How to Dodge Flying Sandals and Other Advice for Life: An unreliable ethnic memoir

by Daniel Nour

If you've ever had someone try to arrange a marriage for you …
If you have so many cousins you can't remember all their names …
If your parents only show love through food and unsolicited advice …
If your family still thinks your 'roommate' is 'just a great friend' …
Then this book is for you.

And if you've never experienced any of this? Well, aren't you just a little curious?

Meet Daniel Egyptian and Australian; loud and painfully awkward; conservative and very confused (especially about other boys). He's never quite pulled off normal, but 'not-normal' is where the best stories are. Now he's made his peace with that and is ready to share his wisdom in this highly unreliable ethnic memoir. Told as a series of snapshots from Daniel's life – from 'How to Be Born' to 'How to Die' and everything in between – this is a sharply funny tale of culture, family and trying, but not always managing, to come of age.

At turns wildly absurd, sharply insightful and disarmingly heartfelt, How to Dodge Flying Sandals and Other Advice for Life is a fresh take on growing up in Australia.

Genres: Memoir, LGBT

Kindle Edition

Published May 27, 2025

About the author

Daniel Nour is an Egyptian-Australian writer. His works have been published in various platforms, including, The New York Times, SBS Voices, Meanjin and Griffith Review. Daniel has a Graduate Certificate of Law from Macquarie University along with a Bachelor’s in Communication from the University of Sydney. In 2020, he won the New South Wales Premier’s Young Journalist of the Year Award. Daniel is currently working on his debut novel as the recipient of the 2021 Affirm Press Mentorship for Sweatshop Writers.

Reviews

[ariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

riotously funny but also a bit raw. good pacing and engaging characterisation - also loooved the sydney content

[Craig and Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big thanks to Affirm Press for sending us a copy to read and review.
Reading fiction or non fiction allows a peek into other peoples lives.
The title alone evokes humour and intrigue.
Daniel navigates life as an Australian Egyptian with the pressures of Arab parents, extended family and the church.
An enlightening and humorous account.
Snapshots from a young age to adulthood colour the experiences and hurdles that needed overcoming.
A strong sense of culture, religion and family made it hard for Daniel to accept and embrace his own truth.
Academically, professionally and socially he excelled but denial kept a small void exposed.
The chapters are short and aptly titled and most are laced with humour.
Some celebrate success, others are tinged with sadness and all help form a picture of who Daniel is.
I imagine author talks and presentations would be so fun as Daniel promotes the book.
I do wonder what the parents reactions are too after reading this.
Sharing experiences can bridge the gap of confusion and fear other young folk from all types of backgrounds may feel.

[Bec · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bookclub August pick, paired with gown made pizza and the best treats. This book was a great conversation starter, I enjoyed the nostalgic references of the 90’s, the culture, family and belonging.

If your relatives have ever tried to arrange your marriage, if you’ve got so many cousins you lose track of names, and if your parents show love through endless food and unasked for advice, this story will feel all too familiar. And if you’ve never had any of that? Curiosity alone might pull you in.

Daniel, born to Egyptian parents and raised in Australia, is loud, self conscious and often hilariously awkward. He’s conservative yet confused, especially when it comes to other boys, and he’s never really mastered normal. Instead, he leans into the chaos, sharing an ethnic memoir stitched together through life snapshots.

[Hutch Hussein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful stories - finally a modern, gay male and Middle Eastern version of “Looking for Alibrandi”! Laughed lots and so much resonates with my own community and childhood stories.

[N. Wiklund · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author provides a glimpse into his life, having been raised by parents who left Egypt to settle in Sydney. He is the younger brother of a fiercely independent sister. While the writing is good, it does jump back and forth at times, which threw me off a little. Unless he explicitly mentioned his age, I often found it difficult to determine the timeframe of the events being described. I understand that this book is intended to be humorous, but honestly, it wasn't my type of humour. Rating memoirs can be challenging since they reflect someone's personal journey, but I found myself frowning more often than smiling at the author's depictions of others. It seemed that there wasn't a single person in the book who didn't receive some kind of deprecating remark, including himself. Again, just not my style of humour.

