Rajib Rahman

“Most of us can't help but live as though we've got two lives to live, one is the mockup, the other the finished version, and then there are all those versions in between.”
― André Aciman

“Do you think I’m too Westernized?” I asked Leila as we walked back home from the library.
“What do you mean?”
“This guy, Sufyan, says I’m too Westernized.”
“The American guy? You’re letting an American guy tell you whether you’re Arab enough?”
“He’s originally Arab —” I began.
“Oh please. Arab Americans are even worse than white people. They look at you like they know you, as if they have an idea of what you’re like from stereotypes and their parents’ ancient memories. And when you don’t conform to their image it terrifies them, because they wear their Arab culture like window dressing but underneath they are as white as snow.”
― Saleem Haddad

“We all tell lies to protect our solitude. We deny the truth and present a false image of ourselves to blend into society.”
― Saleem Haddad

“You know people say the opposite of fear is desire, where we presumably run away from what we fear and toward what we desire. But fear and desire are more complicated than that. There’s fear at the heart of every desire and desire at the heart of fear. So I wonder, by desiring Taymour, what exactly are you afraid of?”
― Saleem Haddad