A PLACE FOR US
BY: FATIMA FARHEEN MIRZA

I don't know how attending the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop always guarantees its graduates to succeed in writing masterpieces. The most unforgettable literary fiction that can evoke myriads of emotion comes from writers' who have attended there. This impressive debut novel is no exception. This is a masterfully written new book about a first generation American-Indian family whose religion happens to be Muslim, which explores the love and complexities of every family dynamic that exists in all of humanity.

The special bonds that exist between mothers' and sons' are brought to life with rich, vivid detail. The strong bonds that exist between siblings and how birth order effects greater expectations on each individual. Fathers and sons who find themselves in power struggles are expertly displayed. Each character in this novel is inherently good and pure at heart.

The powerful and lasting effects of first love are flawlessly depicted. This is also a story of how well intentioned decisions made for what seems at the time, to be the best choices that we make for our children can sometimes backfire, and cause damage that cannot be undone. This novel also explores the vast differences of each individual child, who they inevitably become, and how they react while brought up in the same household with identical values. Each Adult Child takes a different path, and each one will conform, or not conform to their parents' expectations placed on them.

The heartbreaking estrangement of a child has lifelong consequences. This is a very impressive debut novel, that will remain with me for a long time. The writing is beautiful, and the character development is superb. I wish more novels were written with such a keen eye to detail. I highly recommend this realistic novel to everyone. It shows us how much we share in common as humans no matter what cultural or religious faith we belong too.

Thank you to Net Galley, Fatima Farheen Mirza, and Hogarth, an Imprint of the Crown Publishing Group for providing me with my digital copy in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are entirely my own.

#APlaceforUs #FatimaFarheenMirza #HogarthanImprintoftheCrownPublishingGroup #NetGalley.

A beautifully written debut examining the family drama of a second generation Indian-American wedding, an entry point to exploring a decades old familial rift. Lovely writing, but slow moving at times.

5 affecting stars
I loved this book because it is so different than most of the biting pretentious family novels out there. It is an immigrant story, a family story, a coming-of-age story, and ultimately, a love story.

Mirza writes eloquently. She has a special gift for moving through time and characters’ perspectives without ever getting confusing. Some reviewers thought A Place for Us was sad. I saw it as tender. The family loved each other and kept trying, even though old problems, cultural misunderstandi and differing personalities got in the way.

As each family member’s story unfolds, I came to dislike, love, and understand them. Characters are complicated, but realistically eveloped. “You were a terrific liar as well as a terrible one. Terrible in that no one believed you, and terrific because no one minded: you were charming and endearing even as you deceived us.”

Books like A Place for Us help us to learn about different cultures and religions, and to understand our neighbors on a deeper level. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an absolutely beautiful story about family relationships and how the mistakes you make can change a person's life. I cried several times and could not stop thinking about this story. Highly recommend.

Wow, an emotional family drama, this novel is. It follows a Muslim American family with a personal and intimate narrative. The pacing is steady, but could be slow if you're not a fan of character-driven plots. If you like Celeste Ng or Karen Swan, you might enjoy this book.

Amazing family saga and a captivating read. The characters are relatable and the narrative is compelling.
Will definitely recommend!

I loved this book!! It was all the hype and more!! The story was a pleasure to read and I really enjoyed it. I have recommended it to many people. It is an amazing family saga full of love and compassion and grief and forgiveness.

A story of a very complicated family - every member is looking for acceptance but aren’t able to find it amongst each other.

Family, what it means, how they love and how it can hurt.

What a wonderful story that will stay with me.

My review below was posted on my blog on June 11, 2018, at https://www.thecuecard.com/books/a-place-for-us-and-mini-reviews/

I was happy to receive an advance copy of Fatima Farheen Mirza’s debut novel “A Place for Us” as the early buzz for it’s been strong. It’s scheduled to publish on Tuesday and is the first novel of Sarah Jessica Parker’s new imprint — SJP for Hogarth. Hmm, who knew?