[Sarah Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook - I found myself moving through this book quite slowly. I appreciated that I could really visualise the settings, and all the characters in the anecdotes that the author shared - across all of his life (which is something I love about reading). I felt that annoyance of disbelief with the details/some of the anecdotes. I guess that’s the ‘unreliable’ part of the title? But sometimes the story was lost to so many creative liberties that felt like were taken for the sake of entertainment? Or self deprecation? I enjoyed the family dynamics described throughout the book!

[Dahlia]

No rating for autobiographies and memoirs.

I found this read charming and heartwarming at times, sad and disappointing at times, awkward in moments, and occasionally inappropriately funny--especially the parents.

The sense of humor sometimes fell flat for me, but I'm not usually into deprecating humor. Being a memoir, the pacing was never going to be that of narrative writing, but the time jumps did slow things down for me too often.

That being said, the author's perspective is an important one that I'm glad has been shared with candor and openness.

[Charbel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hysterical at times , sad at times, relatable as hell the whole time. It was such a fun read and I got great enjoyment seeing another queer middle eastern man go through the same cultural growing pains as me. Not biased at all given I know the author! It was brilliant

[Andrea Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book made me chuckle quite a few times. A very easy read, but occasionally I found the time jumps between chapters confusing and felt like maybe there was some assumed knowledge that I was missing.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

The audiobook for this was fantastic, brilliantly narrated and brought to life by the author. I love Daniel's honesty mixed with humour in telling his story, there were so many moments that made me chuckle along, but there are also some really deep and often difficult themes here too.

[H Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great story but the structure really threw it off. I think the chapters could have been arranged more intentionally or just left to be chronological. The timeline was a bit confusing, especially in the middle.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

mWAAAAAHHH

[Alex Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Complex, funny, relatable, poignant. It’s everything I enjoy in a memoir.

[gina]

This is probably one of the funniest audiobooks I've ever listened to. Absolutely hilarious. It's so West Sydney and I love it.

[Vannessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A memoir consisting of chapters sometimes far apart in time. Challenging task, but really well done. And very funny.

[Elishka · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it a queer arabic coming of age story very funny

[Radhika R · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of short stories detailing moments in the author's life as he comically reflects on instances both significant and inconsequential.

[Georgia H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an entertaining, witty memoir about Daniel, an Egyptian Australian growing up in Australia. I found myself laughing only a few pages in (a good sign). Each chapter highlights a period of time from Daniel's life. Starting at a young age, through to adulthood, navigating the pressures of everyday life. This memoir is deeply influenced by his personal experiences with religion, culture, family and sexuality.

Thank you Affirm Press for the copy.

[Hala · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well written and wildly entertaining ‘ethnic’ memoir and given my own heritage I found this to be somewhat relatable. Nour, a second generation Egyptian-Australian recounts his struggle reconciling his religious beliefs and familial expectations with his emerging sexuality. He is quite frank in exploring his feelings and exposing his vulnerabilities, though he does go a bit far in revealing certain bodily functions! This is a funny, warm and engaging book which is much recommended. Wear your best singlet and enjoy!

[Natalia Figueroa Barroso · Rating 5 out of 5]

A memoir I see on our screens as an epic TV series, “How to Dodge Flying Sandals: and other advice for life” by Daniel Nour is the perfect balance between deep-belly laughs and teary-eyed frowns. Equal parts hilarious and heartfelt.

[Silvermoth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could give this three and a half stars.

This is a really cute series of short stories about a Coptic Egyptian Australian growing up and dealing with his queerness. There’s a lot of warmth and I really enjoyed how out of the way Daniel went to avoid ethnic comedy. If anything, the ethnic comedy is about the white Australians he meets who puzzle him. It’s sort of a queer middle eastern looking for alibrandi. I wish it had ended with a bit more of a conclusion or ending but I would definitely recommend this for people looking to broaden their horizons or just to reward a promising new Australian author