This book begins with Bilal, a chap in crisis. On her deathbed, his mother asks him to build a mosque in his Christian village. This book follows a clash of cultures which could be an analogy to Britain’s Exit of Europe, with the village dividing between those who support/oppose building a mosque. I enjoyed this one, good character development, the content found the right balance, presenting both sides to the argument.
Bilal’s character development was slow, spending a lot of this time in his own head, it takes a while before he starts standing up for his beliefs, I found him frustrating and wanted to shake him into action, which was good.
In contrast his wife Mariam was level headed and forceful. Their relationship goes through ups and downs, then there is the interference of the ex-husband and father of Mariam’s child. Bilal’s Aunty Rhuksana is like a guiding star when she moves in, filling a missing part of the family and the community. She is a woman of few words, wise too, seeming like the only character who can see sense through the chaos.
The characters are diverse and robust, the antagonistic ones, the antipathic, the lazy and the downcast. The friction between them, alliances formed and changed through the book really brought a small village feel to it. There were a few sharp characters who stirred up trouble, but also the peacemakers. The best part being exploring how one can move from an ignorance and fear of people of a different culture/religion to an acceptance and tolerance, although I think there were a few flaws in this transition in one of the characters, it was mostly believable. The death of parents/children were explored really well, adding an understanding of peoples suffering in relation to their actions.
In the end, it’s not about Muslims (or BREXIT), its about how the characters interact. This book really could relate to any community with strong opinions on what from the outside looks like a small matter. The characterisations were so good that it may help us to understand why people do some of the crazy things they do, it helps to walk a day in their shoes, and that’s what this book does. So who is right? Build the mosque or not? Read it and find out, a solid 4 stars.
Update: From other peoples reviews it has been demonstrated how well the author has captured the representation of cross-cultural friction within a small community, some of the readers this have picked a side too! I think the antagonistic characters were really representative of a few people I have come across in my community, but the author represented negative people with Christian and Muslim backgrounds. I can see why the story can be seen to be politically weighted towards the 'Muslim side', but that falls out of the protagonist being of Muslim heritage, the 'Christian side' have as many positive characters. Whilst some of them have to play the baddies to create friction and the plot, their good side is also represented. The take home message is that we are all on one side, with global warming afoot which side this is will become obvious.
Bilal’s character development was slow, spending a lot of this time in his own head, it takes a while before he starts standing up for his beliefs, I found him frustrating and wanted to shake him into action, which was good.
In contrast his wife Mariam was level headed and forceful. Their relationship goes through ups and downs, then there is the interference of the ex-husband and father of Mariam’s child. Bilal’s Aunty Rhuksana is like a guiding star when she moves in, filling a missing part of the family and the community. She is a woman of few words, wise too, seeming like the only character who can see sense through the chaos.
The characters are diverse and robust, the antagonistic ones, the antipathic, the lazy and the downcast. The friction between them, alliances formed and changed through the book really brought a small village feel to it. There were a few sharp characters who stirred up trouble, but also the peacemakers. The best part being exploring how one can move from an ignorance and fear of people of a different culture/religion to an acceptance and tolerance, although I think there were a few flaws in this transition in one of the characters, it was mostly believable. The death of parents/children were explored really well, adding an understanding of peoples suffering in relation to their actions.
In the end, it’s not about Muslims (or BREXIT), its about how the characters interact. This book really could relate to any community with strong opinions on what from the outside looks like a small matter. The characterisations were so good that it may help us to understand why people do some of the crazy things they do, it helps to walk a day in their shoes, and that’s what this book does. So who is right? Build the mosque or not? Read it and find out, a solid 4 stars.
Update: From other peoples reviews it has been demonstrated how well the author has captured the representation of cross-cultural friction within a small community, some of the readers this have picked a side too! I think the antagonistic characters were really representative of a few people I have come across in my community, but the author represented negative people with Christian and Muslim backgrounds. I can see why the story can be seen to be politically weighted towards the 'Muslim side', but that falls out of the protagonist being of Muslim heritage, the 'Christian side' have as many positive characters. Whilst some of them have to play the baddies to create friction and the plot, their good side is also represented. The take home message is that we are all on one side, with global warming afoot which side this is will become obvious.