You're Not Proper

Striker #1

by Tariq Mehmood

Karen think she’s not proper white. Her dad is Pakistani and her mother is white Christian, and somehow she feels as if she doesn’t quite fit in . . . anywhere. So she’s made a she’s switching sides. She’s going to convert to Islam to try to find her true identity.

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction

198 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 2015

Reviews

[Georgia (The Bibliomaniac Book Blog)]

I liked the way it dealt with religion and showed how difficult it can be to navigate faith when everyone around is challenging you. The ending was pretty dark though got solved weirdly quickly! Would've liked more detail on the relationship between Shamshad and Kiran - but it was a short enjoyable read about rivalry and finding yourself.

[zaheerah]

DNF @ page 120
Don't know if I'll pick this up again :/

[Tessa {bleeds glitter}]

Tw for attempted suicide, violent/murderous thoughts, racism, islamophobia, sexism, verbal and physical abuse, alcoholism, religion, death of a child, depression and attempted infanticide

I'm not going to rate this book to not lower the overall rating because I know this is an important book, we need books this diverse with Muslim voices that are allowed to critique the west.
But my rating of this book would be very low. The writing is painfully bad, the sentences are super short and almost stream of consciousness like, the girls are apparently constantly laughing even when it doesn't fit the situation at all and the transitions are non-existed to so poor, you're constantly confused what is actually going on. The two POVs sound exactly the same, there is nothing that distinguishes the two main characters from each other. I also felt like the overall story was very disjointed and while some scenes were just overdramatic, others were very understated. Overall though I was so put off by the writing and the complete lack off reason for these two characters to hate each other and basically everyone around them as much as they did, that I didn't really get anything out of this story, which is very sad since I know there is some important commentary in this.

[Juwi]

Wtf was this book? How was this published? How did it win an award? WHO TALKS LIKE THAT? DOES HE READ YA BOOKS? I honestly do not understand???

The concept is fine...the plot twist 😹😹😹🤣🤣🤣😒😒😒🙄🙄🙄



I really want to support Muslim authors and all that but this book was so badly written and the plot was terrible and the writing style and everything was A MESS IT IS A JOKE

Well done for TRYING TO TALK LIKE A BRITISH TEENAGER AND JUST MAKING THE WHOLE BOOK CRINGEY AF I’m sorry I cannot recommend this book to a British Muslim teenager as they would read it and be like wtf or die laughing at how badly cringe it is 🤷🏽‍♀️

[Sara Baalbaki]

Very entertaining to read, but geared towards a British audience. However, the book deals with issue of Islamophobia very neatly, and the characters' wit deconstructs all types of stereotypes that pervade our world today.

[Laura]

Great concept, poorly executed.

[Monica]

This was such a painful read. As much as we need diverse voices, this one was so poorly written, I don't know how I could recommend it. I gave it an extra star because of the inclusion Muslim communities and culture.

[Eliza]

Interesting book. I liked how it discussed both girls upbringing and their family dynamics.

[Bell]

It's a very emotional, well written and enjoyable read.

[Sofia]

i think it's amazing

wonderful plot twist

[B]

3.5

[A1liya2ali3]

3.3 good

[tami📷]

yeah man this was deep

[Shamima]

Picked up this book as one of my students had read it and returned it. The beginning of the story was not as great as the ending. It took me a while to get into it and I did at one point think about putting it away. However, when I got to the middle of the book, I was really into it. I was quite shocked at the end and it did fill me with a few tears. But I felt like the ending of the book was a bit too rushed. Overall, a very good read.

[Malak El Sabeh]

What started out as a typical, coming of age book about a girl's quest to find her identity quickly acquired depth with various problems surrounding the main characters.
It was an easy and fast read, but I disliked the ending because the story builds up rapidly and ends rather abruptly, belittling the validity of the previous problems faced by the characters.