What do you think?
Rate this book
These Impossible Things
A razor‑sharp debut novel of three best friends navigating love, sex, faith, and the one night that changes it all.
It’s always been Malak, Kees, and Jenna against the world. Since childhood, under the watchful eyes of their parents, aunties and uncles, they’ve learned to live their own lives alongside the expectations of being good Muslim women. Staying over at a boyfriend's place is disguised as a best friend’s sleepover, and tiredness can be blamed on studying instead of partying. They know they’re existing in a perfect moment. With growing older and the stakes of love and life growing higher, the delicate balancing act between rebellion and religion is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate.
Malak wants the dream: for her partner, community, and faith to coexist happily, and she wants this so much she's willing to break her own heart to get it. Kees is in love with Harry, a white Catholic man who her parents can never know about. When he proposes, she must decide between her future happiness and the life she knows and family she loves. Jenna is the life of the party, always ready for new pleasures, even though she’s plagued by a loneliness she can’t shake. Through it all, they have always had each other. But as their college years come to a close, one night changes everything when harsh truths are revealed.
As their lives begin to take different paths, Malak, Kees, and Jenna—now on the precipice of true adulthood—must find a way back to each other as they reconcile faith, family, and tradition with their own needs and desires. These Impossible Things is a paean to youth and female friendship—and to all the joy and messiness love holds. A Marie Claire Book Club Pick for June 2022 and a Most Anticipated Book by: Bustle, theSkimm, Fortune, Apartment Therapy, and BookRiot
It’s always been Malak, Kees, and Jenna against the world. Since childhood, under the watchful eyes of their parents, aunties and uncles, they’ve learned to live their own lives alongside the expectations of being good Muslim women. Staying over at a boyfriend's place is disguised as a best friend’s sleepover, and tiredness can be blamed on studying instead of partying. They know they’re existing in a perfect moment. With growing older and the stakes of love and life growing higher, the delicate balancing act between rebellion and religion is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate.
Malak wants the dream: for her partner, community, and faith to coexist happily, and she wants this so much she's willing to break her own heart to get it. Kees is in love with Harry, a white Catholic man who her parents can never know about. When he proposes, she must decide between her future happiness and the life she knows and family she loves. Jenna is the life of the party, always ready for new pleasures, even though she’s plagued by a loneliness she can’t shake. Through it all, they have always had each other. But as their college years come to a close, one night changes everything when harsh truths are revealed.
As their lives begin to take different paths, Malak, Kees, and Jenna—now on the precipice of true adulthood—must find a way back to each other as they reconcile faith, family, and tradition with their own needs and desires. These Impossible Things is a paean to youth and female friendship—and to all the joy and messiness love holds. A Marie Claire Book Club Pick for June 2022 and a Most Anticipated Book by: Bustle, theSkimm, Fortune, Apartment Therapy, and BookRiot
400 pages, Hardcover
First published June 7, 2022
875 people are currently reading
53158 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,760 reviews
Read
August 1, 2022Malak, Kees, and Jenna have been best friends since childhood, helping each other navigate the many twists and turns of life. But one night, all that changes. With the friendship severed and their lives going in different directions, can these three friends find a way back to each other? An insightful exploration of the complexities of love, friendship, faith, and family.
September 19, 2022
Malak, Kees, and Jenna are best friends at a university in the U.K. Their lives are full of hope and promise. The women straddle the line between their traditional Muslim values and modern student life. Part of each of them want the Muslim traditions while also wanting to be part of Western culture, causing struggle and inner turmoil.
How to reconcile what their parents expect with the lives they think they want? But what do they want? It’s not always clear cut and they are torn. They try to balance the pressures of their family and culture with their desires to live their life on their own terms.
As the three women graduate and choose different paths, their friendship becomes strained, but the bond and affection for each other remains strong. There was a scene where one of the women was going through a crisis, and despite being out of contact with her friend, she texted that she needed her and without hesitation, the friend hopped on a plane and was there for her. Now that is true friendship!
I liked the fact that the white men were for the most part respectful and good men (rare in fiction these days), but I wish the Muslim men had been more nuanced.
This was an insightful read and while I did not always agree with the choices the women made, I think the author beautifully portrayed the friends that carry us through tough times.
In an interview, the author said she felt that Muslim women are multifaceted and complex despite being misrepresented in fiction and she wanted to right the misconception. I do wonder though how Muslim women react to the story as it seems many of the scenes in the book are forbidden in their religion.
So many books today focus on the ugly part of human nature, and although I am long-married and long past the age where I struggle with their issues, I loved the focus on female support and friendship.
The audiobook was beautifully narrated by Shazia Nicholls.
June 10, 2022
Summary: This is a coming of age story following the lives of three Muslim women, Malak, Kees, and Jenna, as they navigate their way through adulthood, romantic entanglements and familial obligations while staying true to their deeply held faith. It is a beautiful story of friendship and family, those we are born into, and those we choose.
Thoughts: Somewhere, someone is picking up this book to read it for the first time, and I envy them immensely. This book was not at all what I was expecting. As soon as I saw Read with Jenna picked it for June, I decided to give it a go. And two days later, I was incredibly sad to reach the end. I all but devoured this book and it touched my heart in a way no other book has since reading Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale.
Going in, I had a vague understanding of the Muslim faith and traditions, but seeing it through the eyes of these three women, how they live their lives around and through their faith, I began to understand just how important these long held traditions and cultural/religious rules are.
My heart broke for these three women as they struggled with how to figure out who they are, who they want to be, and who they want to love under the vast familial and societal pressures placed on them. I often talk about emotional investment being the sign of a well written book. My investment in the lives and futures of not only the three main characters, but their families and the men they loved, all ran very deep.
Although I have so much more I want to say about this book, I think it is best to go into it without any preconceived notions or ideas. I will leave it at this - read this book. And listen to the incredible audio narrated by Shazia Nicholls. She did an amazing job bringing all of these characters to life and I could listen to her gorgeous accent all day long.
Thank you so much Grand Central Pub for my physical arc in exchange for my honest review. This is a book I will treasure.
Thoughts: Somewhere, someone is picking up this book to read it for the first time, and I envy them immensely. This book was not at all what I was expecting. As soon as I saw Read with Jenna picked it for June, I decided to give it a go. And two days later, I was incredibly sad to reach the end. I all but devoured this book and it touched my heart in a way no other book has since reading Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale.
Going in, I had a vague understanding of the Muslim faith and traditions, but seeing it through the eyes of these three women, how they live their lives around and through their faith, I began to understand just how important these long held traditions and cultural/religious rules are.
My heart broke for these three women as they struggled with how to figure out who they are, who they want to be, and who they want to love under the vast familial and societal pressures placed on them. I often talk about emotional investment being the sign of a well written book. My investment in the lives and futures of not only the three main characters, but their families and the men they loved, all ran very deep.
Although I have so much more I want to say about this book, I think it is best to go into it without any preconceived notions or ideas. I will leave it at this - read this book. And listen to the incredible audio narrated by Shazia Nicholls. She did an amazing job bringing all of these characters to life and I could listen to her gorgeous accent all day long.
Thank you so much Grand Central Pub for my physical arc in exchange for my honest review. This is a book I will treasure.
January 24, 2023
❀ blog ❀ thestorygraph ❀ letterboxd ❀ tumblr ❀ ko-fi ❀
These Impossible Things an engrossing novel that would make for a great summer read & book club pick. Salma El-Wardany’s prose, which is by turns lively and poignant, is utterly absorbing. Her setting and dialogues were vibrantly rendered and made Malak, Kees, and Jenna’s stories all the more immersive. While I do have some issues with the El-Wardany’s tone, which often seemed to stray into the kind of sentimentalism I have come to associate with soaps or a certain subset of new adult novels, and how certain discourses (sl*t & victim shaming, casual sex, domestic abuse) are handled, I still found a lot to enjoy and appreciate in These Impossible Things. El-Wardany is able to present her readers with a fairly multivalent interrogation of love (romantic & platonic), sex, and faith, starring three best friends who are struggling to navigate adulthood, to reconcile their Muslim & British identities, to find a balance between self-fulfilment and family obligations, and to negotiate social & cultural pressures.
While the novel is certainly trying to integrate intersectional & feminist beliefs in its portrayal of the trials & tribulations of these three young women, there are a lot of scenes and passages that struck me as vaguely moralistic, in the way they present/discuss a certain issue. I also could not help but notice that the one gay character is very much walking and talking cliché of the sassy & Oprah-quoting gay man who exists only to give our straight female heroine relationship advice. The thing that I questioned the most however wasn’t the predictably heteronormative narrative but the author’s choice to make the two Muslim love interests into Bad Men while the white guys are slightly flawed but ultimately Good Men…also, the premise made me think that the book would primarily focus on the bond between Malak, Kees, and Jenna but sadly most of their friendship plays a role in the beginning and in the ending of the book, and the majority of the narrative is spent on dating & romance drama…which maybe I wouldn’t have minded as much if the men in question had been given more shall we say nuanced personalities…but they weren’t. The dynamic between Malak, Kees, and Jenna was the most compelling aspect of the story and yet it is often sidelined in favor of these ‘romances’.
