Rarely to graphic novels (or memoirs) work as well as ebooks as That Can Be Arranged does. The art is broad, sort of a rounded version of stick figures, but not in an amateur sense. On one page, where 15-year-old Huda is contemplating arranged marriage to a stranger, there's a drawing of a hijabi woman in a blue abaya and a leather jacket standing on a hill. There are few clouds in the white sky and a flag on the hill that read, "The Hill I Die On." Huda's thought bubble is "I bet I'll get great signal up here." Lol, but also whoa.

There are some other handwritten thought and dialog bubbles throughout, but the majority of the text is typeface, thus easy to read in ebook form, which is important to some of us.

Fahmy's memoir takes us through her childhood to her spinsterhood (25, if you're in some Muslim communities) with generosity (an explanation at the beginning about why she draws herself wearing hijab in circumstances where she wouldn't have it on and a glossary) and gentle good humor. I say "gentle" because I'm often frustrated by "too clever by a half" humor. Fahmy teases her loved ones, but not to the point of aggressive self-deprecation. Further, the humor is universal--or maybe just Jewish, as well as Muslim because this one rings true for the secular Jewish culture I grew up in (à la [a:Erma Bombeck|11882|Erma Bombeck|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1208791191p2/11882.jpg]).



Then there's this moment, in the My First Proposal chapter


The next page begins, "It was a very freeing thought." AND YET, this statement of agency and independence is rendered in a dull pastel with NO FACIAL FEATURES. I am so intrigued maybe even haunted by what that means.

I hope to read more Huda Fahmy. For now I'll just follow her on Instagram.