetting to read, as well as Hadia and Huda being told by their father not to wear a headscarf as it would no longer be safe.
Other themes including loss and losing someone you love at a young age, both physically and also emotionally at the end of a relationship, as well as the problem of drinking and taking drugs in society as Amar is lead down a very dark path.
Whilst my only critique would probably be the book isn’t necessarily a page turner and if I hadn’t had a deadline to read it I don’t know if I would have read it in huge chunks necessarily, but it is a very affecting exploration of human nature and I found the themes explored to be well-developed and the book very thought provoking so I would recommend giving it a try.
If you have read this book, let me know down below your thoughts.