Malak, Kees, and Jenna have been inseparable ever since they met as children during Islamic school. Despite their different temperaments and aspirations, the three are a unit and have always consulted one another when making small & big life decisions. In order not to break their ‘circle’ the three friends even go on to attend the same university and even when two of them get boyfriends, they still make time for one another (if anything the boyfriends are the ones to tag along…). And then comes the fight, a fight in which it is not Jenna, who is seen as the more impulsive and outspoken one in the group, but Malak and Kees who exchange words, the kind of words that do damage. The timing of their fight doesn’t help as Malak and Kees have just graduated and are about to embark on different paths: Kees has Harry, her steady & secret white Catholic boyfriend, and is about to start working as a lawyer at a firm that offers legal aid to disadvantaged; Malak instead feels that she has no choice but to break up with Jacob, who is white, as she yearns for a partner who can belong to her community. Reeling from the heartbreak of losing both the man she loved and her friendship with Kees, Malak decides to move to Cairo. Jenna is caught in the midst of Kees and Malak’s falling out, so she finds herself experiencing a newfound sense of loneliness. She has casual romantic/sexual encounters but like Malak she would like to marry a Muslim man. Mo seems to be the ideal candidate for a husband but she doesn’t feel a spark with him…
Switching between their perspectives we see how their paths inevitably bifurcate. After she says yes to Harry, Kees can no longer avoid telling her parents about his existence, even when she knows that they will likely never be able to accept him or their love. The author depicts her dilemma with empathy and I appreciated that while other characters, such as Harry’s mum or that colleague of Kees’, are quick to condemn her parents for not being supportive of their union, the narrative doesn’t. When Kees’ sadness over the loss of her parents threatens her relationship with Harry she is forced to confront the depths of her sorrow. Jenna experiences a deeply traumatic event and finds herself attempting to forge a new identity, one that she believes will protect her from such an experience. She decides to pursue a relationship with Mo and ignores intentionally and non the signs that he is imposing his family values & conservative views on her and their relationship. Malak ends up in an increasingly toxic relationship with a Muslim guy who is all for upholding traditions only when others are concerned. But in Cairo Malak is away from her parents and brother, and most of all she doesn’t have Kees and Jenna to look out for her, so she, similarly to Jenna, ignores the many red flags in her new relationship.
minor spoilers:
With Kees and Malak no longer on speaking terms, the three are no longer the united front they used to be. While they do express regret over their fight, they don’t really try to attempt to mend things, which did strike me as not entirely believable, especially when the people in question were portrayed as being quite fair. Anyway, their minds are more often than not occupied by boy-related drama, and I can’t say that I cared to read about it. Malak is with an abusive asshole. If I had a cent for a book I read in 2022 featuring a woman of Egyptian heritage who grew up in a western country and is now in her 20s and in what some would call a spur-of-the-moment decision moves to Cairo around the time of the 2011 Egyptian revolution where she falls for an emotionally abusive man I would have two cents. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
Now, as I said, I would have much preferred if the friendship had remained the focus of these storylines. Even though they are no longer friends the three still could have thought about one another, and the story could have explored in more depth just how much their lives have changed now that they are no longer friends. I did think it weird that the parents didn’t ask more questions about why their daughters were no longer the inseparable trio they used to be…anyway, with the exception of Kees, family dynamics are also sidelined in favor of these romantic relationships, which was a pity as I thought that the story could have been enriched by having the parents and siblings play a more active role in the narrative. I also thought that Kees, Jenna, and Malak were a bit too defined by their dating status. And their personalities could have been fleshed out a bit more. Their lives outside of dating also remain somewhat unexplored, and we are only given brief glimpses into their jobs. At times they merely seemed like the generic idea of what a millennial woman is like...
not so minor spoilers:
I cannot stress how much I dislike novels where a young woman is shown to be into casual sex/sexual encounters only as a way of pointing to her loneliness. At first, it seemed that Jenna found casual encounters empowering but no, of course, she then has to reiterate the tired ‘I’m not one of those women’ kind of nonsense and she also has to be ‘punished’ by the narrative for being sexually active. And I hated how that whole plotline was handled. She has this friend, a white guy, and it was quite refreshing to read about a platonic friendship between a woman and a man (both of whom are heteros)...but then the narrative kind of ruins that by having him decide that he can tell her friends about her r*pe without asking her consent or anything but to ‘save’ her from marrying Mo. I mean wtf. But he is not the only white saviour. Harry & Jacob also have their moment and puh-lease. The narrative suggests that Kees, Jenna, and Malak rescued each other but it ignores the saviour-esque role played by these white guys. While I appreciated that the narrative doesn’t do the usual ‘all white cis hetero men suck’, and in fact there are a few instances where Harry, who is very much at peak privilege given that his parents are hideously wealthy, reminds Kees that his white/male privilege doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have feelings and that he can’t be hurt by having to be kept a ‘secret’ from Kees’ family, it annoyed me how unbelievably good he was. Come on. Kees treats him like sh*t and he is so understanding and patient and what have you that he never really snaps. He is shown to be on the verge once or twice but it doesn’t happen. And his goodness irritated me, especially in that scene where he tells a ‘hysterical’ Kees off for being ‘rude’ to her mother.
And, I also must acknowledge something else that didn’t quite sit right with me. Out of three friends, Malak and Jenna are dating Muslim men…and they turn up to be different levels of abusive. Mo is a more vanilla type of problematic (he is jealous of other men, forcing jenna to end her friendship with lewis) whereas Malak’s guy is this walking, breathing, and talking Red Flag (his emotional abuse carries the threat of violence).
That whole finale was beyond cheesy and required a prolonged suspension of disbelief. It had strong soap opera vibes.
I didn’t understand why the characters’ names had to take the place of chapter numbers/titles….the book employs a 3rd pov, so we would know who we were reading about…and what is the point if in Malak’s chapters the perspective isn’t solely Malak’s one? Sometimes we are given insight into the states of mind of other characters or information that Malak/Jenna/Kees couldn’t possibly know.
Lastly, there is this weird moment where two characters share a psychic connection of sorts that is unexplained and it was just jarring. I am all for magical realism, but here it was such an odd one-off that it just didn’t work.
Despite my criticism, I still found this to be a captivating read. Sure, sometimes El-Wardany’s prose could be oversentimental in its imagery & metaphors (and as a lesbian i couldn’t help but roll my eyes by stuff like “Hearing her moan into his mouth is one of his favorite feelings but he doesn’t really know why. Doesn’t know why swallowing the sighs of a beautiful woman feels like collecting butterflies.” or “[she was] tiredly savoring the aches and stings that come from a man roaming across a woman’s body all night long.”) but it also included many affecting reflections on love, family, and faith. I also found the banter and discussions populating Malak, Kees, and Jenna’s narrative to be really engaging. There were some really witty moments and many heartfelt scenes. I found scenes featuring Kees’ father to be particularly poignant. As I mentioned earlier, the author doesn’t demonize the girls’ parents, nor does she condone their behaviour. While we may not agree with Kees’ parents we will find ourselves unable to dismiss them…I would have loved it if the girls’ familial relationship had been explored in more depth, as they were far more interesting than their dating/marriage drama.
While reading this I was very much reminded of Dele Weds Destiny and Three Daughters of Eve, both novels explore love, marriage, and faith and focus on a trio of friends who lose touch after university. While here the ending was very corny and included one too many moments of melodrama, I liked that El-Wardany challenges a monolithic view of Islam and repeatedly questions her characters' idea of what being a ‘good Muslim’ entails and calls them out when necessary.
My favorite scenes were the ones with Kees, Jenna, and Malak. Even when they were squabbling I found their chemistry undeniable. They are not perfect, they make mistakes, sometimes of the self-sabotaging variety, but they are given the opportunity to make amends & grow as people. I think we can all agree on the fact that there isn’t a lot of media focusing on the friendship between Muslim women (i can only think of We Are Lady Parts a fantastic series revolving around a Muslim female punk band) so if you are thinking of reading These Impossible Things, I recommend that you do. Sure, some of its dialogues on consent, female sexuality, femininity & womanhood, were a bit ‘dusty’ for my taste, and some could say deeply heteronormative, but I think it’s quite clear where the author ultimately stands on certain issues (such as sa & rape, abortion, domestic abuse, victim-blaming). I wish she could have reined in the drama a bit when portraying some of these issues but it seemed to me that the author’s heart was always in the right place…
So, if you are searching for an engrossing summer read that delves into the misadventures of growing up and finding love in all of the right & wrongs places, search no more.
“Their laughter split the air and, in a heartbeat, lightness was back. It’s always easier to laugh about things than to cry about them.”
