Welcome to Litsy!

Writing this review a week or two late, but I really loved this book. The autobiography/fiction mashup hooked me hard. Each little vignette pulls you in deep with just enough fascinating human detail to feel like a really good tv show. Shines a nuanced light on the extremely complex and contradictory experience of being a Muslim American and a second generation immigrant. Would love to reread in a year or two.

Once I started reading, I could not put this book down—a searing, brutally honest examination of life in 21st c. America. Deeply personal, often funny, occasionally heartbreaking, this sharply observed book delves into academia, art, race, religion, money/finance, identity, politics, family, & being a Muslim in America. A mix of fiction, autobiography, & social history, this masterful book will stay with me & I‘ll definitely read more by Akhtar.

Saturday morning reading while the family is in bed…

❤️📖☕️

This purports to be a novel, but reads like an episodic memoir, interspersed with reflections on what it's like to grow up a Muslim in the US, and the conflicting loyalties of his parents and himself. More interesting than that though, at least for this agnostic Brit, are the passages where Akhtar analyses the gigantic misstep American politics took in the eighties and which led directly to the sickness which spawned Trump.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this. I was drawn in by narrator‘s experiences of navigating life in America as a Muslim and the son of Pakistani immigrants and the evolving story of and relationship with his father and his father‘s relationship with this country. I‘d heard good things but found it more compelling than I‘d expected.

Writing this review a week or two late, but I really loved this book. The autobiography/fiction mashup hooked me hard. Each little vignette pulls you in deep with just enough fascinating human detail to feel like a really good tv show. Shines a nuanced light on the extremely complex and contradictory experience of being a Muslim American and a second generation immigrant. Would love to reread in a year or two.

Intrigued by this so far….feels like a memoir but is fiction?

I think I just didn‘t buy into this book‘s central conceit, which is that the author couldn‘t decide if he wanted to write a memoir or tell a good story. So while I definitely learned something and some passages were intriguing and enlightening, overall I felt underwhelmed.

It‘s 48 degrees and raining with sustained winds. This is what I WANT to be doing today. What I‘m actually doing: Going to a wedding. That is being held outdoors. 😖😩 Send warm thoughts my way …

This was an enjoyable read, It started off confusing because even though the book is labeled as a novel, I thought it was a memoir, but once you realize that's intentional the whole book becomes really enjoyable as the main character reflects on life in America from a muslim perspective. It always a little... Disassociate ... To read a book.about a time.period I was alive for.

An intense book about America, coming from an immigrant family, and belonging. In this melding of fiction and memoir, Ayad is an award-winning playwright whose works deal with the dissatisfactions of being Muslim in America, while he faces racism and a complicated relationship with his Trump-loving immigrant father.

My ever-growing stack of current reads... I don‘t think I‘m in a slump as much as I don‘t have enough time to read with clear headspace. How do you deal with busy times and reading??

Part memoir, part essay, part fiction, entirely brilliant. Yet, I admit I can't be impartial; as a Muslim-born American woman, I have seen or lived some of the experiences illustrated in this book.

I‘ve been sitting on my review/ I really was awed in certain places and some chapters spoke more strongly to me than others. However, this seamless blending of fact & fiction is a genre I find difficult. The author 💯 succeeded in executing his wish in blurring the lines of reality. Definitely recommend for a searing look at post 9/11 -Trump America. Narration by author was outstanding but his sexual encounters were a bit cringy to hear😳

Our library haul this morning 😍

Reading (and loving) HOMELAND ELEGIES by the brilliant Ayad Akhtar. #fridayreads @LittleBrownBooks

Ayad draws together Pakistani life, economics, medicine, and living in post-9/11, then post-Trump America in this semi-autobiographical novel. I was completely bewitched by everything from Bork‘s lasting impact on the economy to his family‘s interesting personal lives. It‘s unique - not a traditional novel, nor short stories, but each section highlights a different aspect of his fictionalized life and builds on the revelations in the last. 4.5⭐️

#bookmail! Yes, I have been getting a lot lately. No, I am not sorry. 😂😂

This has been on my radar since Obama released his reading list in December, and I‘ve seen so many positive reviews here, too.

The title labels this work a novel, but it reads as linked essays. I am sure that it is a novel in that it is a work of fiction; although, it does make me wonder how closely the book aligns with the author‘s life. It is an intriguing exploration of living as a Muslim in America, as well as an exploration of family relationships. I enjoyed it immensely.

“... when he thought of the place now, America, he found it hard to believe he‘d spent so much of his life there. As much as he‘d always wanted to think of himself as American, the truth was he‘d only ever aspired to the condition.” What a superb novel. Brilliant, innovative, and provocative. Can‘t recommend highly enough.

#bookmail I usually buy at least one book from Obama's favorites list every year

Is it a novel, a memoir, a series of essays, or fictional vignettes? It‘s actually quite hard to say. But whatever this is, I found it immensely incisive in its observations of post 9/11 America. These are stories of our times, as bleak as they are. Akhtar asks some big questions about identity and belonging, dispossession, politics, family, and what makes a home. The state of the union, and the world is dire. #indiebuddyreads

Zing

Wow

I don‘t have the words to explain how much I loved this book. It covers so much: American capitalism, politics, a father & son struggling with each other over their sense of identity in this country, esp. after 9/11. He moves from one interesting story & analysis to another & I went along for the ride. Akhtar offers a brilliant review of both sides of an issue & I found myself wishing I could talk with him for hours. I could not put it down.

This book is so interesting. Akhtar wanders from one subject to the next and offers one nugget after another of quotable ideas and thought-provoking passages. This passage about taping a pencil to your finger at night inspired me to start looking for a pencil. 😀 He used this technique for years with some very interesting results.

I love that my tiny library buys the best books.

This book is a bit of a mash-up — part fiction, part memoir, part essay. Overall it explores family and cultural identity, and takes a hard look at modern American society, its systems and politics. 4⭐️

Didn‘t know “the Donald” is a character!

While it was a tad too on the nose today, Homeland Elegies beautifully captures our current moment in the US with Trumpism and Islamophobia at the center. It focuses mainly on a man‘s relationship with his father, who immigrated from Pakistan to the US. It‘s bleak in the sense of how dishearteningly accurate it is, but it‘s an outstanding book.

I couldn‘t tell if this was a compilation of essays, a memoir, realistic fiction, etc, but I don‘t care what it is classified as since it‘s spectacular. Observant, vulnerable, controversial and well written, this novel is bridge for non-Arab Americans. Akhtar is a gifted writer and this novel deserves the critical acclaim it is receiving.

Tonight‘s dinner on this cool night. Picked up my library hold brand new!

I got this in the mail today. I think the cover is beautiful, more so than it appears in this photograph. Thank you to @LittleBrownBooks