This interconnected web of characters was fascinating at times, but mostly frustrating. I really wish it would have respected the reader more, because it could have truncated the book severely and made it a much more gripping book.

The cast of characters for the most part did have interesting things about their character arc, but the granularity of each is unnecessary, as they constantly retread the ground and their endings, aside from one, incredibly predictable. To the point of being perfunctory. The perspective itself feels very cinematic and the interiority less well rendered than the concrete moments. It would be better as a show or a movie, simply because the internal worlds are not convincing. And because you wait so long for the realizations that the reader has had before the characters, it becomes a game of annoying catch up all the way to the end. The prose style does nothing to mitigate this either, as it lacks specificity and interesting diction. It’s serviceable, invisible.

As I said, there are redeemable qualities. Some moments land with catharsis because you know they are coming, and are struck well enough. The actual dysfunctions render the family far better than most narratives with Muslim characters with multiple generations. Usually they are about, solely, radicalization. This is far more comprehensive and therefor more novel and humanistic. I just wish it didn’t feel like it had to hold the hand of the reader for every single minute detail.

The narration in this is excellent 4/5