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There are currently 62 member reviews
for A Place for Us
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Lucy B. (Urbana, OH)
A Place for Us
I liked the way the author began the book in the present time and then went back to the early days of the children and brought the issues of the family from there forward to the present. Usually I rate a book as "I really liked it" or "I didn't like it too much. I don't rate this one either way. I just have to say that I felt very sad for this family as written by the author. Just a note to say that the book brought forth memories in my own family, not of a cultural nature, but of my son who didn't like our house rules and moved out while he was still in high school.
I would be interested to find out what prompted the author to write on the issues in the book since the book is labeled as fiction.
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Patricia L. (Seward, AK)
A Place for All of Us
A Muslim man immigrates to the United States, arranges a marriage, has a family and settles into life in California. Rafiq and Layla are very traditional parents fully embraced by their religion and way of life it demands. Their children, Hadia, Huma and Amar must feel their way into adulthood navigating the safe yet complex practice of their religion while testing the free will of American life. As can be expected it is a bumpy at times treacherous road.
Author Mirza's prose is littered with descriptive sentences that provide a vivid image but may or may not be germane to the action. Mirza also spends much time inside the head of her characters, switching people and time periods with little warning. These methods drag down an already slow moving novel to a snail's pace.
That being said there is a lot to like about A Place for Us. The dictates of the Muslim religion are detailed and enlightening. The all too common parental angst about raising children into successful adults are touching and heart felt. A Place for Us makes clear there is no one manual with all the answers to how to live life, regardless of religion.
Recommended for those who have the time to wade through what at times seems tedious melodrama to harvest some common ground between religions, parents and children.
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Ariel F. (Madison, WI)
A Place for Us
A Place for Us is a debut novel by Fatima Mirza and published by Sarah Jessica Parker's imprint. The book was different from what I had expected. It was well written. This is the story about an American-Muslim families dealing with what it means to be an individual and still a part of the family. Do you have your own hopes and dreams that might go against what was expected and still feel comfortable? Or do you go along with what others desire?I feel fortunate to have received an ARC of the novel. I enjoyed reading it and at times it brought about different emotions-joy, sorrow, pain and love. This would be a good book club read.
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Joane W. (Berlin, MD)
A Place For Us
The story of a Muslim American family attempting to sustain religious and traditional family values in a country that is foreign to them. The many obstacles that conspire to tear their family apart are handled with faith, love and repentance. I enjoyed the book but I wish that many of the Arabic words could have been translated.
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K. B.
A Place for Us
While I think the characters were extremely well-developed and the topic important given our current political environment, I initially had a problem reading this book. In Part One the premise for the book is developed but it is confusing and one transitions to the actual story. Then the author switches back and forth between the present and the past. The last section of the book however is extremely powerful and for that reason I am glad I read this book.
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Patricia T. (Fallbrook, CA)
A Place for Us
This is a tale of an immigrant family, Muslim parents and US born children; their challenges, difficulties, disappointments and successes. It is not really a story about Islam, more about family dynamics, and with few minor changes it could apply to any religion. Well written and moving, beautifully drawn characters, but the narrative is fragmented and the reader had to stay nimble to keep up, worth it though. A very sad story, with just a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, hope for reconciliation. A realization too late that when a parent goes too far to enforce their will on a troubled child, in this case the son, the estrangement may be so deep that making up will be slow, hard, and tenuous.
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Barbara O. (Red Bank, NJ)
A Modern Family
It's a lovely treat meeting the family in this book. "A Place For Us" is the story of an American Indian Muslim family replete with all the typical problems raising a family can bring in today's world. It's a wonderful insight to a Muslim family, devoted to raising their children in the principles of their religion, but the more I read the more I was struck by how we are really all the same. There is a softness to this book, a pervasive sadness in all the characters but I enjoyed the book. The author has achieved a strong sense of feeling throughout her story whether intentional or not.
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