Zana’s Reviews > In the Country I Love > Status Update

“Don't tell anyone about Ali ... Not even Ayah. Not even Khaled. I don't care if you do not marry him, but you cannot shame him this way. Only let Allah judge him.”

Too bad bc I'M judging

‘He shook his head. “Don't you think I deserve to know the truth? I'm so sick of everyone lying to me.”’

I just realized that this whole book is the embodiment of the miscommunication trope 🫠

‘“It should've been you.” Ali knotted his hands, continuing to spill his foolish heart onto the floor. “If we'd stayed together, maybe none of this would've happened.”’

This fuckboy is giving me the ICK

“Khaled, Ali, and others had revealed his Shia identity early in their social media posts. After finding out he was Shia, some Muslims had threatened to retract their hospital bill donations and left crude comments. He was a kafir, they claimed. A sinner who committed shirk because he came from a sect that prayed on blessed clay and endearingly commemorated Imam Hussein each year.”

Sad

So all the boys in both families are fuckboys. Got it ✍🏽

‘“You could potentially be sued for what you wrote.”’

I definitely do NOT miss being young and stupid and impulsive 🫠

"You know there are soldiers who regret what they did, but there are those who are proud of it. Go watch some of the confessions online. How some of them laugh at their war crimes. Half the time they're only regretful because of how it fucked up their own lives, not because they're remorseful about what they did to our people."

This book is too real. It's so difficult to read

“Since the age of four, Khaled had dreamt of Saddam Hussein hunting his family.”

This is so dark

Khaled's sister???

“Almost every Iraqi uncle he knew growing up, including Sayed Rahman, had been part of the revolution against Saddam Hussein. President George H. W. Bush's government had dropped leaflets from the sky, claiming they would support the revolutionaries like his father, like Faizal, if they fought back against Saddam. They'd lied.”

That's the American way