Love from A to Z

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Fencer jumped off the desk and awarded us with his you-got-it stance: hands on his corduroy hips, legs apart, face beaming. Yes, or, to put it more precisely, you can say that it looks like the majority of those countries follow Islam. Anything else? Zee-naab?

From glancing around at the other students, I saw that it was working pretty well. Mouths hanging open, sighs, frowns, shifting in seats. Then, two years ago, when Mom and Dad had stopped this rudeness, I began not to care that they’d called me an angry baby. This memory remained a thorn in my side, buried too deep to dig out. My decision to take off my hijab, I had come to realize years later, is in a large part because of what happened that day. When I took off my hijab at 17, I didn’t look closely at why I did it. The whole thing was a non-event: I remember walking into the kitchen and casually announcing my decision to my mom. I remember her laughing and teasing me about it (“well, I didn’t tell you to put it on in the first place, now did I!”). My mom is a hijabi; she told me an anecdote about how she started wearing a hijab at the age of 25, a few months after marrying my dad, and how some people thought my dad might have had something to do with it. My mom grinned at me and said, “your dad had nothing to do with it. I just wanted to—so I did it.”

Did we miss something on diversity?

It’s a good thing my roommate, Jarred, is practically never here. I mean it’s a good thing his girlfriend has her own place. CW: Islamophobia, racist micro-aggression, cultural appropriation, chronic illness, talk of family death, mention of rape, discussion of war and war victims. This is all gushing but...it's difficult to find books like this that center us so wholly and unapologetically. This book makes it very clear that it's written for Muslims. It doesn't try to water down its message or its Muslimness. It's peppered with all of the little things that colour the lives of Muslims in ways that non-Muslims don't experience. And it never tries to explain it to non-Muslims. It centers Muslims, caters to Muslims, first and foremost. I am not going to lie, from time to time I got a bit conflicted by Zayneb's explosive manner as she tended somehow to get directly into a - mind you - proverbial fight. But I just kept in mind that with all the hate directed towards her, she just had to really find coping mechanisms that keep her afloat. Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam’s stopped going to classes, intent instead, on perfecting the making of things. Intent on keeping the memory of his mum alive for his little sister. Adam’s also intent on keeping his diagnosis a secret from his grieving father.

ON THE MORNING OF SATURDAY, March 14, fourteen-year-old Adam Chen went to the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.Clears throat* When I heard that a book like this was going to exists I was ecstatic. S.K. Ali wrote a book that made me feel seen. Books featuring Muslim characters are quite rare. I've made it my goal to read as many books centering around Muslims as possible this year. This book right here is what every Muslim reader should get their hands on. The struggles that Muslim's go through is depicted so so well. Especially, for girls who wear the Hijab (headscarf). I'm so so mixed on this one. To the point that I didn't even want to leave a review because I just don't know how to put my thoughts together about why this didn't work. But lets give it a go. Miss Malik, do you realize this could be considered expulsion worthy? A threat, with a weapon, directed at a teacher? Kerr stared at me. Yesterday I took the thin pieces of grooved balsa wood and fit them together in a grid pattern inside the box I’d already made. As the square compartments revealed themselves, smooth and flush without any screws or nails, I thought about touch.

I’ve written a lot about Mr. Fencer in here. But I’ve never given him a whole section in my oddities entries. I guess it’s because oddities are like the nagging parts of life, things that you can sort of escape. The sight stilled the tears that had begun pooling. I blinked them away and concentrated on boring more holes in Fencer’s shoes. I promise, Dad. I let the two halves of the suitcase fall open and looked up just as Mom came up behind him. Her face was sad, so I smiled to prove I’d gotten over being angry at her. I won’t bother Auntie Nandy. I’ll be quiet and compliant. Love from A to Z is written in dual perspective, as diary entries in the form of “Marvels” and “Oddities” from both of the main characters’ journals which made the narration introspective and reflective and I loved that about it. There were also a couple narrator interventions that added such a nice touch to the book, further solidifying the fact that these are journals excerpts combined into one book. It also gave it somewhat of a fairytale feel. I now bent down over the sheet of paper on my desk and pressed hard with my pen. Fencer is not going to be here. I’m going to make sure of it.I promised Mom and Dad I wouldn’t make a scene, so I’ve kept my responses limited to unrelenting smiles, but now… I think it’s time to get to her. One of my favorite things about Love from A to Z is that it represents and validates the diversity of experience within the same marginalized group. Not all people of color are going to have the patience to explain why something is racist, and not all people of color are going to have the emotional and mental capacity to do so either. Some people are able to let things slide in favor of saving their energy; others can’t stay silent in the face of bigotry – all of these reactions are valid, and I was honestly floored that Love from A to Z talked about this because it’s something I feel is underrepresented in all forms of media. She told me Fencer was an Islamophobe. That she’d had two classes with him—one in junior year and one first semester of this year—and, somehow, he brought an uncanny number of topics and discussions around to how Islam and Muslims were ruining the world. Zayneb is jaded beyond her years because of the discrimination she faces, she’s also angry at said discriminations and refuses to hide it, she’s very vocal about everything that’s wrong with the world and feels the pain, not only hers but also that of every injustice, very deeply and wants to DO something about it. She is strong, confident and so so open about her feelings and that was very refreshing to read. She was also unapologetic and very sure in her Muslim-ness, and nothing could sway her from that, not even the world’s hatred. I was angry, sad, and happy for her all at once. Zayneb is Trini-Pakistani (her Trini side being of West Indian descent) and through her Pakistani side, Ali was able to broach the topic of the victims to the wars that are raging in West Asia (mainly Pakistan for…obvious reasons) as we speak, without erasing the US’ role in all those lost lives, and destroyed lands. And how even as a diaspora kid, Zayneb was still grieving for her people. And this is an element I didn’t expect to find in the story.