I so enjoyed this book!

I will say it was not what I was expecting - but in such a good way. The writing was witty, although the story was devastating.

This is the story of Anvar and Azza, two Muslim characters who immigrated to the US at different points in their life. Their stories were both intertwined and completely separate, and highlighted the different struggles of being a Muslim in America. I especially connected with their separate challenges with family expectations, faith, and independence.

I thought the pacing and narration switches were choppy and jarring at the beginning, but the pacing leveled out halfway through the book.

I highly recommend this book to all!

Like a lot of readers, I assumed that this would be a funny book based on the cover. I was wrong, but not disappointed. The book does have its humourous moments, but the book is really about Muslim immigrants in the United States.
The chapters alternate between Anvar Faris and Safwa. Anvar's family moves from Pakistan to the United States after his father decides the country is too dangerous. Anvar is excited to go to American and experience the culture that he has so often seen on TV.
Safwa is from Baghdad and after the death of her mother is forced to become the woman of the house. She eventually makes it to the United States with her abusive father.
The characters in this book are very well done and very layered. I really enjoyed reading this book.

I really enjoyed this book! At the beginning, when we are following Anvar and his family in Pakistan, I'll admit I wasn't as much invested, though it had more to do with the fact that I'm not a huge historical fiction fan than it was the culture. I personally find the culture fascinating.

Once we jump to the later timelines in America, I was all in. I really enjoyed continuing to learn more about Anvar and his relationship with himself, with women, and with his culture. You could sense his struggle, but it wasn't over the top. Anvar has a way of using humor (they always point out how bad his jokes are) to deal with things and I loved it so much!

Safwa's story is so beautifully written, despite how heartbreaking it is. Again, her struggles and her successes are very evident when reading. She's fully relatable.

One thing I got from this book that I was not expecting, was a lot more knowledge on the Quran. Now, I am in no way anywhere close to an expert, but I know more now than I did before reading. And, at the risk of getting too controversial, it was amazing to see the similarities in the Islamic beliefs and Western Christianity. This was so well written. It did not seem preachy, but just furthered the storyline.

Highly recommend! 4.5 out of 5.

The second I saw this cover and read the description, I knew I needed to read this book. I was absolutely drawn to it because one of the main characters is from Karachi, the city both my parents were born and raised in before they immigrated to the United States. So, I read all ~350 pages in one day and stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish it the night before its official release! Totally normal, right?!

The story goes like this: Anvar is a boy from Karachi, Pakistan whose family immigrates to the U.S. once the far-right religious fervor becomes too constraining for the patriarch of the family. Safwa is a girl from Baghdad, Iraq who is living through the senseless war the U.S. is waging on her country. Both end up in San Francisco, crossing paths in a rundown Tenderloin apartment complex owned by a Muslim landlord that desis will recognize as being exactly like some uncle they know (think: lots of paan and bad jokes).

This is obviously a very simplistic synopsis - Anvar's family and ex-girlfriend play a major role in the story, as do Safwa's fiancé and father. Masood does a fantastic job of showing Anvar's problems versus Safwa's problems in a way that shows that they are in completely different orders of magnitude, but they both matter in their own right. It is both a great check on the privilege of most likely many of the book's readers, but it's also a simple message: your problems matter, because they matter to you.

The story is engaging, and it's difficult to put the book down once you start. It will definitely be a great read for Muslim readers. It may not be relatable for other readers, especially white ones, but you know... we have to sit through your unrelatable books and movies too.

I should mention, the book seems to be marketed as a comedy and, although I laughed a ton at Anvar's commentary, it deals with a lot of serious issues and is not what I'd consider a comedy.

5+ stars, the + because Syed M. Masood lives in Sacramento, and he makes sure to mention it and Davis a couple of times. A man after my own heart. Thanks to him, NetGalley and DoubleDay Books for allowing me this eARC the day before the book published.

I've been thinking about how to write this review since I finished the book, and even though I've started typing I still don't know what words to use. I've never given books the power to wound me, and this one is no exception, but to say that I was annoyed would be a massive understatement. Mostly, I was left feeling disappointed at another book that further promotes the same dangerous stereotypes about Muslims that led to Trump getting elected.

I want to start by saying that the reason I'm frustrated with this book actually has nothing to do with Anvar and Azza. In fact, I really enjoyed Anvar's humor, and found myself often grinning at his jokes. Neither of them is religious, but that doesn't make the representation invalid. I recognize that not everyone connects to Islam the same way I do, and I respect that. Azza's struggles felt relatable in a way, and it's understandable that, when someone gets abused by a person who claims to be religious, it'll turn them away from that faith.

