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Painted Hands: A Novel (2013)

by Jennifer Zobair(Favorite Author)

4.11 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1250027004 (ISBN13: 9781250027009)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Thomas Dunne Books

review 1: I have to be honest and say I hated, absolutely hated the first 100 pages of this book. I with this close to putting in down and writing a negative, truncated review. I thought the first 100 pages of the book relied heavily on prejudiced characters and overwhelming stereotypes. Mostly of westerners/Americans: highly promiscuous women made unhappy by such behavior; sex-obsessed American men focused only on conquering women and not interested in real, deep relationships; and other types it's not necessary to keep listing. I was totally and completely confused about what audience the author was targeting, or attempting to write the story for... since even I, a convert to Islam (and a fellow Georgetown alum, was offended and turned off by the stereotypes she was promoting... more (i.e. be religious, modest and chaste and it'll solve ALL of your problems).With that said, the book completely redeems itself in the second half, and especially the last 50 pages. All of the main characters grow more in depth and complexity. They grow more human, more likable and more realistic (although my criticism remains in the first 100 pages, why the author could not have made surrounding/secondary characters less extreme, less stereotypical, I don't know). The author, Jennifer, does a beautiful job showing the complexity of the female Muslim experience --feminist Muslims, Muslim-American women trying to juggle work and family just like American women of all faiths, more traditional Muslims, and yes, even giving voice to extremist fundamentalist Muslims (and their rather warped views). She "unveils" the Muslim community very accurately, showing many of the community's dominating cultural characteristics (i.e. women often being treated as second class citizens in mosques in the US, while outside the mosques they are equal and free and strong). But not just the bad characteristics, the good as well (i.e. beautiful, diverse language, food and clothing; the Rahmah/r-h-m -or sensitivity/embracing traits of women, the kindness of so many Muslim men). She also does a wonderful job of community the Catch-22 of the Muslim community's relationship with terrorism... where the world demands that Muslims constantly denounce Islamic terrorism, despite the fact the Muslims do constantly denounce it, and loudly (such statements simply don't get covered by the news). How Muslims are supposed to "prove" that terrorism is not of Islam, and not of individual Muslims, but that other communities do (and always have) committed similar violence and are not asked to make the same protestations (as a Christian, are you asked to denounce Timothy McVeigh's attack in Oklahoma? Or Christian terrorists in India? Or Christian terrorists in Indonesia? Or the widescale Christian violence/silence of the Holocaust?). How, on an individual level, terrorism has nothing to do with 98% of individual Muslims, and by demanding such protests, it inherently tries to link these individual humans to a violent movement that has NO tie to them.The best part of the whole book takes place on page 293, when a main character, Zainab, talks about the lonely, isolated position of being a feminist Muslim. Reviled by much of the non-Muslim American community, but also reviled by her own religious community. How non-Muslims connect her to terrorism, of which she has no part, but then Muslims demand she speak up for Islam, when they revile her as not being traditional enough, covered enough, and they, themselves, treat her as a second class citizen. And then the author beautifully answers these criticisms for calling the situation what it is --change, a revolution. And revolutions are always fought by those they aim to upend, by the larger majority, but those that find their power and hegemony challenged. The whole conversation between two women in this part of the book clearly and succinctly sums up the position of many strong, educated, powerful Muslim women and the battle they fight often on a daily basis in their jobs, their communities, their relationships with their neighbors, and yes, in the Muslim community.My one remaining criticism of the book is that there was not more in the story for one character, May Al-Ansari. She is a hijab-wearing Muslim feminist who is brilliant, compassionate, and yes, for many American (and worldwide) Muslim women, the s-called "ideal." She juggles family and professional success. She is uncompromising a Muslim, unapologetic, and yet unforgiving of the Muslim community's often large-scale backwardness, ignorance, lack of progressive thinking, etc. The book spends a lot of time showing how strong and forward thinking non-hijab (i.e. "westernized Muslims") the three main characters are.. and only introduces May at the end, and as an exception. She's not an exception. I know so many similar such women, women wearing scarves with masters degrees from MIT and Harvard, women traveling the world as international consultants, women doing development agricultural work in Africa and Asia and the Middle East. Having the book's main characters surprised by such a woman, enthralled by such a woman, makes her seem like a "Muslim unicorn," and that's not an accurate portrayal of the fact that such women ARE active in the American Muslim community. With that said, I DO appreciate how the author shows that Muslim women come in all shapes and sizes (i.e. professional, traditional, liberal, conservative, western clothes wearing, scarf wearing, etc., etc.). And that these variations are not an indication of how religious they are, or the levels of their faith, it's simply various descriptions of the women as human beings.One other critical note: I DO think the author's overall mindset is less writing an enjoyable novel than a structuring a story that attempts to make arguments. I felt like each character was created with a specific stereotype in mind (good and bad), and did specific actions to try and get across the author's various political, religious and philosophical beliefs. The book is rather like a fable, meant as a teaching tool. I think OVERALL this does not detract from the fact that the novel is good, the characters and the story well developed, but it's quite obvious earlier in the book.With all of this said, I HIGHLY recommend the book (just grit your teeth those first 100 pages) for non-Muslims and Muslims alike. For non-Muslims, it's a great window into the Muslim community in the US, with a focus on Muslim women. And for Muslim women it provides some great characters to enjoy and some good answers to questions regarding the above-mentioned religious Catch-22. I enjoyed it, and will look forward to the author's next book.
review 2: I knew I was going to love this book, when the beginning acknowledgements read so beautifully! I bought this book because a good friend of mine is friends with the author. I devoured this book because it is truly an entertaining book, in so many ways: colorful throughout, strong women from a culture that I wanted to know more about, romance that brought me to tears several times, and the piece de resistance - enlightenment through enjoyable reading! Thank you jennifer for all! less

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