Right Reads…

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This book is about 16 year old Amal, a Palestinian-Australian-Muslim girl who decides to wear a hijab as she enters Year 11 in an Australian high school.

The author, Randa aims to write a book that “allowed readers to enter the world of the average Muslim teenage girl and see past the headlines and stereotypes; to realize that she was experiencing the same dramas and challenges of adolescence as her non-Muslim peers”.

I was hooked after the first few pages as Randa draws us quickly into Amal’s life in an easy-to-read, conversational and witty way. My interest was piqued when I read that she attended a Catholic primary school because an Islamic one was too far from home.

Her experience there reveals the peer pressure that non-Christian students feel attending a missionary school. A funny incident at Confession shows us the dilemma Amal is in as she struggles between trying to fit in, being Muslim and being polite at the same time!

Reading the book, I had a first-person view of what it’s like being a Muslim in a non-Muslim country. The teenage years are tough enough with acne problems, boys, sex, studies and the future WITHOUT the complications of Amal’s different faith.

The book’s theme of the journey to personal identity is shown in her experience with an anti-Muslim radio programme on the public bus, with the cool crowd in school, while applying for a part-time job and the day the Sept 11 news broke out in Australia.

They also show us just how many problems Muslims have going through daily life in the Western world.

The theme of cultural identity e.g. of Muslim women suffering for their faith is explored through one of mal’s best friends, Leila, a brainy beauty who struggles daily with her ultra-traditional mother.

Together with another Muslim friend, Yasmeen, Amal tries to keep Leila’s spirits up as she battles daily with her mother’s old-fashioned views on education, work and marriage.

While the girls laugh over Leila’s mother’s old-fashioned practice of Islam, they don’t realize how serious her mother’s frozen-in-time belief of Islam is until something drastic happens.

Randa also shows that even adults experience a cultural identity crisis - Amal’s family members and Greek neighbour are still struggling even years after settling down in Australia:

Her father’s brother’s family - Uncle “Joe” (Ismail) and Aunt Mandy (Aysha) who go all out to appear as Aussie as possible by accepting non-Halal foods, not fasting during Ramadhan and assuming Western names, speech patterns and lifestyles.

They remind me so much of the The Coopers (Kapoors) and Robinsons (Rabindaraths) who are comic British Indian characters in the BBC comedy Goodness Gracious Me!

Mrs. Vaselli - The eldery Greek lady is estranged from her only son due to a misunderstanding. Strong to her Greek roots, she asserts that it’s out out of the question for her to re-establish familial ties. Also, she goes about her daily affairs highly suspicious and overtly prejudiced towards Amal and her family.

Only Amal’s parents have both feet on the ground. They are two professionals who take a realistic stand about being Muslims in modern Australian society yet they stay true to their culture and faith. Her Mum shows readers that Muslim mothers are just like any other mother i.e. worrying about calories, transfat, BMI and looking fat but all these thoughts fly out of the window the minute she entertains guests at her home.

The theme of friendship is also examined in the book as Amal has two sets of friends – her Muslim friends from her hidayah (Muslim school) and her “secular” school friends, Eileen, a Japanese and Simone, a white Aussie. At first, Amal keeps discussions on issues about her faith to her Muslim friends and keeps to “secular” topics with her school friends. Later, she realizes that she didn’t have to segregate her friends that way after all.

The book also sparked my curiosity about Palestinian cuisine as Amal’s Mum prepares a feast of mansaf (rice, chicken with pine nuts) fatoosh and warak areb (vine leaves with spicy rice). I hope that I’ll be able to savour some one day as they sound yummy!

I find that the book reads like Melina Marchetta’s “Looking for Alibrandi” as there are similar struggles with:

• identity,
• prejudice,
• peer pressure,
• boys and
• an unusual friendship with an elderly person who reveals her past (Amal’s Greek neighbour, Mrs. Vaselli reminds me strongly of Josie Alibrandi’s Nonna).

While Amal is as intelligent as Josie, I personally don’t find her as strong a character. Many a time, I find that she’s too self-conscious and paranoid despite her clear, logical thinking and quick wit – it’s fortunate that she realizes this too at the end of the book.

