Moustafa Bayoumi has written a WYSIWYG.*
How Does It Feel To Be A Problem? Being Young and Arab in America, efficiently describes some of the problems faced by seven teens and young adults living in New York in the aftermath of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on US soil.
All US citizens, gainfully employed, good students, and in most cases both, Rasha, Sami, Yasmin, Akram, Lina, Omar, and Rami are presented as being 'normal' Arab-American citizens. And for all I know, they are. In my admittedly white-bread world, I'm very unaware of what life is like behind a dark complexion and the Quaran. That's exactly why I wanted to read it.
I stumbled at first. The writing is a bit clunky here, the grammar out of sync there. I wanted the prose to sing! Succinctly! Alas, Bayoumi isn't Barbara Kingsolver. (Sigh. No one is.) But the writing really didn't get in the way of the story - er, stories.
How Does It Feel... is seven truly separate stories; although the characters share some common ground, it's surprisingly little. Bayoumi's choice of subjects and his ability to paint a very rich and deep, living, breathing portrait of each in a relatively few pages (less than 40 pages each) is the basis for the book's success.
These are far more than snapshots or shotgun introductions, denser than slice of life vignettes, and at the same time, the sections left me both satisfied that I "knew" the subject and still I wanted to know each one better.
I felt that each one is owed a sincere apology from someone - something - in our country. ("The Government" is the easy whipping boy; it's also a perfectly absurd target.) I'm also pretty darned sure none of Bayoumi's subjects will bear significant scars or remain "down" because of the pressures and prejudices applied to these Arab Americans.
From Rasha, the high school student who was jailed along with her family in May 2002, to Sami, who was traveling with a busload of other young Marines when he heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center, the folks we meet in How Does It Feel To Be A Problem are strong, smart, serious, young people I'm extremely proud to call Americans.
Perhaps only this author, who was born in Switzerland, raised in Canada, and currently lives in New York, could have enough detachment and the necessary understanding to write this book this way.
To Bayoumi's great credit, the book is not a condemnation of the United States, its government, or any of its white bread citizens. (Whew.) Nor is it a look through rose-colored glasses. It is what it is: "a wholly revealing portrait of a community that lives next door and yet a world away."
Bayoumi writes in the book's forward that he "developed a great deal of optimism through its writing." Reading it, I believe my emotions were equal parts fascination (I am more ignorant than I thought!) exasperation (THIS is America?!) depression (that's terrible!) and wonder (human beings are truly amazing).
So while the book left me with no overriding emotion, it certainly left me changed. I believe my mind has been pried open a bit...and I hope it will remain that way.
I'm certain, at least, that I can forgive the occasional clunky sentence.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = =HIGHLY RECOMMENDED= = = = = = =
Find out more on Facebook.
Buy the book from Amazon ($14.97 as of this post).
*My all-time favorite acronym: What You See Is What You Get.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Hoberman's Seven Silly Eaters Still Magic
I've been reading The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman for nearly a decade.
The picture book written in Hoberman's pitch-perfect verse tells the story of the Peters family with not one, not a handful, but seven (!) very picky eaters.
Mrs. Peters goes from the epitome of patience to nearly-undone in the course of the story; in the end, the whole family finds an accidental but delightful solution: they eat cake!
(Trust me, Hoberman does a much better job with the story than I do.)
My son, nearing the five-year mark, requested it again last night; then my just-turned 13yo daughter curled up on the couch to hear it for the upteenth time!
What? The same children who had spent most of the previous four hours trying to confound, maim, or kill each other? Yes. The same kids who nearly caused their not-so-patient mommy to crack up? The same.
Hoberman's magic worked again; providing yet another very happy ending to our evening.
Neat trick!
Need I say it? If you're looking for a gift for almost any young reader/listener, I recommend this one.
The picture book written in Hoberman's pitch-perfect verse tells the story of the Peters family with not one, not a handful, but seven (!) very picky eaters.
Mrs. Peters goes from the epitome of patience to nearly-undone in the course of the story; in the end, the whole family finds an accidental but delightful solution: they eat cake!
(Trust me, Hoberman does a much better job with the story than I do.)