Despite the fact that there is a diverse range of Muslim characters in this story, the core of it can be summed up as this: Muslims who practice their religion are potential terrorists, control freaks, abusers or righteous to the point of harming other people just for the sake of doing the right thing, while Muslims who don't have a strong connection to their faith, who don't practice their religion, don't pray, drink alcohol and have sex when they want to, those are the only "good" Muslims. This stereotypical idea of what it means to be Muslim is prevalent in the entire book.

Anvar and Azza do remember they're Muslim when they're in trouble. Then they send up a quick prayer to God, and always make it a point to say, "well, that didn't help, go figure". Yeah, I think we get it by now, you think practicing Muslims are ridiculous.

I don't think the world needs another book with the same old (wrong) stereotypes. How about something different for once?

I could've been fine with this book if there had been a couple of Muslim characters who are religious but also just normal people. We exist, I promise. We're not some mythical unicorn. We're also not insane, or boring (because we believe in God, obviously, so we must be so tedious during conversations), or go about kicking people because they do things we don't agree with. Case in point:

Hi, I'm Heena, and I'm a practicing Muslim. I pray five times a day. I fast every Ramadan. I wear a hijab. Nobody is forcing me to practice Islam. I have a Bachelor's degree and a a senior software developer in a predominately male field. My faith has never stopped me from living my life. And I do all this while--gasp--living in Europe.

We exist.

I absolutely loved this book! The story is told in alternating chapters by Safwa and Anvar. They both immigrate to the US, under completely different circumstances and when their worlds collide, they are set forward on a tangled path. The book was thought provoking and deep but also was packed with humor and true-to-life descriptions of family dynamics. I could not put this book down, and when I had to walk away, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. This is a must read!

This is one of the most layered stories I have read in a long time and I simply could not put this book down. I highly recommend everyone read this. It felt like both a Shakespearean tragedy and comedy with missed changes, chance encounters, miscommunications, and so much to unravel.

First 5-star read of the year and I’m absolutely wowed! First off, I must confess that this book wasn’t what I expected. Yes, it had the dry wit and irreverent humour I anticipated given the cover and title of the book, but more than that it took me on a journey of questioning and faith and exploring your beliefs and the things you think you know, and the injustices and inevitabilities of life, and it was absolutely brilliant- from the writing to the storytelling.

The book tells the story of 2 central characters who are imperfect and broken in different ways. Anwar is an irreverent skeptic from a Muslim family. Born and raised in Pakistan, his clever humorous wit and irreverent questions about matters of faith were already a concern to his religious mother, long before he moved to America. Now a wise-cracking, chronically underachieving adult, he finds himself in Hafeez Bhatti’s rundown building as one of the philanthropists collection of bad Muslims a.k.a broken and imperfect people in need of help. There he meets Azza, an undocumented immigrant who shares his lack of ability to settle and find peace, and a history that is more devastatingly brutal than he can imagine.

It’s incredibly difficult to summarize this book and the intersections of the characters and their story without giving it all away. This book examines themes of love, family and friendship in a way that is beautifully relatable, but also themes of religious faith, resilience, and fear in ways that any person of faith or lack thereof would find compellingly apt. The book is divided into parts which represent different timelines- from the mid 1990s in part 1 to 2016/2017 and the election of Donald Trump into office. This isn’t an especially political book, other than the way politics intersects with life, until the end when clearly during the 2016 election which happens near the end of the book, populist ideologies become a reality for the characters in a way. But even though Islamophobia is a minor theme in this book, this is not a book about that or about us vs them. It’s a book about people. The characters felt incredibly real and that verisimilitude, whilst emotionally engaging when reading Anvar’s sections, becomes almost brutal when reading Azza’s. And yet as emotionally-charged as this novel is, it’s perfectly balanced with Anvar’s dark sense of humor and Azza’s almost fatalistic sense of reality. This book is sad and painful, but you won’t be able to put it down. The language is beyond gorgeous, the insights eminently quoteworthy- I found myself highlighting large swathes of this book and its brilliant takes on faith and brotherhood, injustice and fear. I found Anvar to be an odd mix of bold irreverence and cautious fear.

This book won’t be for everyone. I am a person of faith (Christ follower) and I get not every book that questions faith will be for everyone- we are all at different points in our acceptance that someone questioning our beliefs doesn’t have to be blasphemous or doesn’t have to mean that we question our beliefs. If you’re conservative especially conservative Muslim and you might be offended by a protagonists irreverent journey to come to terms with his faith, this might be one to avoid. For me as a Christian, even though this was clearly a book where Anvar’s (the main character’s) relationship with Islam was explored extensively as a major theme, I found this applicable and relatable as someone who also grew up in the Christian faith as a practicing Christian, having questions and still having faith but also trying to understand my own personal relationship with God not based on my family’s relationship or my Church’s relationship. And I think at its heart, for Anwar, that’s what this story is about. It’s about being a back-slidden person, about being a remedial person of faith, about trying to be better, and from Azza, it’s a book about this world draining the faith out of you but still finding the kernel of hope that perhaps all is not lost and there is still beauty.