These Impossible Things an engrossing novel that would make for a great summer read & book club pick. Salma El-Wardany’s prose, which is by turns lively and poignant, is utterly absorbing. Her setting and dialogues were vibrantly rendered and made Malak, Kees, and Jenna’s stories all the more immersive. While I do have some issues with the El-Wardany’s tone, which often seemed to stray into the kind of sentimentalism I have come to associate with soaps or a certain subset of new adult novels, and how certain discourses (sl*t & victim shaming, casual sex, domestic abuse) are handled, I still found a lot to enjoy and appreciate in These Impossible Things. El-Wardany is able to present her readers with a fairly multivalent interrogation of love (romantic & platonic), sex, and faith, starring three best friends who are struggling to navigate adulthood, to reconcile their Muslim & British identities, to find a balance between self-fulfilment and family obligations, and to negotiate social & cultural pressures.
While the novel is certainly trying to integrate intersectional & feminist beliefs in its portrayal of the trials & tribulations of these three young women, there are a lot of scenes and passages that struck me as vaguely moralistic, in the way they present/discuss a certain issue. I also could not help but notice that the one gay character is very much walking and talking cliché of the sassy & Oprah-quoting gay man who exists only to give our straight female heroine relationship advice. The thing that I questioned the most however wasn’t the predictably heteronormative narrative but the author’s choice to make the two Muslim love interests into Bad Men while the white guys are slightly flawed but ultimately Good Men…also, the premise made me think that the book would primarily focus on the bond between Malak, Kees, and Jenna but sadly most of their friendship plays a role in the beginning and in the ending of the book, and the majority of the narrative is spent on dating & romance drama…which maybe I wouldn’t have minded as much if the men in question had been given more shall we say nuanced personalities…but they weren’t. The dynamic between Malak, Kees, and Jenna was the most compelling aspect of the story and yet it is often sidelined in favor of these ‘romances’.
Malak, Kees, and Jenna have been inseparable ever since they met as children during Islamic school. Despite their different temperaments and aspirations, the three are a unit and have always consulted one another when making small & big life decisions. In order not to break their ‘circle’ the three friends even go on to attend the same university and even when two of them get boyfriends, they still make time for one another (if anything the boyfriends are the ones to tag along…). And then comes the fight, a fight in which it is not Jenna, who is seen as the more impulsive and outspoken one in the group, but Malak and Kees who exchange words, the kind of words that do damage. The timing of their fight doesn’t help as Malak and Kees have just graduated and are about to embark on different paths: Kees has Harry, her steady & secret white Catholic boyfriend, and is about to start working as a lawyer at a firm that offers legal aid to disadvantaged; Malak instead feels that she has no choice but to break up with Jacob, who is white, as she yearns for a partner who can belong to her community. Reeling from the heartbreak of losing both the man she loved and her friendship with Kees, Malak decides to move to Cairo. Jenna is caught in the midst of Kees and Malak’s falling out, so she finds herself experiencing a newfound sense of loneliness. She has casual romantic/sexual encounters but like Malak she would like to marry a Muslim man. Mo seems to be the ideal candidate for a husband but she doesn’t feel a spark with him…
Switching between their perspectives we see how their paths inevitably bifurcate. After she says yes to Harry, Kees can no longer avoid telling her parents about his existence, even when she knows that they will likely never be able to accept him or their love. The author depicts her dilemma with empathy and I appreciated that while other characters, such as Harry’s mum or that colleague of Kees’, are quick to condemn her parents for not being supportive of their union, the narrative doesn’t. When Kees’ sadness over the loss of her parents threatens her relationship with Harry she is forced to confront the depths of her sorrow. Jenna experiences a deeply traumatic event and finds herself attempting to forge a new identity, one that she believes will protect her from such an experience. She decides to pursue a relationship with Mo and ignores intentionally and non the signs that he is imposing his family values & conservative views on her and their relationship. Malak ends up in an increasingly toxic relationship with a Muslim guy who is all for upholding traditions only when others are concerned. But in Cairo Malak is away from her parents and brother, and most of all she doesn’t have Kees and Jenna to look out for her, so she, similarly to Jenna, ignores the many red flags in her new relationship.
minor spoilers:
With Kees and Malak no longer on speaking terms, the three are no longer the united front they used to be. While they do express regret over their fight, they don’t really try to attempt to mend things, which did strike me as not entirely believable, especially when the people in question were portrayed as being quite fair. Anyway, their minds are more often than not occupied by boy-related drama, and I can’t say that I cared to read about it. Malak is with an abusive asshole. If I had a cent for a book I read in 2022 featuring a woman of Egyptian heritage who grew up in a western country and is now in her 20s and in what some would call a spur-of-the-moment decision moves to Cairo around the time of the 2011 Egyptian revolution where she falls for an emotionally abusive man I would have two cents. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
Now, as I said, I would have much preferred if the friendship had remained the focus of these storylines. Even though they are no longer friends the three still could have thought about one another, and the story could have explored in more depth just how much their lives have changed now that they are no longer friends. I did think it weird that the parents didn’t ask more questions about why their daughters were no longer the inseparable trio they used to be…anyway, with the exception of Kees, family dynamics are also sidelined in favor of these romantic relationships, which was a pity as I thought that the story could have been enriched by having the parents and siblings play a more active role in the narrative. I also thought that Kees, Jenna, and Malak were a bit too defined by their dating status. And their personalities could have been fleshed out a bit more. Their lives outside of dating also remain somewhat unexplored, and we are only given brief glimpses into their jobs. At times they merely seemed like the generic idea of what a millennial woman is like...
not so minor spoilers:
I cannot stress how much I dislike novels where a young woman is shown to be into casual sex/sexual encounters only as a way of pointing to her loneliness. At first, it seemed that Jenna found casual encounters empowering but no, of course, she then has to reiterate the tired ‘I’m not one of those women’ kind of nonsense and she also has to be ‘punished’ by the narrative for being sexually active. And I hated how that whole plotline was handled. She has this friend, a white guy, and it was quite refreshing to read about a platonic friendship between a woman and a man (both of whom are heteros)...but then the narrative kind of ruins that by having him decide that he can tell her friends about her r*pe without asking her consent or anything but to ‘save’ her from marrying Mo. I mean wtf. But he is not the only white saviour. Harry & Jacob also have their moment and puh-lease. The narrative suggests that Kees, Jenna, and Malak rescued each other but it ignores the saviour-esque role played by these white guys. While I appreciated that the narrative doesn’t do the usual ‘all white cis hetero men suck’, and in fact there are a few instances where Harry, who is very much at peak privilege given that his parents are hideously wealthy, reminds Kees that his white/male privilege doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have feelings and that he can’t be hurt by having to be kept a ‘secret’ from Kees’ family, it annoyed me how unbelievably good he was. Come on. Kees treats him like sh*t and he is so understanding and patient and what have you that he never really snaps. He is shown to be on the verge once or twice but it doesn’t happen. And his goodness irritated me, especially in that scene where he tells a ‘hysterical’ Kees off for being ‘rude’ to her mother.
And, I also must acknowledge something else that didn’t quite sit right with me. Out of three friends, Malak and Jenna are dating Muslim men…and they turn up to be different levels of abusive. Mo is a more vanilla type of problematic (he is jealous of other men, forcing jenna to end her friendship with lewis) whereas Malak’s guy is this walking, breathing, and talking Red Flag (his emotional abuse carries the threat of violence).
That whole finale was beyond cheesy and required a prolonged suspension of disbelief. It had strong soap opera vibes.
I didn’t understand why the characters’ names had to take the place of chapter numbers/titles….the book employs a 3rd pov, so we would know who we were reading about…and what is the point if in Malak’s chapters the perspective isn’t solely Malak’s one? Sometimes we are given insight into the states of mind of other characters or information that Malak/Jenna/Kees couldn’t possibly know.
Lastly, there is this weird moment where two characters share a psychic connection of sorts that is unexplained and it was just jarring. I am all for magical realism, but here it was such an odd one-off that it just didn’t work.
Despite my criticism, I still found this to be a captivating read. Sure, sometimes El-Wardany’s prose could be oversentimental in its imagery & metaphors (and as a lesbian i couldn’t help but roll my eyes by stuff like “Hearing her moan into his mouth is one of his favorite feelings but he doesn’t really know why. Doesn’t know why swallowing the sighs of a beautiful woman feels like collecting butterflies.” or “[she was] tiredly savoring the aches and stings that come from a man roaming across a woman’s body all night long.”) but it also included many affecting reflections on love, family, and faith. I also found the banter and discussions populating Malak, Kees, and Jenna’s narrative to be really engaging. There were some really witty moments and many heartfelt scenes. I found scenes featuring Kees’ father to be particularly poignant. As I mentioned earlier, the author doesn’t demonize the girls’ parents, nor does she condone their behaviour. While we may not agree with Kees’ parents we will find ourselves unable to dismiss them…I would have loved it if the girls’ familial relationship had been explored in more depth, as they were far more interesting than their dating/marriage drama.
