Three siblings reunite on the day of the eldest daughter’s wedding after a long estrangement from youngest brother Amar. The family tries to come to terms with their secrets while navigating the complicated intersections of respectability, tradition, and family.

I had a really hard time with this book. Not due to the subject matter, but the pace. I felt like it was moving so slowly and that it took forever to flesh out the characters with the way it moved back and forth in time. It also took me awhile to get a good handle on the timeline, since the flashback portions did not advance through time linearly.

I did love that this was a story about a Muslim family that was more about fitting in with your own family and community rather than about integrating into white American culture. While that aspect of their lives was shown, it wasn’t the driving force of the story, and I think that’s a pretty rare narrative.

I think my biggest struggle with the book was the last section. It’s been weeks since I read this book and I still can’t properly explain why. I think it’s ultimately a failure of empathy on my part for the father. I do understand how he felt bound by tradition and masculinity and other restrictive forces, but I couldn’t help being frustrated with him. I think it is a testament to the complex story the author created, though, to have so many thoughts to sort through upon closing this book.