I think one of the reasons why I’m so in love with this book is because I love characters that are broken and imperfect, characters that have no reason to believe in anything anymore and yet are on a journey to decide for themselves what they believe. I’m a huge fan of the characters in this book, in my life I’ve known Anvars and Zuhas, maybe only 1 or 2 Azzas, and for that reason it felt like they were getting their story. I didn’t necessarily LOVE any of the characters, but I enjoyed reading them and thinking about them and spending time with them. I think this is a great book for all the black sheep, the questioners, the ones on their own journeys of faith and life, the ones who have been hurt, the ones healing, the families that can’t speak of the love they have for each other.

I am so blown away by this book- I read it in less than 24 hours and literally couldn’t put it down needing to know what would happen next. I adored this but am looking forward to reading more own voices reviews to get other perspectives on this. For me, it was absolutely brilliant! Super grateful to Doubleday Books for a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley.

Wow!! I am speechless after reading this book. I started reading this book expecting it to be a light humorous read but boy was I wrong! This book does have humor and some funny moments scattered across but it tackles some deep, ingrained aspect of life and beliefs while growing up in Pakistan and Iraq and how it unfolds after The main characters are immigrated to United States.

The story is written from Anwar and Azza’s perspective. Anwar is a Pakistani boy who defies his parents and their belief in religion and migrates to San Francisco, Fremont along with his family. Azza who was called Safwa back in Baghdad loses her mom to cancer and under adverse circumstances moves to San Francisco with her dad. It is interesting to read how their story intertwines and how it unfolds always keeping the central the,e of being part of a Muslim community!!

I admired Masood’s writing style of how intricately he has described the life events and characters from a conservative Muslim family. At certain instances it reminded me of Khalid Hosseini’s writing style. It was a very fast, eye opening and captivating read for me!

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is open to diverse reading and learning about different culture and their background. Thank you NetGalley, Doubleday books and Syed Masood for the gifted copy of e-arc in exchange of my honest review!

In The Bad Muslim Discount, we are introduced to two characters named Anvar and Azza. The book began in the mid 90s with both living their separate lives. Anvar’s family is on their way to America from Pakistan after his father grew tired of being there. Azza, lived in Iraq, then war torn Afghanistan only to illegally move to America.

Both, before moving to America, experienced life in different but similar ways. Religion is a huge factor in their lives, expectations set by parents and even what life is like for a male vs female. Anvar’s mother was religious as was his brother. Him and his dad, well, they marched to the beat of their own drums. For Azza, her dad laid down the rules, was a devout Muslim and he expected her to follow society’s rules as well. Honour your family, do as the men say, live purely and get married to someone who can provide & has status.

In America, Anvar did as he wanted much to his mother’s dismay. He fell in love, got his heart broken, enjoyed being a teenager, became a lawyer, drank and dated whomever. Azza, she struggled. Her father and someone who was promised to her for marriage, treated her as if she were a second class citizen. Anvar & Azza end up joining forces and similar to the game of checkers, their decisions end up having consequences. Some deadly.

The book is marketed as being hilarious. For some it isn’t and they don’t understand how. I thought it was. It was dark humour. Growing up in a not so religious muslim family but having religious family members, I understood a lot of the humour. I really liked this book especially because it showed two point of views of what it’s like being a Muslim immigrant in America.

Thank you Kaye Publicity Inc for the eARC!

This book follows two Muslim families in Iraq and Pakistan in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016. Anvar is a Pakistani who moves to America during his rebel years. At the same time, Iraqi Safwa is growing up in wartime who also immigrants to the US. The book is funny and charming and great for fans of Firoozeh Dumas's Funny in Farsi.

Thank you NetGalley, Doubleday Books, and Syed M. Masood for the opportunity to review this book! I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

In this story, we follow two families who immigrate to the United States from Pakistan and Iraq throughout the 90's all the way until 2016. The main character, Anvar, constantly finds himself in the shadow of his seemingly perfect older brother. As a result, he is cynical about his life's current circumstances but is soon thrown into the lives of two women with different backgrounds and personalities. He realizes he will have to develop very different emotional repertoires to understand each woman.

I loved getting to learn more about different cultures and what it must have felt like to leave everything behind and move to a place so different from your homeland. This book has so much depth and emotion, I absolutely loved it! There are funny parts, violent parts, emotional parts, all melding together to create an excellent book. I highly recommend giving this book a try if you like learning about immigration, Muslim culture, living in the shadow of your siblings, and love.

Really delightful read! I can't wait to see more from Syed. It was funny, taught me things about immigration and was really well done!