While reading this I was very much reminded of Dele Weds Destiny and Three Daughters of Eve, both novels explore love, marriage, and faith and focus on a trio of friends who lose touch after university. While here the ending was very corny and included one too many moments of melodrama, I liked that El-Wardany challenges a monolithic view of Islam and repeatedly questions her characters' idea of what being a ‘good Muslim’ entails and calls them out when necessary.
My favorite scenes were the ones with Kees, Jenna, and Malak. Even when they were squabbling I found their chemistry undeniable. They are not perfect, they make mistakes, sometimes of the self-sabotaging variety, but they are given the opportunity to make amends & grow as people. I think we can all agree on the fact that there isn’t a lot of media focusing on the friendship between Muslim women (i can only think of We Are Lady Parts a fantastic series revolving around a Muslim female punk band) so if you are thinking of reading These Impossible Things, I recommend that you do. Sure, some of its dialogues on consent, female sexuality, femininity & womanhood, were a bit ‘dusty’ for my taste, and some could say deeply heteronormative, but I think it’s quite clear where the author ultimately stands on certain issues (such as sa & rape, abortion, domestic abuse, victim-blaming). I wish she could have reined in the drama a bit when portraying some of these issues but it seemed to me that the author’s heart was always in the right place…
So, if you are searching for an engrossing summer read that delves into the misadventures of growing up and finding love in all of the right & wrongs places, search no more.
“They sit, bodies folded around each other, women young and old who have gathered from different countries, all following the same lines of curled Arabic letters, bodies swaying ever so slightly as the word of God vibrates from a woman’s throat so beautifully that at one point or another, it brings them all to tears.”
May 28, 2022
El-Wardany writes with a light, poetic touch about serious topics - particularly how women can lose themselves in a relationship. The three Muslim women in the novel all navigate challenges with their religion, lovers, families and friends. The novel drew me in slowly until I became enmeshed and invested in each of their journeys. Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for sending me an ARC.
March 30, 2022
This was awful! The Arab/Muslim sayings and phrases peppered thoroughly were annoying. On the first page I hi-light EID because I have no clue what Eid sex is. So in the event you know a lot about the culture then maybe you will care to read it. I live in Southern California, surrounded by many Muslims. One of my best friends is from Jordan. I do know a decent amount about the culture.
I for one think the author throws in a lot of Americanized behavior, dreams and wants to grab attention but it was an epic fail. Good devout Muslim people don’t drink, eat bacon or have sex before marriage The expectations of "good Muslim women" is slammed down your throat from page 1 and this has no bearing on any behavior these girls/ladies exhibit. If you are of the Muslim faith then the author wants us to believe that half are really not true to their religion. If you are of faith, you don't break all the rules. It is as if a Catholic went out drinking every other night, having sex and then affairs but is deeply religious.
Don’t bother reading unless you care about religion and faith being trashed. This is not something I would recommend. The cover is horrific too.
I for one think the author throws in a lot of Americanized behavior, dreams and wants to grab attention but it was an epic fail. Good devout Muslim people don’t drink, eat bacon or have sex before marriage The expectations of "good Muslim women" is slammed down your throat from page 1 and this has no bearing on any behavior these girls/ladies exhibit. If you are of the Muslim faith then the author wants us to believe that half are really not true to their religion. If you are of faith, you don't break all the rules. It is as if a Catholic went out drinking every other night, having sex and then affairs but is deeply religious.
Don’t bother reading unless you care about religion and faith being trashed. This is not something I would recommend. The cover is horrific too.
March 12, 2022
3.5 stars. There's a lot to like in this novel, which centers on female friendship. Malak, Kees, and Jenna all grow up Muslim in Britain. They have different backgrounds but they all struggle with the same tension between the traditional Muslim life their families have and the more modern life they want. The story walks a very delicate tightrope just as the characters do, showing respect and love for their family traditions, as well as frustration with the strict edicts they are expected to follow.
It isn't uncommon to have stories like this where a decision causes a rift in a family. (And that's a major issue here.) But when the three women make different choices, they spiral out and away from each other, each feeling like the other's choice is a judgment on theirs. As we follow them, we see how they lose track of themselves and ultimately find validation and self-realization through each other.
There's a lot of difficult stuff in this book, family rifts and domestic violence and sexual assault, but it is mostly an optimistic story that really believes in the power these women have to uplift and save each other.
I enjoyed it but I also found it just a little too pat. The white boyfriends who present such a crisis to the women, as choosing them will be in a sense not choosing their families, are presented as so blandly sweet that it's hard to root for them. On the other hand, the Muslim men the women pursue are much more problematic. It's odd that the white men are presented as blameless and good from the start, while the Muslim men are constantly treated with suspicion even when the women fall in love with them. It felt kind of squicky to me, especially since the women's stories are showing just how broad the modern Muslim experience can be. And the women's troubles do lean towards Lifetime-movie melodrama more than is my preference.
But the women themselves were presented so fully that I can still recommend the book and I'd be interested to read more from El-Wardany. I think this will really hit a sweet spot for a lot of readers of women's fiction because it has such a nuanced and loving portrait of these women and their friendship without being the same old white lady stuff.
It isn't uncommon to have stories like this where a decision causes a rift in a family. (And that's a major issue here.) But when the three women make different choices, they spiral out and away from each other, each feeling like the other's choice is a judgment on theirs. As we follow them, we see how they lose track of themselves and ultimately find validation and self-realization through each other.
There's a lot of difficult stuff in this book, family rifts and domestic violence and sexual assault, but it is mostly an optimistic story that really believes in the power these women have to uplift and save each other.
I enjoyed it but I also found it just a little too pat. The white boyfriends who present such a crisis to the women, as choosing them will be in a sense not choosing their families, are presented as so blandly sweet that it's hard to root for them. On the other hand, the Muslim men the women pursue are much more problematic. It's odd that the white men are presented as blameless and good from the start, while the Muslim men are constantly treated with suspicion even when the women fall in love with them. It felt kind of squicky to me, especially since the women's stories are showing just how broad the modern Muslim experience can be. And the women's troubles do lean towards Lifetime-movie melodrama more than is my preference.
But the women themselves were presented so fully that I can still recommend the book and I'd be interested to read more from El-Wardany. I think this will really hit a sweet spot for a lot of readers of women's fiction because it has such a nuanced and loving portrait of these women and their friendship without being the same old white lady stuff.
May 6, 2022
Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing me with an eARC of this book!
This book was painful to read. The moment she called The Quran a lifeless green book or "Eid s3x????" I knew this was going even more downhill, and it did. I know people practice faith differently, but as a practicing Muslim this made me cringe and throw up. I like the drama style in this book, but the book took me forever to get through and I did not enjoy a single moment. I really wish faith wasn't treated like this, but 2 stars because hey different perspective I suppose.
This book was painful to read. The moment she called The Quran a lifeless green book or "Eid s3x????" I knew this was going even more downhill, and it did. I know people practice faith differently, but as a practicing Muslim this made me cringe and throw up. I like the drama style in this book, but the book took me forever to get through and I did not enjoy a single moment. I really wish faith wasn't treated like this, but 2 stars because hey different perspective I suppose.
June 30, 2023
https://instagram.com/p/Ct4Mo8arZao/
A poignant and engaging saga of friendship, faith, and the ways in which our lives are molded by impossible choices. Through a bold and endearing trio of Muslim women, each with flaws, ambitions, and the complex duty to navigate the nuances of tradition, family, and personal desires, we see an intimate and compelling look at female friendship for all of its ups and downs; this is an to the women in our lives who pick us up, hold us to our goals, and accompany us in the ever winding roads of life. This novel is as endearing as it is important.
A poignant and engaging saga of friendship, faith, and the ways in which our lives are molded by impossible choices. Through a bold and endearing trio of Muslim women, each with flaws, ambitions, and the complex duty to navigate the nuances of tradition, family, and personal desires, we see an intimate and compelling look at female friendship for all of its ups and downs; this is an to the women in our lives who pick us up, hold us to our goals, and accompany us in the ever winding roads of life. This novel is as endearing as it is important.
June 8, 2022
Distasteful book, with terrible representation. Bored with this trend of women who need saving from religion or don't like religion. You either believe something and choose to follow it or you don't, you have the choice. I get there are different types of muslims, I have witnessed that myself coming from schools and having groups consisting of different ethnicities and religions with people choosing to live their lives very differently to one another but this book was just ridiculous to me.
