By Melissa Khan
Set five years after the events of the first book, Adam and Zayneb are at a distance, both physically and emotionally. Zayneb is in her first year of law school in Chicago, struggling to keep up with her studies, her living situation, and the scathing rumours going around about her involvement in an on-campus scandal. Adam, all the way in Doha, is dealing with his MS diagnosis, the constant worry of someday losing his mobility, and his lack of a stable career.
When Adam’s dad disrupts their plans and offers to pay for Adam and Zayneb to go to Mecca to perform Umrah over the week of Thanksgiving, the two have conflicting reactions. Adam is thrilled, feeling that this could be his only chance to go while he can still walk. Zayneb is reluctant, having looked forward to spending a relaxing week alone with Adam. The two, along with an eclectic group of pilgrims, travel to Mecca for an experience of a lifetime.
While on their trip, Adam and Zayneb face many challenges as a couple, including the classic miscommunication trope—-in fact, the two hardly communicate at all. I was surprised by the number of things they failed to share. Zayneb’s lack of housing and overall mental health, and Adam’s lack of income largely contribute to their stress throughout the novel, and they never really discuss them with each other. Much of the novel is focused on Zayneb’s jealousy over Adam’s ex-love interest who happens to be travelling with them. Both of their insecurities and reasonings were well explained—almost over-explained at times—so it was frustrating as a reader to see that they knew exactly what was wrong, but yet choose not to talk to each other.
It also frustrated me how instructional this novel felt—from the over-explanation of religious practices to the simplification of Islamic ideology. It reads like a crash course for non-Muslims and strives to explain to them the “right way” of doing things. The problem with this is that Muslims are not a monolith, and although the practices of certain religious rites are standardized, a lot of what is presented as “correct” in the book is cultural.
Of course, not everyone can expect to be represented in a single story, and the practice of Islam depicted in this novel is one of the many beautiful ways Muslims choose to do so. However, with the text being written with a non-Muslim audience in mind, it leaves little room for the nuance within the Muslim experience. It saddens me to see that the culture depicted in this novel has to be explained and justified in a way that other cultures do not.
I think it’s amazing that so many ethnicities and backgrounds were represented in the novel, and I’m so happy when I see authors choose to include diversity as a natural, everyday occurrence. For this, I felt disappointed when Zayneb’s West Indian heritage wasn’t even mentioned in this sequel. For a character who cares so deeply about social issues, I find it interesting that there was no part of her culture found within the text.
Despite the criticisms I felt while reading this novel, I do think it was a cute, fluffy continuation of Adam and Zayneb’s love story. This novel may not have been written for me, but I’m sure my teenage self would have loved it, and I support the positive impact this story will have for young Muslims.
Thank you, Simon & Schuster Canada, for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.