Does My Head Look Big In This? | Monday, December 25, 2006 @8:10 PM
Book 20: Does My Head Look Big In This?
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
Recommended For: Everyone who do not understand about Islam Reviewer: Noi
This book created history for me. For the first time in many years, I am actually reading a teenage fiction book even though I am long overdue in that department.
Initially I did not know that this book was categorized under teenage fiction. I first learned about this book when it was being reviewed in Lime magazine. From then on, I have been trying to locate this book but to no avail. I thought it was banned in Singapore.
It was only last week that I saw this book while browsing at Borders. I browse books at bookstores even when I am not looking for books and I am the main reason why authors are so rich. I saw this book, while I was looking at some other childrens books and voila!
This book is about Amal, a 16 year old girl who decided to wear hijab to her secular public school. The whole setting is based in Australia so I could relate to some of the customs and traditions. Her decision creates a ripple effect in her life and one thing leads to another.
The story is light hearted and the language used is simple and easy to understand. Amals journey after her decision to put on the hijab permanently will help non Islamic readers to understand what really goes on in the mind of a hijab wearer. Some of the significant issues that were brought up include misunderstanding Islam the religion and the Arab tradition, emotional effects on Muslims after terrorist attack, the real reason why hijab is imposed, fasting in the month of Ramadhan and a little history of Islam. However, all the significant issues were brought up in a very light hearted way, in a way people can understand why some Muslims do what they do and why some Muslims do not do what they are supposed to do.
The story also evolves the people around Amal like her best friends who are Muslims, her friends and classmates who arent Muslims, her parents, her friends parents, her teachers and some mean classmates categorized as snobbish and judgemental. The book also reveals the insights of being a normal girl, who cares about how she looks and whether the cute boy is interested in her. Her feelings, frustrations and excitement will all be too familiar to girls who went through teenage years.
To me the best and most interesting part of the book was when she rejected this boy who likes her even though she has a major crush on him. She then had to go on to explain to him that as much as she wants this, she has to follow her beliefs that says no physical intimacy before marriage. I find that she handle this situation so well that I could probably learn a thing or two. Reading the book halfway will make you fall in love with Amal, who really, are the same like other girls except that she wears the hijab. I also like the way the author let the story flow and no parts of the book sounded like the author was preaching. Plus point, the author is pretty successful in making the book humorous.
Overall, this book will keep you glued to it. I started reading the book on Monday. I completed the book 1 week later. It is a worthy book to read especially if you have friends who are Muslims that you cant understand.
This site was created by Etsu and Noi,self proclaimed bookworms. We have created this site to share what we have learn from books. We only review positive books that we feel can help the individual reading it. Each book that we review consist of our own opinions. We do not represent any book, author or publishing companies. Feel free to leave your comments or recommended any great links of books site or authors site.
