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A review by prasi
Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali
4.0
Saints and Misfits was a unique book. It fills a void in a much needed space and talks about themes that are incredibly important for young adults to be exposed to and talk openly about, particularly within religious communities.
The book follows Janna, a young muslim girl who wears hijab and is struggling with her family situation. Her parents are divorced and her brother just moved back home, putting strain on her family and leaving her feeling displaced when she's asked to give up her room to him.
In this midst of dealing with her parents divorce and her brother coming back home - a lot of change for her to process - she's almost floating and feeling lost and confused. And all of this is happening through the lens of a young girl who was recently sexually assaulted by the wonder boy of their community.Farooq is the guy who was looked up to in the Masjid and who might be coming into a leadership role soon. Everyone talks about how amazing he is and Janna is struggling with the decision to talk to anyone about it out of several concerns - ruining her community, not being believed, being viewed as creating drama, having others look down on her for it - all of these things are going through her head and we follow her along as she's processing all of these emotions in real-time.
In the same way that a depression or a death changes the way you look at things and how you process events, Janna is going through the world with this crushing experience she recently had and she's seeing the world in a new way. She's processing friendship struggles, bullies at school, her parents divorce, squabbles with her brother, and her relationship with her hijab through the lens of this other major thing that happened that she hasn't dealt with yet. In the process of this we see her sometimes taking out frustration on unrelated issues and struggling to understand not only where she fits in the world but what kind of person she wants to be.
This book was incredibly heart-breaking and brings to light a lot of issues that aren't often discussed or encouraged to be discussed in religious spaces. I think that this isn't just fiction, S.K. Ali has written a conversation starter with this book. And it's a conversation we desperately need to have.
I really liked this story. I loved Janna and I loved getting to know her. She was kind and even though she was going through all of this in her life she still went out of her way to help people in her community. She was a great role model and an example that having something bad like this happen to you doesn't mean you've done anything wrong or that you're a bad person. She held true to herself and to her values. That was really important to depict and it was done really well.
I also wanted to mention that the narrator for this particular audiobook did a fantastic job! I was engaged the whole way through and she did a great job of capturing the emotion and struggle of the character.
The book follows Janna, a young muslim girl who wears hijab and is struggling with her family situation. Her parents are divorced and her brother just moved back home, putting strain on her family and leaving her feeling displaced when she's asked to give up her room to him.
In this midst of dealing with her parents divorce and her brother coming back home - a lot of change for her to process - she's almost floating and feeling lost and confused. And all of this is happening through the lens of a young girl who was recently sexually assaulted by the wonder boy of their community.
In the same way that a depression or a death changes the way you look at things and how you process events, Janna is going through the world with this crushing experience she recently had and she's seeing the world in a new way. She's processing friendship struggles, bullies at school, her parents divorce, squabbles with her brother, and her relationship with her hijab through the lens of this other major thing that happened that she hasn't dealt with yet. In the process of this we see her sometimes taking out frustration on unrelated issues and struggling to understand not only where she fits in the world but what kind of person she wants to be.
This book was incredibly heart-breaking and brings to light a lot of issues that aren't often discussed or encouraged to be discussed in religious spaces. I think that this isn't just fiction, S.K. Ali has written a conversation starter with this book. And it's a conversation we desperately need to have.
I really liked this story. I loved Janna and I loved getting to know her. She was kind and even though she was going through all of this in her life she still went out of her way to help people in her community. She was a great role model and an example that having something bad like this happen to you doesn't mean you've done anything wrong or that you're a bad person. She held true to herself and to her values. That was really important to depict and it was done really well.
I also wanted to mention that the narrator for this particular audiobook did a fantastic job! I was engaged the whole way through and she did a great job of capturing the emotion and struggle of the character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Islamophobia
The sexual assault and harassment are not mentioned until a little later in the book, but the theme comes up quite often in a more subtle way. The main character talks extensively about her experiences with Islamophobia.