Ebook via netgalley
Ebook via netgalley
Want to read
March 2, 2022i cant wait to read this so i can rant about how horrible the representation is. stay tuned!! 🤗
December 13, 2022
So many thoughts. Yea it was very messy. I definitely spent a lot of the book taking everything in. I felt hella conflicted for a lot of it bc I was trying to turn of my critical reading switch off esp in terms of looking at it through the lense of Muslim rep. I liked how it showed really different representations of Muslim women. I do wish she would have written one positive Muslim relationship just because I know when yt people read this some of them are going to FAIL at a separating religion and culture. But I get what she was trying to do esp after reading the authors note and watching her Ted talk. The writing was so breath taking. Like fr it knocked the wind out of me sometimes. I loved the way she wove poetry in with prose. My fave aspect was def the female friendships. I don’t think I’ve seen a book touch on the importance of female friendships so well no keep it at the core of the story despite everything going on around them.
October 18, 2022
Haven't even finished yet but it's the same old mind-numbingly tired crap featuring Muslim girls with secret nonMuslim boyfriends, getting drunk and bitching about how unfair it is that it's haraam for Muslim women to be with nonMuslim men.
Gratuitous and unnecessary references to sex, because that's pretty much entirely what the author relies on for her material - Muslim women having haraam sex.
Which is a pity, bc she does have a tiny glimmer of actual talent, but it's rendered moot by her sheer lack of actual imagination in coming up with an original plot.
Gratuitous and unnecessary references to sex, because that's pretty much entirely what the author relies on for her material - Muslim women having haraam sex.
Which is a pity, bc she does have a tiny glimmer of actual talent, but it's rendered moot by her sheer lack of actual imagination in coming up with an original plot.
July 19, 2022
What I loved about this book is that it used the friendship of three women to explore all the different ways you can navigate the most difficult parts of life.
Malak, Kees and Jenna are three young British Muslim women who have always done life together since they were kids. However, as we grow into adulthood sometimes even close friendships end up taking different paths. We can drift apart but we can also come back together. There is no expiration date on friendships and there is never a wrong time to ask for help.
We have the families we are born into but we also have the families we create and those can make us feel the most seen and understood.
What do you do when the one you love is not supported by your family? Do you choose family? Or do you choose love?
How do you ask for help when you are thousands of miles away from your support system?
How much would you sacrifice for your culture and religion?
How do you save yourself from loneliness?
It was quite a journey experiencing the answers to these questions through the lives of Malak, Kees and Jenna. This book felt like an ode to modern female friendships. I always loved the quote ‘we can do hard things’ or in this case, impossible things, but it is always easier and worthwhile when we don’t have to do it alone.
If you enjoy …
✨Emotional and reflective books
✨Stories about friendship
✨Different POVs
✨Family drama
✨Stories about culture and religion
Then I would highly recommend adding this book to your TBR. The characters and their lives had me hooked from the beginning. Some of the fallouts of their decisions are very heavy but also very honest. If you’re looking for a reason to cherish your friendships more, then look no further ✨
Overall, what a debut! I am looking forward to reading more by @salmaelwardany
Thank you @netgalley and @grandcentralpub for gifting me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Malak, Kees and Jenna are three young British Muslim women who have always done life together since they were kids. However, as we grow into adulthood sometimes even close friendships end up taking different paths. We can drift apart but we can also come back together. There is no expiration date on friendships and there is never a wrong time to ask for help.
We have the families we are born into but we also have the families we create and those can make us feel the most seen and understood.
What do you do when the one you love is not supported by your family? Do you choose family? Or do you choose love?
How do you ask for help when you are thousands of miles away from your support system?
How much would you sacrifice for your culture and religion?
How do you save yourself from loneliness?
It was quite a journey experiencing the answers to these questions through the lives of Malak, Kees and Jenna. This book felt like an ode to modern female friendships. I always loved the quote ‘we can do hard things’ or in this case, impossible things, but it is always easier and worthwhile when we don’t have to do it alone.
If you enjoy …
✨Emotional and reflective books
✨Stories about friendship
✨Different POVs
✨Family drama
✨Stories about culture and religion
Then I would highly recommend adding this book to your TBR. The characters and their lives had me hooked from the beginning. Some of the fallouts of their decisions are very heavy but also very honest. If you’re looking for a reason to cherish your friendships more, then look no further ✨
Overall, what a debut! I am looking forward to reading more by @salmaelwardany
Thank you @netgalley and @grandcentralpub for gifting me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
December 19, 2023
This was a beautiful, hopeful, emotional and sometimes hard to read book about friendships, family, love, faith and culture. This book is not perfect and it was in the 3rd person but it made me cry so it’s getting rounded up to a 5⭐️. There are 3 POVs and it follows Malak, Biliquis and Jenna who are best friends and Muslims in their life journeys and relationships. Malak and Biliquis both are dating white non Muslim men and it was very interesting to see how they both went about that and how their families reacted to that. Jenna is struggling with loneliness and living up to cultural expectations of a non married woman and how people in the community viewed her.
It was heartbreaking to read some parts and I felt bad especially about the bad relationship one of the characters ended up in and with events that happened to other characters. Overall I really liked it and I think it’s a story that showed the different relationships these characters had with being Muslim and how it impacted their relationship with family and friends.
Content Warning: rape, abusive relationship, abortion
Rating: 4.25/5⭐️
It was heartbreaking to read some parts and I felt bad especially about the bad relationship one of the characters ended up in and with events that happened to other characters. Overall I really liked it and I think it’s a story that showed the different relationships these characters had with being Muslim and how it impacted their relationship with family and friends.
Content Warning: rape, abusive relationship, abortion
Rating: 4.25/5⭐️
June 13, 2022
I am always eager to find stories by Arab writers who are seeking to change the prevailing Western narrative around our culture and religion. I think Salma was successful in her efforts to challenge many of these wrongly-held assumptions, writing her characters in a way that pushes readers to perhaps reexamine their stereotypes about Islam in general and Muslim women in particular. For that alone, Bravo.
The friendship between Malak, Balqis and Jenna is the heart and soul of the book. The three girls are childhood friends, a bond that was formed in the religious classes they were enrolled in, and that continued unabated throughout university. After one terrible night, the friendship is severed and each of them goes her own way. And with the loss of this friendship, the girls simply unravel, losing their sense of self utterly and completely.
While I appreciated the overarching theme and the author’s intention behind writing the book, I felt like there was some nuance missing. I’m the type of reader to whom details matter, so it irks me when for instance the response to the standard greeting - Assalamualaikum - is wrong, or when athan is misspelled athen. I’m just a stickler for these things and I know they won’t matter to readers that don’t know the difference, but for those of us that are Muslim or Arab, it does. As do sudden transformations where the protagonist suddenly sees the light between one chapter and the next in a way that just feels too rapid to be believable. I also found myself questioning some of the background details. For instance, the book assumes one community consisting of Pakistanis, Palestinians, Egyptians etc. This came as a surprise to me because what I’ve seen of immigrant communities in the US and UK isn’t reflective of this. Typically, people are drawn to others of their nationality of origin (or region) rather than their faith. So this was an interesting twist and it made me curious to learn more about these integrated communities in the UK. Do they exist in reality or was this just the world the author wanted to create for this story?
While the book did do a good job in dispelling some of the stereotypes about Muslim women, it sadly did not do the same for Muslim men. The narrow-minded, jealous, controlling, obsessive, and even violent Arab man was on full display. Contrast that with the angelic white men (all bar one minor character) and it didn’t sit well with me.
As a whole, the book also got me thinking about how much harder it is for immigrant families to reconcile their faith and culture with their surroundings when they move to the other side of the world. In fact, it sometimes feels like those that leave their home countries behind become even more militant and fanatic about their culture and faith. Maybe this is a last ditch effort to hold on to home. It’s understandable, but it must make belonging feel impossible for themselves or their children. While I’ve always thought this was true, the book depicted this dilemma very well.
Finally, I will end this on a positive note by saying that for me, I really enjoyed Balqis’ story the most. It felt the most relatable to me and her transformation was the one that made sense in my mind. I shed a few tears for her towards the end and may I say that her father was probably my favorite character in the whole book.
Who might enjoy this book? I would say young readers and perhaps those who are unfamiliar with Arabs and Islam. I can see myself devouring this book as a teenager and talking about it for days on end with all of my friends.
The friendship between Malak, Balqis and Jenna is the heart and soul of the book. The three girls are childhood friends, a bond that was formed in the religious classes they were enrolled in, and that continued unabated throughout university. After one terrible night, the friendship is severed and each of them goes her own way. And with the loss of this friendship, the girls simply unravel, losing their sense of self utterly and completely.
While I appreciated the overarching theme and the author’s intention behind writing the book, I felt like there was some nuance missing. I’m the type of reader to whom details matter, so it irks me when for instance the response to the standard greeting - Assalamualaikum - is wrong, or when athan is misspelled athen. I’m just a stickler for these things and I know they won’t matter to readers that don’t know the difference, but for those of us that are Muslim or Arab, it does. As do sudden transformations where the protagonist suddenly sees the light between one chapter and the next in a way that just feels too rapid to be believable. I also found myself questioning some of the background details. For instance, the book assumes one community consisting of Pakistanis, Palestinians, Egyptians etc. This came as a surprise to me because what I’ve seen of immigrant communities in the US and UK isn’t reflective of this. Typically, people are drawn to others of their nationality of origin (or region) rather than their faith. So this was an interesting twist and it made me curious to learn more about these integrated communities in the UK. Do they exist in reality or was this just the world the author wanted to create for this story?
