A Palestinian woman finds herself obsessed with cleanliness and perfection through Birkins, skin care and "teaching" school boys. This one was not for me, but Zaher is quite talented in making my skin crawl. The detailed descriptions of the main character washing herself were disturbing, yet I had to keep reading.

This book is for fans of the woman undone trope, who love a bit of creepy thrown in. A low burn, that was still suspenseful.

The Coin is already in the running for a favorite book of the year for me. It´s stylish, smart, deadpan funny and most importantly, it turned my brain around, it makes me think, it surprised me. The book is about a teacher who gets wrapped up in a pyramid scheme involving luxury bags, but really it´s a book of strangeness, compulsions, cleanliness and cruelty and what we do to feel at home in our bodies, to build roots anywhere and with anyone. The voice here is so strong, I would follow the narrative and this writer anywhere, to any plot or city, it´s graceful and smart and also miserable and hilarious and bizarre. It reminds me a bit of Ottessa Moshfegh, a bit of Halle Butler, a bit of Mona Awad, but miraculously it´s its own special magic.

Great novel! I think a lot will be made of the main character's ritualistic and obsessive cleaning, but there's a lot more to the protagonist, an attentive and stylish Palestinian heiress teaching at a boy's private school with a worldview that brings to mind Tom Ripley and Miss Jean Brodie. The chapters are only a handful of pages, and the voice is propulsive, stylish, and quietly bizarre—reminded me of Esther Yi's 'Y/N' and Nazli Koca's 'The Applicant.'

My thanks to NetGalley and Catapult for the ARC of Yasmin Zaher’s The Coin.

This narrative is nothing like its synopsis. Really, it is a first person account of a Palestinian heiress living in New York. She is obsessive compulsive about cleanliness and devotes chapters to describing cleaning her body and apartment, often in grotesque detail. By day, she “teaches” at a private boys’ school (a premise I found laughable as an educator familiar with the requirements and hiring practices at such institutions). She doesn’t teach the boys so much as use them as her twisted human laboratory. I found the character deeply unlikable and bizarre. The character does not “unravel” as the synopsis claims. Instead, she’s off kilter from the first line. Perhaps the point about her desire for cleanliness was intended to imply some existential turmoil surrounding either her father’s estate or her status as a stemless citizen of Palestine, but I am genuinely unsure at the end of this book. Weird. Glad I didn’t spend my own money on this one.

I really liked this book. What stole the show for me was the narrator. I loved the way the story was told through her and how the characters were seen and interacted with one another. Amazing gem of a novel that I found here on Netgalley

“The Coin” follows the story of a Palestinian teacher in New York City. Written like a fever dream, this is a character driven novel that tells the story of a displaced woman and her relationships— to herself, her students, her partners, her coworkers, her friends. I never knew what would happen next, what turns the story would take, or where it would end up. The finale was so beautifully written.

This book perfect for people who love reading about weird and obsessive literary women! Fans of authors like Mona Awad and Ottessa Moshfegh will love this literary debut. No plot, just vibes.

My only critique is the style of the chapters, which are very short, which made it difficult for me to develop my world building (if you can call it that?). This might work for others who enjoy that kind of format!

Thank you Catapult books for this ARC!

Yasmin Zaher is a Jerusalem-born Palestinian journalist and The Coin is her first novel: and it absolutely knocked me off my feet. The main character — a young Palestinian woman: rich and beautiful, newly arrived in NYC to work as a private middle school English teacher (even though she hasn’t read any of the English classics), physically and existentially stateless — is not outwardly a victim of history looking for sympathy. And yet she suffers bizarre, body-based obsessions, and as her actions approach a breakdown, it’s obvious that, despite outward appearances, trauma (both personal and historical) underpin and affect her entire existence. I have never experienced anything like this novel — I don’t believe I have read a book written by a Palestinian author before — and this exposure to other lives and voices is exactly the reason why I read. This might be a bit challenging for those who like bodies to remain sanitised and out of sight, but this is a novel I would urge everyone to read; and especially at this time. Full stars, no hesitation.

OMG rarely does something live up to its hype but THE COIN does. What a delicious gem of a novel. I lived for the narrator, her strange antics (her cleaning ritual!!! her unorthodox manner of teaching!!! her little Birkin scheme!!!). Not to mention the very real, though still nuanced, socio-political undertones that vibrate across the novel. What an achievement. I will be re-reading it pronto.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley,.