This is what I like best about the book - Amal doesn’t adopt a martyr-like, holier-than-thou attitude (as sometimes is the case with girls who wear the hijab).

Having taught Year 12 English, I would certainly recommend this book to the young adult’s reading list. Get a copy:

Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
ISBN: 978-0439922333

Tags: culture, Muslim, young adult

This new release was one of the nice presents Hubby brought back from the US for me and I couldn’t wait to read it, especially after skimming the blurb.

The term “redneck” is a very strong slur in the US, especially in the Midwest and I’ve always been mystified by what it means, even though my American colleagues tried their best to explain it to me, albeit in politically-correct terms.

In summary, it refers to the poorer whites (cruelly known as “white trash”) who live in the rural areas e.g. the characters from the old sitcom the “Beverly Hillbillies”.

Teen marriages, domestic violence, moonshine, “wife beater” shirts (red, long-sleeved, plaid shirts), chewing tobacco and incest are frequently associated with this group, other than poverty and trailer parks.

Gretchen Wilson, one of America’s top country singers, tells her own tale about first, being a “redneck” and second, being a woman in this maligned community. She recalls the story of her life with Allen Rucker, her co-author, but succeeds in keeping the tone of the book as brutally honest as she sets it out to be.

I really enjoyed reading this autobiography and was very curious about WHEN Gretchen would actually get her moment in time in Nashville.

Growing up in the tiny town of Pocahontas, Illinois, she has an endless string of bad beginnings:

Just one-third into the Redneck Woman, I can imagine how hard and bitter she and her stepbrother would have become by the time they reached their teens. As she’s only 1 year older than me, I’m surprised they hadn’t made the headlines earlier for a school shooting or another form of violent crime!

The saving grace is Gretchen’s grandmother, Frances, who is a thrifty, kind, animal & plant-loving woman even though she married and lived with the most horrible man imaginable on earth.

I almost shed tears when I read the part about Grandma Frances’ simple “wishlist”, one of which is to have a cleaning lady come just ONCE to clear their house. Not once a month or once a week - just one time.

Even so, Gretchen couldn’t take the madness of moving to avoid her stepfather’s angry clients that she dropped out of high school at 15. She worked as a waitress and a bartender and would have stuck to the common 2-job life of a “redneck woman” if not for her talent for singing.

Her belief in herself kept her bartending for money, pulled her through alcoholism and held her through a long plateau of small gigs before she actually struck gold in Nashville, the Hollywood for country music.

A true creative, she accepted any singing assignments she was given, regardless of the genre as long as she could sing - this proved really useful as she achieved amazing control over her voice. Be it the blues, country, pop or rock, she could sing it!

I rejoiced in her success when she finally got her first contract and also shared her sadness when Grandma Frances died before Gretchen made it big. I sense her sincerity and understand her desires in wanting to be the best mother and to give the best to her own daughter, Grace.

Similarly, I can appreciate the fact that she also wants Grace to know her humbled roots and this Gretchen succeeds by inviting her family members to be part of her success.

Also, despite rolling in riches now, she maintains her old lifestyle of cleaning up at her own little home and also allows her kin to continue with the “country” ways they are used to.

I was quite inspired after reading about Gretchen and as she says so at the beginning (adding also that she doesn’t mean to belittle the redneck way of life), she hopes that her life story will inspire any woman or “redneck woman” out there who thinks that she’s stuck with a bad deal in her life.

This book is a refreshing, informative perspective on the concept of being a “redneck”. At times I would have wanted more details about the life of a bartender or the hardships of rural America but I have to remember that this is, after all, Gretchen’s autobiography.

Buy the book:

The only pop culture I can recall revolving around the “redneck” theme are:

“A Painted House” by John Grisham (the book) and

“A Painted House” by John Grisham (the movie)

“The Baby Dance” - a Hallmark movie starring Stockard Channing & Laura Dern

Any other good books I should be checking out on this theme?

Redneck Woman: Stories from my life by Gretchen Wilson & Allen Rucker
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
(ISBN: 978-0446401234)

Tags: Redneck