I did not finish this book. I enjoyed the writing style and I enjoyed the characters, especially Amina! However, the plot was too dry for me, and even though I felt bad for putting the book down, I just couldn't manage to keep going. Like I said, I really did enjoy the writing style and the characters, though, and I loved that it was set in Washington DC, since I grew up in Northern Virginia/the DC metro area!

Biologist Amina Abdul moves to Washington, DC leaving a six-year relationship behind to complete her post-doc and also as a bonus be closer to her nephew, Omar.

Omar is fascinated by stories of his paternal Indian heritage and believes himself to belong to an India that is richly endowed with both culture and wealth.
Disturbed with the events of 9/11 he moves closer to his idea of belonging with Indians and takes on an Indian accent and spins a make-believe story of being royalty.

Meanwhile his parents marriage is crumbling and Omar is confused about his identity even more.
He gets expelled for bringing an ornamental knife to school and the story continues.

This book had a very interesting premise but it also felt like a huge lost opportunity.

Everything mentioned in the synopsis is not exactly a major part of the story and the exact point of the story felt unclear.

Carrying a knife and threatening a student could end in an expulsion even if instead of “Omar” it was “Oscar” who did it.
The story of racism would have been more believable if he’d been carrying a few batteries or something.

Anyhow, Mo and Marcy (shallow, narcissist, entitled and conceited characters) were already having problems with their marriage regardless of Omar’s activities though it’s presented that way.

Also, every time Mo or Amina do anything wrong blaming “all the Abduls” sounds childish and ridiculous.

I don’t really understand why the protagonist and their family are referred to as muslims when in all ways they happen to be atheists.
Not judging just by their frequent wine drinking (even during a funeral memorial meeting of an important family member) or the fact that the first meal mentioned in the story involves pork, but by their own admission and activities.

The story is basically about how their names and the color of their skins groups them with people of arab ethnicity and makes people discriminate against them because they look like them.

I would have preferred a story where there are actual believable instances of racism and believe me there are more than a lot of them!
This is in no way the story of a muslim family.

Another huge mistake in the book is that Omar calls his paternal aunt, Amina, “Chachi”, when she is his “bua” (in Hindi or “Phuphu” in Urdu).
Chachi is the term used to refer to the wife of your father’s brother.
That “chachi” bit irritated me quite a bit.

The story had potential.

What an important and enjoyable book. It deals with the complexities of family relationships, gender discrimination, and racial stereotypes, but in such a gentle and nuanced manner. Never preachy or whiny. No answers, just issues laid out in a way that will make you rethink what you think you know. I found Amina to be a sympathetic character and just want to give Omar a huge hug and tell him it will all be OK. The ending leaves you to fill in the blanks as you'd like, which is a treat and in no way unsatisfying. The writing was simple yet powerful and I had a hard time putting this down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.