Reviewed by Paige Pagan
Review Source: Teaching for Change
Book Author: Aamna Qureshi
When a Brown Girl Flees is a thought provoking, contemporary young adult novel where author Aamna Qureshi seamlessly invests readers in her protagonist’s journey of healing from all-consuming grief to rediscovery and self-love.
Eighteen-year-old Zahra Paracha makes the biggest decision of her life after graduation that she can never take back — running away. She is the first in her devout Pakistani family to commit such an act and goes into it completely out of sorts, carrying the weight of a secret that derailed the life plan her mother had decided for her. From her family’s home in California, Zahra travels to the east coast and attempts to settle in Long Island, but eventually realizes that home is hard to create alone. Just when she’s at her lowest, Zahra stumbles upon the community mosque and meets the angelic Haya and her strong-willed sister, Sadaf. Zahra befriends the two girls and their family takes her in, helping her heal and giving her guidance in carving out the path that she envisions for herself.
There are powerful themes present for a niche, target audience — here is an author writing specifically for Muslim girls to see their full selves represented. One of the strongest themes is the power of faith. Zahra reconnects with Islam via this close-knit Muslim community and found family. Much of her loneliness stems from her belief that Allah has turned His back on her after her “great sin.” Haya helps Zahra redefine her relationship with God, routinize prayer again, and ultimately allow herself to be forgiven.
Another predominant theme is the positionality of a Brown girl in an immigrant family with internalized misogyny as a cultural tenant. Zahra has always done all of the household chores and cooking alongside her mother to serve her father and brother and now is expected to do the same for her future husband. When Zahra runs away before her Nikkah (marriage), she breaks the cycle of women existing for the sake of men. Hand-in-hand with this theme is a fraught mother-daughter relationship. Zahra’s mother gives her the ultimatum of medical school or arranged marriage and grooms her to be subservient because that was taught to her by her mother. It takes Zahra time and space to humanize her mother and realize that she’s also bound by cultural expectations.
A last central theme is depression and anxiety. The author underscores the taboo nature of depression in Brown immigrant families where the solution is to adopt a “pick yourself up by the bootstraps” mentality rather than fleshing out one’s problems and feelings. Zahra defies this standard by seeking therapy to help her quit self-harming and work through her family trauma.
Paige Pagan is a Social Justice Books program specialist at Teaching for Change.
When a Brown Girl Flees by Aamna Qureshi
Published by Lee & Low Books on February 2, 2024
Genres: Asian American, Grief, Muslim, Nature, South Asian
Pages: 336
Reading Level: High School
ISBN: 9781643795058
Review Source: Teaching for Change
In this searing contemporary YA novel from new voice Aamna Qureshi, a Muslim teen runs away from home only to find herself on a breathtaking journey of healing, self-love, and hope.
After Zahra Paracha makes a decision at odds with her beliefs, her mother forces Zahra to make an impossible choice about her future. So Zahra runs away. A train and a plane ride later, she finds herself in New York, where she relinquishes her past in favor of a new future. There, she must learn who she is without the marionette strings of control in her mother's hands. There, she must learn who she wishes to become.
On Long Island, Zahra stays at a bed & breakfast, unsure of her place in the world. Anxious, depressed, and grappling with guilt, she wanders aimlessly. She eventually visits the local masjid, where she is befriended by two sisters and drawn into the welcoming Muslim community there.
It is in this place of safety that Zahra's healing truly begins — but can she create a home for herself when the foundation is built on lies she's spun to protect her from the past? When a family friend recognizes her, will everything come crashing down? As Zahra tries to build a life for herself in this new place, the heart of the matter becomes clear: she can't run away forever. Can she close the rift in her family and truly, fully heal?
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