A review by fatima_ff
Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali

dark emotional relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I am shifting the shame. He needs to feel it 

I’ve been looking forward to reading this book for years and when my book club finally decided to read it I was over the moon. 

In our streak of reading authors mostly from South Asian/Muslim diaspora SK Ali’s novels are hard to skip. From Love From A to Z and Saints and Misfits there is a common factor in both: unapologetically Muslim. 

Characters, writing, narrative and setting are all catered and building to give the reader the feeling that they have stepped into a world where Muslims exist the way we feel most free and happy to exist as. We wear our hijabs and niqabs proudly and run around doing silly YouTube vlogs in our abayas not caring who looks at us weird. 

We also deal with our own the way we deem fit. Sometimes not so well. As any community out there we share the same traits as all human beings do: we are not perfect nor did we ever aspire to be because God already has a job. 

Saints and Misfits is a story about a non traditional but not rare Muslim family. A divorced mom a dad married to a non Muslim a son dropping out of college and a daughter who was sexually assaulted by the most ‘holy’ person in the mosque group. 

<>What was most interesting was the mentions of prominent non Muslim characters such as Tatyana Sandra Mr. Ram and Jeremy. Tats was a closer friend to Jannah than Fizz. Mr. Ram was more fatherly to her than her own dad sometimes. Sandra was someone Janna saw as someone who needed help outside of her immediate life. Jeremy was by far the strongest example of someone we can become so closely entwined with we may just end up hurting them. 

All in all. Loved the book. 
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