While the book did do a good job in dispelling some of the stereotypes about Muslim women, it sadly did not do the same for Muslim men. The narrow-minded, jealous, controlling, obsessive, and even violent Arab man was on full display. Contrast that with the angelic white men (all bar one minor character) and it didn’t sit well with me.
As a whole, the book also got me thinking about how much harder it is for immigrant families to reconcile their faith and culture with their surroundings when they move to the other side of the world. In fact, it sometimes feels like those that leave their home countries behind become even more militant and fanatic about their culture and faith. Maybe this is a last ditch effort to hold on to home. It’s understandable, but it must make belonging feel impossible for themselves or their children. While I’ve always thought this was true, the book depicted this dilemma very well.
Finally, I will end this on a positive note by saying that for me, I really enjoyed Balqis’ story the most. It felt the most relatable to me and her transformation was the one that made sense in my mind. I shed a few tears for her towards the end and may I say that her father was probably my favorite character in the whole book.
Who might enjoy this book? I would say young readers and perhaps those who are unfamiliar with Arabs and Islam. I can see myself devouring this book as a teenager and talking about it for days on end with all of my friends.
June 4, 2022
I'll make no bones about the fact that I initially found the first few dialogues off putting and also found the characters to be quite unlikeable. It was only after the characters went their separate ways that I gradually got into the book.
Kees, Malak and Jenna are best friends at university; all belonging to the Muslim faith but from different ethnicities. After a row, the girls part ways and their stories are told.
Each girl's story is relevant and through their stories, Salma El-Wardany has written about topics that are considered taboo especially when it came to religion and relationships. However, there were several things that really irked me. If the girls were so close, how could they toss away their friendship so easily? Secondly, I really didn't like how Muslim men were portrayed so negatively and how the white men were the nice guys. The biggest issue for me was that the author made the three girls into practicing Muslims who in their practical lives didn't abide by any religion whatsoever (all that sex) yet they seemed to miraculously pray five times a day.
The only way to read this book is with an open mind. It's not an easy straightforward read. Subject wise, there's a lot of baggage to unpack.
This book was given to me by NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.
Kees, Malak and Jenna are best friends at university; all belonging to the Muslim faith but from different ethnicities. After a row, the girls part ways and their stories are told.
Each girl's story is relevant and through their stories, Salma El-Wardany has written about topics that are considered taboo especially when it came to religion and relationships. However, there were several things that really irked me. If the girls were so close, how could they toss away their friendship so easily? Secondly, I really didn't like how Muslim men were portrayed so negatively and how the white men were the nice guys. The biggest issue for me was that the author made the three girls into practicing Muslims who in their practical lives didn't abide by any religion whatsoever (all that sex) yet they seemed to miraculously pray five times a day.
The only way to read this book is with an open mind. It's not an easy straightforward read. Subject wise, there's a lot of baggage to unpack.
This book was given to me by NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.
May 29, 2022
Malak, Kees, and Jenna have been friends since childhood in the tight knit and nurturing Islamic culture of the UK. As they embark on their adult lives, a sudden falling out one evening separates them temporarily. They begin to build lives apart, but, in crisis, are drawn back to one another.
This was yet another novel that took a while for me to engage with and really appreciate. Initially, I thought the friends, for their age, to be quite adolescent, or at least their conversation seemed so.
Beautifully written, the author tackles some very difficult topics. There is so much here…the pull of family and culture, gender roles, abuse, the strength of friendship, and what, to me, has always been the tyranny of religion. It is an engrossing, rewarding read. There is a technique the author employs that I really like. As she told the story from each woman’s POV, she also related what was going in other related peoples’ lives at the same time.
Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing the DRC.
Follow me on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/shereadbook...
This was yet another novel that took a while for me to engage with and really appreciate. Initially, I thought the friends, for their age, to be quite adolescent, or at least their conversation seemed so.
Beautifully written, the author tackles some very difficult topics. There is so much here…the pull of family and culture, gender roles, abuse, the strength of friendship, and what, to me, has always been the tyranny of religion. It is an engrossing, rewarding read. There is a technique the author employs that I really like. As she told the story from each woman’s POV, she also related what was going in other related peoples’ lives at the same time.
Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing the DRC.
Follow me on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/shereadbook...
June 20, 2022
What a debut. I inhaled this. Modern feminism vs. religious and cultural traditions. The struggle to meet family expectations but also the need to follow your own heart. It’s also a story on the power of friendship and sisterhood. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like it before. So many emotions.
October 6, 2022
I am conflicted! There were anti-muslim vibes throughout that made me uncomfortable. However, the story was absorbing and the author wrote about numerous big topics in a skilled way (it did not feel scattered or overwhelming at all). The complexities of religion, friendship, losing yourself in relationships, fighting for love, family dynamics, different types of abuse, and inter-religious relationships were all explored.
Although I am in no position to speak on whether the references to tradition were accurate or not, it felt that there was a negative connotation towards being Muslim. Although everyone's experience with religion is unique, I would be curious how Muslim's felt while reading this. Goodread's reviews are overwhelmingly positive but I have seen a few other reviews expressing discomfort with the anti-muslim vibe as well.
The two white men were portrayed as absolutely perfect, whereas the Muslim men were either an overprotective stereotype or awful abuser's.
It is a tricky balance because reading diverse authors and stories are very important. I hated Wahala because of the awful anti-black rhetoric, on top of the bad writing and characters. I did not feel that here - I cared for the character's, liked the writing, and was absorbed in the story. But I really wish the attitude towards being Muslim and Muslim men was portrayed differently.
TW: rape, domestic and emotional abuse, abortion, family estrangement
Although I am in no position to speak on whether the references to tradition were accurate or not, it felt that there was a negative connotation towards being Muslim. Although everyone's experience with religion is unique, I would be curious how Muslim's felt while reading this. Goodread's reviews are overwhelmingly positive but I have seen a few other reviews expressing discomfort with the anti-muslim vibe as well.
The two white men were portrayed as absolutely perfect, whereas the Muslim men were either an overprotective stereotype or awful abuser's.
It is a tricky balance because reading diverse authors and stories are very important. I hated Wahala because of the awful anti-black rhetoric, on top of the bad writing and characters. I did not feel that here - I cared for the character's, liked the writing, and was absorbed in the story. But I really wish the attitude towards being Muslim and Muslim men was portrayed differently.
TW: rape, domestic and emotional abuse, abortion, family estrangement
May 12, 2022
This book is about three Muslim women navigating life and the trials and tribulations that come along with it. All three struggle against the expectations of their culture, religion, and gender. So well written, I believe some of the situations will have a lasting resonation. An incredibly emotional ride that hooked me from the very first chapter.
Thank you Grand Central Pub for this complimentary copy.
Thank you Grand Central Pub for this complimentary copy.
October 30, 2023
3.5 stars
A fun, compelling read about three young Muslim British women navigating the tension between the love lives they want, and family and community expectations. It is not great literature, and it is one of those books sold as being about friendship but in which each friend actually has a separate plotline focused on something else. That said, I enjoyed reading it, and despite some rom-com elements my sense is that the author was writing what she knows, about the problems her generation and community face, and not just mindless entertainment. I absolutely believe there are people out there living lives like this.
Malak, Kees and Jenna are three best friends graduating college and setting out on different paths in life. The abrasive, idealistic Kees begins work as a public defender, and confronts her family with her plans to marry a white Catholic boy. Irrepressible party girl Jenna dates Muslim men online while finishing her medical degree. Malak, who appears to subscribe to the notion that protagonists don’t need a personality, breaks up with her white boyfriend in hopes of finding someone her community will approve, and travels to Egypt to find herself. A fight between Malak and Kees over their divergent relationship decisions, plus the natural drifting-away that happens as school friends begin their adult lives, leaves all of them vulnerable, mostly to the wrong kind of men.
El-Wardany’s storytelling is good, and I quickly found myself wanting to know what would happen next with all three characters. She handles dark elements (sexual assault, domestic abuse) in a way that feels very realistic and also respectful. And in spite of the dark elements, it’s not a dark book—there is humor; the families are a source of real warmth and love, showing clearly why the girls would be hesitant to disappoint them; and when the friendships get a chance to shine they are also strong. The characterization is somewhat uneven—Kees and Jenna felt like real people I have met, but see the above comment about Malak. The same variation holds true in the secondary cast, and in any case no one is especially deep or complex, but they work well for their roles.
The writing style I’d put a bit below average, and El-Wardany makes the questionable choice to tell the story in the present tense, except the moments even she loses the thread of it. Likewise there is a bit of head-hopping; in several cases this is intentional, leaving the individual point-of-view behind to transition to omniscient narration, but the prose isn’t quite strong enough to seamlessly pull off the effect. I’ll forgive a lot for strong dialogue though, which the book very much has: it’s fun to read and comes across very much the way people really talk, especially with their friends.
