Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American by Wajahat Ali

★★★★★

Immigrant and child-of-immigrant memoirs are quickly becoming one of my favorite genres.

I started following Wajahat Ali on Twitter based on his posts about his daughter's medical situation, Legos, and Star Wars. I didn't even know he was a politics and race commentator until later.

Right off the bat, this book opened with the author's irreverent responses to hate mail he's received. I imagine this introduction might be an eye-opener for white readers who never realized the kind of abuse commonly faced by people of color in the public eye.

In the beginning, it felt like the author was channeling a comedian. The humor in his writing struck me as similar to Dave Barry's, even when he hit on heavy topics like racism and mental health. While entertaining, the humor also felt like it was being wielded as a shield, like, "I have to make a joke now, because if I don't laugh, I might just break down and cry." As the book progressed, the author shared the lows, and even lower lows, of his life, and the writing carried more gravitas. Gradually, by the end, the writing felt sincerely earnest.

Being a memoir, this book is very approachable and easy to read, which actually makes it a good Trojan horse for its sharp discussions of race. Ali's personal narrative is interspersed with lots of social commentary and edifying tidbits about Muslims in history and culture. At times, the content felt more like a collection of essays than a straight chronological narrative. Unlike other immigrant memoirs I've read, Ali's story was atypical in that it took many unexpected turns involving near-death experiences and the criminal justice system.

I enjoyed Ali's writing style, which was full of pithy truths like, "[Accents were a] telltale sign that, despite all their successes, their investment and time spent in this country, they were still foreigners and immigrants, a punching bag and a punchline," (p. 40) and, "The playground is where you first learn your rank in the American hierarchy [of race]." (p. 42)

One thing (of many) that I found remarkable about Ali's life was just how much he was supported by the elders in his community. In America, I think much of the spotlight is on peer relationships, and not enough credit is given to how valuable our aunties and uncles and those in our grandparents' generation can be in our lives.

I appreciated the book ending on a very hopeful note, with Ali quoting the Prophet Muhammad: "If the Hour [the day of Resurrection] is about to be established and one of you was holding a palm shoot, let him take advantage of even one second before the Hour is established to plant it." (p. 221)

I also liked that non-English words were translated in-line, so there was no need to flip back and forth to a glossary at the back of the book.

Now, I've got to see if I can get my hands on a copy of Wajahat Ali's play, The Domestic Crusaders...

State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny

★★★½

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers!! ***

Even though I recently read Stacey Abrams's While Justice Sleeps, I still don't consider political thrillers a genre I generally read. Again, being interested in real-life politics, I picked up this book because of my fondness for the author, Hillary Clinton.

State of Terror was a comfortable, fast-paced read. The story crossed many international borders and had a vast cast of characters, but I had no trouble following the plot, which is noteworthy because I am easily confused. I liked the easy-to-follow, natural flow of the book; the narrative jumped from location to location, but followed a chronological timeline. In fact, with events unfolding so quickly, it felt like it could be the plot for a season of the TV show 24! 

I enjoyed the light-hearted humor sprinkled throughout, and appreciated the thinly veiled portrayals of Trump and Putin.

I know this is a personal preference, but I was not fond of the writing style that employed clauses instead of full sentences. I know the structure adds emphasis to each statement, but it just felt choppy to me. For example: "She stared, paralyzed. Wishing Amir were there. Not to tell her what to do, but to slip his hand in hers. So she wouldn't be alone." (p. 38-39) I don't know if that kind of writing is characteristic of Louise Penny, since I haven't read any of her other books.

Since Hillary Clinton was actually Secretary of State, I took for granted that everything in the book was within the realm of possibility, no matter how incredible. Occasionally, it was smaller plot devices that felt unbelievable. For example, it seemed very unlikely that Anahita, a trained employee in the State Department, would not know that Gil, the famous journalist who was kidnapped by terrorists, was the Secretary of State's son. Also, Katherine and Charles taking the trip to visit far-away caves felt contrived.

One word of advice: Don't read the acknowledgements until after you finish the book. More than once, I have missed out on useful glossaries or "Notes on the Text" type appendices because I didn't know they were there until it was too late. Now, I make a habit of flipping to the back of books first, to see what's there. In this case, both authors provided heartwarming insights into their friendship and the inspiration for some of the characters, but there's also at least one piece of information that made me predict something that I might not have guessed if I hadn't already read the acknowledgements! 

Finally, I think I found an editing error. On page 422, a conversation reveals that the date is "the tenth of March... Today." But just a few pages earlier, on page 411, the chapter's opening line said, "It was ten past nine on a late Fabruary [sic] morning..." Beyond the misspelling, the conflicting dates must have been a mistake.