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Top of the pile
82
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
97/100Critics
67/100Scholars
Author:
Lamya H.
Publisher:
The Dial Press
Date:
February 7, 2023
When fourteen-year-old Lamya H realizes she has a crush on her teacherâher female teacherâshe covers up an attraction she can't yet name by playing up her roles as overachiever and class clown. But one day in Quran class, she reads a passage about Maryam that changes everything. From that moment on, Lamya makes sense of her struggles and triumphs by comparing her experiences with some of the most famous stories in the Quran.
What The Reviewers Say
Hijab Butch Blues is more than a must-read. It's also a study guide on Islam, a handbook for abolitionists, and a queer manifesto. It inspires critical thinking, upholds activist self-care, and permits the defining of one's own queerness. Good vs. bad Muslim, straight vs. gay: That's all a trap. There are third options, too..
Generous, probing and candid.
The memoir is masterfully constructed and mapped out, split between three parts with each one spanning time and space instead of going in chronological order.
The book probes internal conflicts around what coming out is meant to accomplish and to whom. The author persistently challenges a world that classifies identities in rigid absolutes. The book’s relevant and timely discussions of race, sexual orientation, and religion offer an empathetic approach to understanding them..