The question of whether Muslim men are negatively portrayed is an interesting one; the protagonists themselves are very concerned with whether they can find men their families will approve who will also be chill and progressive in their lifestyles, and consistently come up short in that regard. That said, I saw this mostly as commenting on the difficulties of dating; the fathers and brothers are portrayed positively, and while one of the Muslim boyfriends is clearly awful, the reader is left with questions about the other. My take is that ultimately it’s less about that character, or even about the prevalence of actual abuse, and more a critique of a culture holding such patriarchal norms that you can’t tell the difference between “normal behavior” and “warning signs.”
I also mostly liked the ending though I did not agree with all the character choices, particularly from Harry.
In any case, overall this is a fun combination of enjoyable storytelling with some deeper themes. Not one I expect to stick with me, but one I had a good time reading.
A fun, compelling read about three young Muslim British women navigating the tension between the love lives they want, and family and community expectations. It is not great literature, and it is one of those books sold as being about friendship but in which each friend actually has a separate plotline focused on something else. That said, I enjoyed reading it, and despite some rom-com elements my sense is that the author was writing what she knows, about the problems her generation and community face, and not just mindless entertainment. I absolutely believe there are people out there living lives like this.
Malak, Kees and Jenna are three best friends graduating college and setting out on different paths in life. The abrasive, idealistic Kees begins work as a public defender, and confronts her family with her plans to marry a white Catholic boy. Irrepressible party girl Jenna dates Muslim men online while finishing her medical degree. Malak, who appears to subscribe to the notion that protagonists don’t need a personality, breaks up with her white boyfriend in hopes of finding someone her community will approve, and travels to Egypt to find herself. A fight between Malak and Kees over their divergent relationship decisions, plus the natural drifting-away that happens as school friends begin their adult lives, leaves all of them vulnerable, mostly to the wrong kind of men.
El-Wardany’s storytelling is good, and I quickly found myself wanting to know what would happen next with all three characters. She handles dark elements (sexual assault, domestic abuse) in a way that feels very realistic and also respectful. And in spite of the dark elements, it’s not a dark book—there is humor; the families are a source of real warmth and love, showing clearly why the girls would be hesitant to disappoint them; and when the friendships get a chance to shine they are also strong. The characterization is somewhat uneven—Kees and Jenna felt like real people I have met, but see the above comment about Malak. The same variation holds true in the secondary cast, and in any case no one is especially deep or complex, but they work well for their roles.
The writing style I’d put a bit below average, and El-Wardany makes the questionable choice to tell the story in the present tense, except the moments even she loses the thread of it. Likewise there is a bit of head-hopping; in several cases this is intentional, leaving the individual point-of-view behind to transition to omniscient narration, but the prose isn’t quite strong enough to seamlessly pull off the effect. I’ll forgive a lot for strong dialogue though, which the book very much has: it’s fun to read and comes across very much the way people really talk, especially with their friends.
The question of whether Muslim men are negatively portrayed is an interesting one; the protagonists themselves are very concerned with whether they can find men their families will approve who will also be chill and progressive in their lifestyles, and consistently come up short in that regard. That said, I saw this mostly as commenting on the difficulties of dating; the fathers and brothers are portrayed positively, and while one of the Muslim boyfriends is clearly awful, the reader is left with questions about the other. My take is that ultimately it’s less about that character, or even about the prevalence of actual abuse, and more a critique of a culture holding such patriarchal norms that you can’t tell the difference between “normal behavior” and “warning signs.”
I also mostly liked the ending though I did not agree with all the character choices, particularly from Harry.
In any case, overall this is a fun combination of enjoyable storytelling with some deeper themes. Not one I expect to stick with me, but one I had a good time reading.
July 17, 2022
I have no choice but to give this book one star, because while the author demonstrated that Muslim women are multifaceted and complex, she did the opposite for Muslim men. All the male Muslim characters were stereotypical assholes, some worse than others, while every white male, whether Christian or Jewish or agnostic, was a great guy who saved one of the Muslim woman characters in one way or another.
Want to read
March 2, 2022Just by the summary you know this story did Muslims wrong because this is definitely not the right representation....
February 8, 2022
(Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review).
This book is incredibly, incredibly special.
One of my favorite books of the year thus far. “These Impossible Things” follows the story of three lifelong best friends - Malak, Kees, and Jenna - and how they navigate their friendship as they get older, while still trying to keep their traditional Muslim and family traditions alive. As a white woman who grew up in America with no religion, I know next to nothing about the Muslim religion, so I was so excited that as I read this book, I was able to learn and enrich my knowledge of what seems to be such a beautiful and deeply traditional religion. I loved the juxtaposition of the three women trying to find this perfect balance of being able to go out and drink, but make it to mosque on time, because both are important to them. The constant push and pull of embracing modern times while trying to uphold their religious beliefs (while also somehow fighting stereotypes) was an exciting and enlightening thing to read. Their individual journeys, from beginning to end, was like witnessing a real live person grow into adults they were meant to become. I felt like I had gone on the journey with these women, and El-Wardany has an incredible gift to be able to write the same women, but have them grow and mature into almost completely different people by the end.
From the moment the book started, I loved the three young women. I wanted to be friends with them - each with their distinctive personalities, and different ways to be a friend, I was hooked. They were written in such a raw and real way that I felt at home while reading about them. Even when going through heartbreak - romantic or not - I felt so connected to all three in a way that it was almost as if I knew them. When they laughed, I felt their joy, and when they hurt, I felt their sadness. They are some of the most real and fleshed our characters I’ve read about in a long time. Each one experiences heartbreak in their own way, and they are SUCH individual characters that the way they dealt with said heartbreak, though kind of similar, had nuances that made them so different. I loved seeing how they were written with such strength and tenderness in different ways. Their love for each other was so special that it radiated off the page.
The writing in this novel was exquisite. El-Wardany was able to convey the loneliness, heartbreak, and constant but somehow poetic melancholy that every young person experiences as they grow into adulthood. I found each storyline captivating in its own right; a perfect story-within-a-story where the overarching plot tied in perfectly with the mini novels shown to us in each storyline. It was almost as if I was watching a TV show - if I closed my eyes I could picture each character perfectly, and thought how visually stunning and interesting each plot line was. El-Wardany has a way with her writing that transports you immediately to wherever the characters are.
The ending was so devastating, emotionally beautiful. It left me with an aching feeling that only an incredible piece of art - music, books, movies - can stir. I will have a book hangover with this one for quite some time
I loved this book. Once this book is published I’m going to urge literally every friend who reads, to read it. It was insightful, heartbreaking, laugh out loud funny, and eye opening. I felt that it was poetic and modern, even if you aren’t connected to the Muslim religion (like me), I think this is a novel that everyone should read. I have such a soft spot for all three women, and I couldn’t put the book down. From the very beginning their story was captivating, and they held a special place in my heart the entire time I was reading the book. I cannot wait to read more from Salma El-Wardany!
This book is incredibly, incredibly special.
One of my favorite books of the year thus far. “These Impossible Things” follows the story of three lifelong best friends - Malak, Kees, and Jenna - and how they navigate their friendship as they get older, while still trying to keep their traditional Muslim and family traditions alive. As a white woman who grew up in America with no religion, I know next to nothing about the Muslim religion, so I was so excited that as I read this book, I was able to learn and enrich my knowledge of what seems to be such a beautiful and deeply traditional religion. I loved the juxtaposition of the three women trying to find this perfect balance of being able to go out and drink, but make it to mosque on time, because both are important to them. The constant push and pull of embracing modern times while trying to uphold their religious beliefs (while also somehow fighting stereotypes) was an exciting and enlightening thing to read. Their individual journeys, from beginning to end, was like witnessing a real live person grow into adults they were meant to become. I felt like I had gone on the journey with these women, and El-Wardany has an incredible gift to be able to write the same women, but have them grow and mature into almost completely different people by the end.
From the moment the book started, I loved the three young women. I wanted to be friends with them - each with their distinctive personalities, and different ways to be a friend, I was hooked. They were written in such a raw and real way that I felt at home while reading about them. Even when going through heartbreak - romantic or not - I felt so connected to all three in a way that it was almost as if I knew them. When they laughed, I felt their joy, and when they hurt, I felt their sadness. They are some of the most real and fleshed our characters I’ve read about in a long time. Each one experiences heartbreak in their own way, and they are SUCH individual characters that the way they dealt with said heartbreak, though kind of similar, had nuances that made them so different. I loved seeing how they were written with such strength and tenderness in different ways. Their love for each other was so special that it radiated off the page.
