by Ayad Akhtar
First published 2015
Hayat Shah lives an ordinary life in Wisconsin with his Pakistani American family. His father works as a successful neurologist. His mother stays perpetually unhappy and knows Freud better than the Quran. Religion rarely comes up in their household conversations. Everything changes when Mina arrives from Pakistan to live with them as his mother's close friend. Beautiful, intelligent, and devout, Mina opens doors to a world that captivates eleven-year-old Hayat. She teaches him about Islam and helps the introverted boy discover faith. But when Mina falls in love with Nathan, a Jewish doctor who is also a family friend, Hayat feels everything he values slipping away. Jealousy consumes him. In his anger, he makes a devastating decision without understanding how it will destroy everyone around him. The story explores the collision between religious beliefs and the modern world through the eyes of a Muslim child caught between love, guilt, and forgiveness.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, religion, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Wisconsin, Pakistan
Period: 21st-century
Paperback · Pegasus