A fast-paced novel with an interesting narrative structure and engaging characters. It covers multiple themes: coming-of-age, immigration, nationalism, and more. At times, it feels a bit too dialogue-heavy but this is an authorial choice, in the end.

The Bad Muslim is funny, yet dark at times. If you are looking for more inclusion done in a touching and honest way, this book should be on your list.

After reading 'More Than Just a Pretty Face' last year, I was really excited to pick this one up, and I'm glad that I got the opportunity to read the arc. The title really piqued my interest, and obviously you can look at the cover yourself. It gorgeous.

The plot consist of two main protagonists, a Pakistani American Boy, Anvar, with a major cultural/religious identify crisis thing going on, and an Iraqi girl, Azza, who comes from a family torn apart by war. The book is about both of their stories, and how they interwove.

There are many different elements in this book, all of them discussed in a very raw and up-front manner. It deals with mental health issues, PTSD and effects of war on people. It talks about the state of foreign prisoners, how they're treated and what effect it has on their later lives. It also deals with toxic parental relationships, honor killings, forced marriages and rape. After 9/11 muslims had to struggle alot, which this book captured very accurately. It talks about Racism, Sexism and Islamophobia. I can't even begin to comprehend how many different layers of depth this book has.

And finally, if you still want a reason to read this book, read it for the Muslim representation. Being a Pakistani myself, I could relate to a few aspects of the book. This book is about a girl who's been through the worst and still believes in God and a guy, who has no faith, but ends up finding it.

The only complain I have is that the book is advertised as a 'hysterically funny' and 'humourous' book, when it was neither of those things. It was dark and messed up and literally gave me goosebumps. I'd recommend it to Khalid Hosseini fans because the amount of depth and darkness in this book reminded me of 'A Thousand Splendid Suns'.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

A humorous, earnest story about what it is to be Muslim in America - the struggles Muslim individuals in the US face due to misconceptions and stereotypes and racism from outside their community, but also the pain that comes with never fully fitting the expectations within the community. Romantic and poetic, Syed Masood shows great promise as a storyteller.

**Please fix the marketing for this book. It is NOT hilarious***

This book was nothing like I expected. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though.

From the description (“Bad Muslim Discount is a hilarious, timely, and provocative comic novel about being Muslim immigrants in modern America”), I expected a light and funny book somewhat like the show “Fresh Off the Boat,” but for Muslim immigrants. You know, culture clash, a son who loves gansta rap, a mom who won’t let go of the old ways. Cue the hilarity.

However, what we actually get is a deeply insightful, often painful look into the experience of two Muslim families, one from Iraq and one from Pakistan, who came to America via two very different paths to create new lives for themselves. When their paths cross, a series of events is set off that ends with deadly and devastating consequences.

The book was actually quite good. The writing is sharp and observant, and often quite witty, but I wouldn’t describe this book as hilarious. Provocative, yes. Often skewering, yes. Comic, no. There is a ton to unpack here (religion, immigration, politics, old versus new), which would make it a great book club pick. I just wish the content had been better described so I didn’t spend the first third of the book wondering what I was missing.

The characters weren't always likeable and the book didn’t end how I wanted it to. Still, a great and timely read.

Also, can we take a moment to admire that fabulous cover? Gorgeous!

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood is an #ownvoices novel needed in 2021. It's a story that shows the diversity of the Muslim community and the immigrant experience in America. It challenges the narrow categories of "good" or "bad" and aims for a deeper understanding of the humanity of the characters.

While the synopsis calls the book a "comic novel," the moments of humor are of the darker variety, so I would note that for readers. Still, it's one that would be well-placed on 2021 reading lists.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

When I am looking for a debut novel, I always look for stories that will help me gain perspective on different types of people. I grew up in a household from the time I was a toddler with a Pakistani Muslim step dad, so sometimes I can relate maybe on a higher level to these types of stories than most white people can, but I also don't pretend that I know exactly how they feel, especially actual first generation immigrants so there is always something new I can learn, even in a culture I am familiar with. I absolutely loved this book. Parts of it were incredibly difficult to get through, not because it wasn't well written, because it was, but because of the content, but it was necessary to the story. We can't just brush over the challenges in life for the sake of a pretty novel wrapped up with a neat bow (I say this because I saw a review about this same novel being too difficult to read for sensitive readers. It is a story that needs to be told none the less). The main characters were all relatable, they were all fallible humans, struggling with living their lives, and that is something I think most adult people can relate to, even if not on the same drastic level as these characters. Anvar keep's the story moving as the character that ties everyone together and lightens things up with his humor which was much appreciated. I like that the story begins with Anvar in Pakistan and Safwa in Iraq during their earlier years. It really helps depict why the characters are the way they are. I thought this an excellent debut, and I look forward to more stories from the author in the future.