The writing in this novel was exquisite. El-Wardany was able to convey the loneliness, heartbreak, and constant but somehow poetic melancholy that every young person experiences as they grow into adulthood. I found each storyline captivating in its own right; a perfect story-within-a-story where the overarching plot tied in perfectly with the mini novels shown to us in each storyline. It was almost as if I was watching a TV show - if I closed my eyes I could picture each character perfectly, and thought how visually stunning and interesting each plot line was. El-Wardany has a way with her writing that transports you immediately to wherever the characters are.
The ending was so devastating, emotionally beautiful. It left me with an aching feeling that only an incredible piece of art - music, books, movies - can stir. I will have a book hangover with this one for quite some time
I loved this book. Once this book is published I’m going to urge literally every friend who reads, to read it. It was insightful, heartbreaking, laugh out loud funny, and eye opening. I felt that it was poetic and modern, even if you aren’t connected to the Muslim religion (like me), I think this is a novel that everyone should read. I have such a soft spot for all three women, and I couldn’t put the book down. From the very beginning their story was captivating, and they held a special place in my heart the entire time I was reading the book. I cannot wait to read more from Salma El-Wardany!
May 28, 2022
*****UNPOPULAR OPINION*****
I appreciate what this author was trying to do and how to represent 3 young women of the Muslim faith, but the execution was in poor taste and quite cringe-worthy. This book was not for me.
Cannot recommend. I have a hard time even giving it one star. I did like the cover.
Thanks to Netgalley, Salma El-Wardny and Grand Central Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Available: 6/7/22
I appreciate what this author was trying to do and how to represent 3 young women of the Muslim faith, but the execution was in poor taste and quite cringe-worthy. This book was not for me.
Cannot recommend. I have a hard time even giving it one star. I did like the cover.
Thanks to Netgalley, Salma El-Wardny and Grand Central Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Available: 6/7/22
March 9, 2022
CW: SA
this book frustrated me.
Not because it was bad, but because it was exceptional. The story of the first and second generation immigrant is becoming more and more common in media and as more and more groups get represented, the genre will have hits and misses. In fact, I feel like a part of getting exposure might involve creating misses from the perspective of the people who might relate because to appeal to a broader audience, the experience needs to be portrayed in a heightened, simplified, or just plain stereotyped way. I was deathly afraid this book was gonna be one of those from the first couple of chapters. I really can't stand the trope of laundry listing stereotypical traits as part of exposition that serve to
1. give the represented audience (muslim immigrants in this case) a leo dicaprio pointing at the screen moment and a cheap laugh
and 2. either create exposition for the rest of the audience or remind them of things they might be familiar with exclusively from stereotypes or comedy.
Not only that, but the early chapters (and sprinkled throughout up until about halfway) had the most atrocious pop-netflix-rom-com dialogue. Sometimes it felt like I was reading a Riverdale script. I'm not sure if this type of dialogue was included to make the novel popular for a mass audience or more realistic but either way, it was incredibly groan-inducing. And that is why i was so frustrated because the rest of this book is absolute gold.
The three protagonists have incredibly complex and different views on how their religious views affect their relationships, social lives, sex lives, and, ultimately, all these create tension among their own friendship. The nuances in these characters with regard to their religious views makes the book all the more dramatic but at the same time, all the more real. It's compelling, heart-wrenching, infuriating, uplifting, but never feels contrived.
Which makes the cheap, fun, sexy, quippy, dialogue all the more unnecessary. But ultimately, I want to give the books props for what it gets right because it does so much well. I would recommend a read but I do want to warn that there are realistic depictions of sexual assault and abusive relationships. I believe the novel handles these topics in a mature way and they are effective in the plot with respect to the overarching theme of internalized guilt but could absolutely be triggering.
"'Get off my dick, Kees,' is the muffed response through a mouthful of chicken." page 40
this book frustrated me.
Not because it was bad, but because it was exceptional. The story of the first and second generation immigrant is becoming more and more common in media and as more and more groups get represented, the genre will have hits and misses. In fact, I feel like a part of getting exposure might involve creating misses from the perspective of the people who might relate because to appeal to a broader audience, the experience needs to be portrayed in a heightened, simplified, or just plain stereotyped way. I was deathly afraid this book was gonna be one of those from the first couple of chapters. I really can't stand the trope of laundry listing stereotypical traits as part of exposition that serve to
1. give the represented audience (muslim immigrants in this case) a leo dicaprio pointing at the screen moment and a cheap laugh
and 2. either create exposition for the rest of the audience or remind them of things they might be familiar with exclusively from stereotypes or comedy.
Not only that, but the early chapters (and sprinkled throughout up until about halfway) had the most atrocious pop-netflix-rom-com dialogue. Sometimes it felt like I was reading a Riverdale script. I'm not sure if this type of dialogue was included to make the novel popular for a mass audience or more realistic but either way, it was incredibly groan-inducing. And that is why i was so frustrated because the rest of this book is absolute gold.
The three protagonists have incredibly complex and different views on how their religious views affect their relationships, social lives, sex lives, and, ultimately, all these create tension among their own friendship. The nuances in these characters with regard to their religious views makes the book all the more dramatic but at the same time, all the more real. It's compelling, heart-wrenching, infuriating, uplifting, but never feels contrived.
Which makes the cheap, fun, sexy, quippy, dialogue all the more unnecessary. But ultimately, I want to give the books props for what it gets right because it does so much well. I would recommend a read but I do want to warn that there are realistic depictions of sexual assault and abusive relationships. I believe the novel handles these topics in a mature way and they are effective in the plot with respect to the overarching theme of internalized guilt but could absolutely be triggering.
"'Get off my dick, Kees,' is the muffed response through a mouthful of chicken." page 40
May 28, 2022
The narrative style is unique and impressive for a debut. It’s common to see an author to add to a character’s story by showing you what has happened over time, but I admired how El-Wardany within a single sentence would show you what was happening over space. This further interwove the individual journeys of our leading ladies and added dimension to secondary characters. The narrative arc of the novel was well constructed and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
As Malak, Kees, and Jenna practice their faith in a way we don’t often associate with as the practices of a “good muslim girl”, I foresee this novel getting a lot of hate from the muslim community for “misrepresenting” Islam. However, as a muslim woman myself, reading this book made me cry and feel seen. Many of the romantic and familial relationship issues the women in this novel face are ones I experienced in my early 20s. Islam is not a one dimensional, and if you’re willing to understand Salma El-Wardany’s dimensions as represented in this novel, I believe it will add to your depth of understanding of muslim women. If you’re unsure if you’re up for this challenge, please notice the outlines of naked women on the cover and visit El-Wardany’s personal instagram - she’s not trying to fool anyone.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advanced copy.
As Malak, Kees, and Jenna practice their faith in a way we don’t often associate with as the practices of a “good muslim girl”, I foresee this novel getting a lot of hate from the muslim community for “misrepresenting” Islam. However, as a muslim woman myself, reading this book made me cry and feel seen. Many of the romantic and familial relationship issues the women in this novel face are ones I experienced in my early 20s. Islam is not a one dimensional, and if you’re willing to understand Salma El-Wardany’s dimensions as represented in this novel, I believe it will add to your depth of understanding of muslim women. If you’re unsure if you’re up for this challenge, please notice the outlines of naked women on the cover and visit El-Wardany’s personal instagram - she’s not trying to fool anyone.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the advanced copy.
July 18, 2022
Hands down my favorite of the year and probably top 3 all time
June 27, 2022
Within the first 20 pages I knew this was going to be absolutely amazing. I love when a book starts out that strong.
“…a hot tear slides down her face and although she doesn’t feel like crying, she knows there are too many emotions on the insides and whether she likes it or not they will come out of her any way they can. You can’t stuff so much sadness into a body and think it can be contained. Like water running to the sea, it will always find its level. “
The power of friendship and loss. The navigation of true friends having your back and letting go of the small things that can threaten to steal that friendship away.
Brilliant writing, raw emotion and stunning character development. Many issues are brought up is such a dynamic way that I had to re-read many pages.
Trigger warning on rape, mental abuse and abortion.
I have to say out of my 60+ books read so far, Read with Jenna bookclub picks, have picked my two faves of the year. This one alongside, Remarkably Bright Creatures. I am excited to see what else she holds in store for us in the next remaining months as she has set the bar very high.
Highly recommend this book!
“…a hot tear slides down her face and although she doesn’t feel like crying, she knows there are too many emotions on the insides and whether she likes it or not they will come out of her any way they can. You can’t stuff so much sadness into a body and think it can be contained. Like water running to the sea, it will always find its level. “
The power of friendship and loss. The navigation of true friends having your back and letting go of the small things that can threaten to steal that friendship away.
Brilliant writing, raw emotion and stunning character development. Many issues are brought up is such a dynamic way that I had to re-read many pages.
Trigger warning on rape, mental abuse and abortion.
I have to say out of my 60+ books read so far, Read with Jenna bookclub picks, have picked my two faves of the year. This one alongside, Remarkably Bright Creatures. I am excited to see what else she holds in store for us in the next remaining months as she has set the bar very high.
Highly recommend this book!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,760 reviews