For her first pick, Parker’s chosen what she explains is “an exquisitely tender-hearted story of a Muslim Indian American family caught between cultures.” For those like me who are often suckers for immigrant family sagas (or second-generation ones) such as those by Celeste Ng and various others, I had to check it out. Though perhaps this story reminded me a bit more of Jhumpa Lahairi’s 2003 novel “The Namesake,” for those who are familiar with that one.

“A Place for Us” opens with the Indian wedding in California of Layla and Rafiq’s daughter Hadia, who’s their golden child — soon to be a doctor — and the older sister of Huda and Amar. Hadia’s marriage is a match of love and not arranged like her parents’; and her sister Huda hopes to follow in her footsteps — into the working world and with marriage. But her brother Amar, you learn, has just returned after being out of touch with the family for three years to be at his sister’s wedding. Uh-oh, as it goes on … all seems not right, and you begin to wonder what has happened in the family and why Amar, the youngest, has been estranged.

The story then jumps back in time to tell about the family’s beginning: of the parent’s arranged marriage in India, their move to California and of the youths of their three children there. The parents are strict and adhere to their Muslim faith in their new home country, enforcing rules on their kids who each handle straddling the two cultures to various degrees. It’s right around the time of 9/11 and thereafter, and the backlash pressure on the kids as Muslims at school is high, along with their parent’s pressures on them to achieve academic success, and not sin or partake in temptations: therein forbidding social gatherings, expensive clothes, drugs and alcohol, and unauthorized fraternizing between the sexes.

Unfortunately Amar’s not cracked up to be as abiding or as dedicated a student as his sisters, which leads to fights with his quick-tempered father. Amar’s a poet at heart, with different sensibilities, getting into trouble at times, smoking weed with his friends as a teen, and falling for Amira, who lives in their tight-knit Muslim community but is above his league and from a prominent family. Soon they start meeting in secret, sharing a bond over a tragedy that takes place in Amira’s family. All is bliss for a while as they try to work out how they can be together in life …. until eventually what happens to their forbidden love — and the betrayals revealed thereafter — fractures Amar’s family and leads you to wonder … whether there will someday be a chance of reconciliation with Amira or his family.

Ahhh it’s reminiscent of “West Side Story” and “Romeo and Juliet.” And the betrayals, too, in the story are pretty heart-wrenching. I wanted to shake the characters, especially the parents for being, so set in their traditional world and strict faith that they overlook the happiness of their own kids, restricting many of their activities, even while trying to do right by them. It all seems pretty suffocating. Yet the last 80 pages of the novel are from the father’s point of view, which makes him seem a bit more sympathetic than I initially thought, though I just wish he could’ve seen the light sooner. In fact, none of the characters are all bad or all good. It’s one of those stories in which they each have secrets, or agendas, or vices, but hold close ties to one another as well.

In this way, I liked its nuances, and insights into living amid two cultures. I’m guessing that the 26-year-old author (wow!) drew on her own experiences as a Muslim American growing up in California. I thought “A Place for Us” was quite well done and gives a sensitive portrayal of each, though you should also know it’s a slow-burn of a novel that forms a picture of the family over many years. It’s a bit slow-going in places and goes over — with its back and forth chronology — some of the same internal conflicts within the family (from different perspectives) a few times over. Its focus pertains to the Muslim faith quite a bit — though it also speaks to the miscommunication and what happens in a lot of families. I found it a worthy debut.

This is a beautiful novel - complex, emotionally resonant, and timely. I definitely recommend it. It's beautifully written and one that I won't forget for a long time. The novel focuses on family relationships with wisdom and complexity. I still can't quite believe this is a debut novel - I can't wait to see what she has for us as she grows as a novelist. I struggled a bit at the start but everything did come together for me which is the only reason it wasn't a 5 star for me. But, if you look at the reviews, you'll see a lot of 5-star reviews. This book is definitely one that you should read, especially if you're a fan of complex family dramas with a literary bent.

A wedding initiates a flashback of family moments leading up to the wedding. A Muslim Indian family immigrates to the United States and integrates into that culture with various problems of acceptance along the way. America's acceptance of the family, parent's acceptance of their children and vice versa. Everyone is searching for their place and this drives the plot. We jump back and forther in time to find significant points that explain the present. The saddest part is the son accepting himself fand the ending message.

