Behind Picket Fences – A Review

Behind Picket Fences is the second novel of Hend Hegazi, an Egyptian-American writer who lives in Alexandria, Egypt with her husband and four children. Her second novel just like the first one is nothing short than a masterpiece mA. It follows the lives of four suburban American families; one of which is Muslim. Compared to her first one, Normal Calm, Behind Picket Fences is more of a mainstream novel.

So we have Sidra and Farris, Mariam and Morgan, Summer and Porter and May and Hasan.

Sidra and Farris are successful. She’s a case worker and her knight in shining armor is a lawyer. She just yearns for one thing that money can’t buy.

Mariam is a stay home mother and this is about to change when Morgan starts having financial troubles to support her and their four beautiful children.

Summer is a vibrant young woman who is the prized possession of Porter; a semi-uptight successful Business man.

Finally, May is a mother of two who is dreaming to go back to her guaranteed editing job while she is trying to get over a little malaise so she thought.

The book stirred many emotions in me. When I first read it, I was pregnant so I attributed my feelings to my hormonal stage and brushed it aside. But it was to my surprise that when I read it again for a review, I was an even bigger emotional mess. I really enjoyed the story as it makes us realize that we should count our blessings and stop wishing for what other have behind their picket fences. Every blessed family in our eyes is facing a struggle we have no idea of because Allah never gives everything to His creations.

Hegazi captured very well the weaknesses of human nature in her second novel and hats off to her for crafting and writing so beautifully mA. I wish her all the success she deserves with this book.

Looking forward for her third novel. I know! I don’t even know if she has started penning one but I’ll be in line to read it if I live to see iA.

The book ends realistically and I’m curious to know what’s next for at least two members of these two families; Hasan + May and Morgan + Mariam. Will their paths meet somehow in the future? I wonder!

You can follow Hend Hegazi on Facebook and/or on Amazon. Finally, Hegazi also blogs at hendhegazi.wordpress.com.

**I received an advanced eCopy in exchange for my honest review**

So Complicated by Rumki Chowdhury - A Review

So Complicated is a mainstream novel I really enjoyed. The writing was very clever and deals with feminism, humor, and romance. It's also Rumki Chowdhury's second novel.

From her Amazon page, Rumki Chowdhury has an MA in English Literature from the Queen Mary University of London and a BA in English Writing from the William Paterson University of New Jersey. She was an Editorial Assistant at Pearson Education and interned at Simon and Schuster Inc. Now, she is an English teacher and writes for Hayati Magazine, while living with the best husband in the world and their two gorgeous daughters.

So Complicated centers around a die hard feminist Julie Radcliffe, the author of a very popular feminist blog called 'The Independent Woman' and James Chopin, a famous masculinist blogger whose blog's is titled 'Alpha James'. The battle of the sexes between the two lead to their overnight notoriety, and they are forced together to regain their audience back. I loved the characters of their assistants and sidekicks in this book.

The book is very funny and Chowdhury pulled off the privacy of the characters by being very subtle with her writing. Many intimate things that could easily make certain readers uncomfortable were left off to the reader to imagine. It's a great read and I give it a 4/5 stars.

Thank you for reading,

Papatya*

My thoughts on Americanah

Peace be unto you readers and bloggers. This is a different read and review compared to what I normally blog about…

Anyways, I enjoyed reading this book for many reasons. One is the fact that it addresses so well the challenges immigrants face abroad; especially the United States and the UK.

Another reason is the fact that it felt a little too real for me as I’m also an Americanah to some extent. I immigrated to the USA to further my studies when I was in my late teens. I felt the struggles of the protagonist and lived many scenarios as well. All I can say that, I’m grateful to have succeeded abroad because many loose their ways.

So race, love, bigotry, culture, corruption, religion and almost all other social ills; the book addresses it tactfully. It’s hilarious yet serious.

Three quotes stayed with me amongst many others and there are true:

• Enemy of progress (This was used to denote a uppity black British woman who looked down on African Immigrants)
• Immigrant is code for Muslim (This was used in a conversation to refer to the state of politics in the UK at some point in time)
• An African becomes black when he or she comes to the USA. Before that, race doesn’t matter to him or her and it’s a rude awakening.

I give it a 4/5. Not 5 stars because in writing you have to show rather than tell and this book does it well. However, sometimes, things were so subtle and if you didn’t carefully read between the lines you missed the point.

Overall, it’s very thought-provocative and spares no one or no race!

Thank you for reading and Gob bless!

Papatia Feauxzar

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