My son, nearing the five-year mark, requested it again last night; then my just-turned 13yo daughter curled up on the couch to hear it for the upteenth time!
What? The same children who had spent most of the previous four hours trying to confound, maim, or kill each other? Yes. The same kids who nearly caused their not-so-patient mommy to crack up? The same.
Hoberman's magic worked again; providing yet another very happy ending to our evening.
Neat trick!
Need I say it? If you're looking for a gift for almost any young reader/listener, I recommend this one.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
A Mango-Shaped Space & More Sustenance
Wendy Mass's first novel, A Mango-Shaped Space, scored on many counts.
First of all, it got published, by Little Brown & Co. It boasts cover blurbs from Judy Blume, Paula Danzinger, and Meg Cabot. AND it earned a Schneider Family Book Award, for "honoring artistic expression of the disability experience." That's a heck of a debut!
Grading based on the YAs I've read in the past two years, I give it a B+. The story was solid, but not stellar; the writing the same. Character development is where Mass shines.
She creates a near-tangible relationship between main character Mia and her dearly-departed grandpa, for one thing, and then proceeds to build a brilliant connection between Mia, her pet cat (Mango), and Mia's entire family.
Initially I though Mass's development of Mia's parents was a little clunky. She included a lot of just plain description up front, while I prefer to learn about characters through their actions and interactions with other characters.
Later in the book, though, I realized the descriptions helped give the reader a base of believability which is necessary when mom and dad play a larger, and important, role in the story. Had Mass not laid the groundwork earlier, those actions would have seemed like convenient but rather out-of-nowhere responses.
I can't say much more without giving away the nut of the story, and I don't want to do that; it's worth a read.
The book highlights a very rare condition - not fatal, not really even harmful - called synesthesia. Folks with synesthesia see colors (literally) associated with numbers, letters, words, foods, or any or all of those things. Of course, the first book-form treatment of a condition like that is likely to garner the attention of agents and publishers, as well as get you short-listed for some specialized book awards, so Mass deserves kudos for getting to the synesthesia space first.
I would have preferred a lot more medical info about the condition, but I keep in mind it's a YA. Which brings me to...
More Sustenance!
I've decided to shelve YAs for a few months. After so many, they're starting to seem like candy to me. And I love candy, but, you know, meatloaf is good too. It takes longer to eat and to digest, though, so postings may come a bit slower in the future.
Next up: How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? by Moustafa Bayoumi.
First of all, it got published, by Little Brown & Co. It boasts cover blurbs from Judy Blume, Paula Danzinger, and Meg Cabot. AND it earned a Schneider Family Book Award, for "honoring artistic expression of the disability experience." That's a heck of a debut!
Grading based on the YAs I've read in the past two years, I give it a B+. The story was solid, but not stellar; the writing the same. Character development is where Mass shines.
She creates a near-tangible relationship between main character Mia and her dearly-departed grandpa, for one thing, and then proceeds to build a brilliant connection between Mia, her pet cat (Mango), and Mia's entire family.
Initially I though Mass's development of Mia's parents was a little clunky. She included a lot of just plain description up front, while I prefer to learn about characters through their actions and interactions with other characters.
Later in the book, though, I realized the descriptions helped give the reader a base of believability which is necessary when mom and dad play a larger, and important, role in the story. Had Mass not laid the groundwork earlier, those actions would have seemed like convenient but rather out-of-nowhere responses.
I can't say much more without giving away the nut of the story, and I don't want to do that; it's worth a read.
The book highlights a very rare condition - not fatal, not really even harmful - called synesthesia. Folks with synesthesia see colors (literally) associated with numbers, letters, words, foods, or any or all of those things. Of course, the first book-form treatment of a condition like that is likely to garner the attention of agents and publishers, as well as get you short-listed for some specialized book awards, so Mass deserves kudos for getting to the synesthesia space first.
I would have preferred a lot more medical info about the condition, but I keep in mind it's a YA. Which brings me to...
More Sustenance!
I've decided to shelve YAs for a few months. After so many, they're starting to seem like candy to me. And I love candy, but, you know, meatloaf is good too. It takes longer to eat and to digest, though, so postings may come a bit slower in the future.
Next up: How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? by Moustafa Bayoumi.
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