A beautiful story of family and the intricate relationships involved and the depiction of place and time. Well written.

The premise of the story was intriguing to me, but the execution for much of it was too disjointed. Although I enjoyed the lot, the narrative went back and forth through decades and characters randomly. The final section was beautifully written and finally brought me fully into the story.

It took me so long to read this book -- my mom passed away when i was about halfway through and it was hard to concentrate enough to read. But, this book kept calling to me, and little by little, I made my way back to it. It is a really heartfelt, thoughtful story of a American Muslim family and the gender and family roles of their faith -- and how what is meant to unify can also divide. It explores how family relationships evolve and shift over time -- and how sometimes the regrets you have are not or cannot be resolved. Highly recommended

Reading about different cultures is always a plus for me. But to read about different cultures in America is even better, as I get a sense of the tug between trying to keep roots amidst the pressures of American trends and attitudes. It can't be easy. In A Place for Us, I have learned that despite all of the differences between seemingly clashing lifestyles, there is always the undercurrent of trying to be the best parent, trying to be the best child and still have your own personality, and trying to fit in. I loved the family dynamics of this book, and I loved the fact that the characters changed throughout their flawed lives. They little nuances made them seem real and like friends. Highly recommended and a perfect book to start Sarah Jessica Parker's publishing company.

I'm not sure there is much I can say that hasn't already been said. The writing in this book is unlike any other that I have experienced. It's a beautifully crafted story about a family and all the everyday moments that may not have initially seemed like much, but ended up being so much bigger than anyone could have ever predicted.

I wish I would have been more aware of the nonlinear timeline prior to picking up this novel. The nonlinear timeline initially irritated me, but then started to remind me of all those things you think of before you finally fall asleep, which just added to the overall experience.

This is a tale that I think everyone can relate to. For me, it was ultimately a tale about belonging. So many of us have experienced that moment when we feel like we don't quite fit in where we are and instead of bonding over that shared experience we distance ourselves. We create unnecessary, damaging chasms.

This is a book that I think is best savored, a book that every reader should give a chance.

*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this title.*

This book had so many topics for a book group to discuss! Our group was mixed about how much we liked it ( I loved it) but the discussion threads were excellent - secrets, parenting, first love, trust, prejudice against Muslims,
Highly recommended.

I very much enjoyed "A Place For Us". Although I have little in common with the characters, I found myself relating to them and appreciating the impact that change and years had made in each of them. It took me an incredibly long time to finish the book, not because I didn't want to read, but rather because I had too many irons in the fire. In spite of that, I still found myself engaged and fascinated by the story each time I picked it up.
"Otherness" is something that is currently a concern for many people. By focusing on differences in culture, religion, or race, people can marginalize those who intimidate them, or who they see as threatening. This book opened my eyes to the way that this pressure can cause a breakdown within a family unit. The vast changes from one generation to another can as well threaten those family relationships and enhance their differences in perspective. In this story, each of the three children finds their own way to a life apart from their parents. The result pulled at my heart and helped me recognize that part of the message of this book is that we all are searching for a place where we fit in and can grow and flourish as individuals. The immigrant experience is one in which this trying to fit in is perhaps the most profoundly challenged.
One of the techniques that worked well for the author is to use the different characters to tell the story. The focus shifts from one to another and lets the author give different perspectives of any one event. This allows the reader to really get into the head of each of the characters. I found myself understanding them better thanks to this way of telling the story. The author also switches from event to event without keeping them consecutive. This might be a bit confusing, but again helps the reader to better understand the choices and rationals made by the characters. I really cared about them and thus cared about this book. I think it's a great book to use as a book club choice or as a topic starter for consideration of immigrants and current topics dealing with racism and Islamophobia.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Despite my best intentions, I simply could not find time for this one. Thanks for the ARC nonetheless.

A story of American assimilation. Conservative religious parents and a younger generation struggling to make their own way. I enjoyed the story structure -- the book opens with the wedding of one of the sisters and the arrival of the brother who has been estranged from the family for some time. The narrative goes back in time from there. Lots to discuss.