Tag Archives: heist

Aug14

Zeyna Lost and Found by Shafaq Khan

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Zeyna Lost and Found by Shafaq Khan

I think I needed this 336 page middle grade book that gets parents out of the way and lets a trio of kids  hop from country to country to solve a mystery, track down the bad guys and save the day. Set in the 1970s in the UK and on the Hippie Trail between Lahore, Pakistan and Istanbul, Turkey, the book is a fast paced read with humor, heart, and adventure.  I absolutely love Zeyna’s snark and voice, and her relationship with her brother and cousin, ground the story and make you cheer for them even when their antics are incredibly dangerous and improbable.  As an Islamic school librarian, my one critique with the book is that I wish there was more/any Islam. I, at one point considered that they are not Muslim, and I’m not sure what the author identifies as, but she does thank “Al-Barr, for all that is good” in the acknowledgements, and Zeyna does mention an Eid party in passing, so while I’m still on the fence, I’m going to assume they are all Muslim.  Major beats in the plot are meeting at both the Badshahi and Blue Mosque, but none of the characters ever pray, or mention the names of prayers when the athan is heard.  When they see women in burkas and chadors, Zeyna stares, not connecting the clothing to hijab, that one would hope she would know. There is only one salaam in the whole book, and the story is predominately set in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey. Granted I am sensitive, but it almost feels like a deliberate exclusion to the point of going out of the way to not let those details be present.  There are plenty of Urdu and Punjabi words and titles and cultural commentary, so it doesn’t seem that the author was concerned about watering down authenticity, a theme of the book infact is finding your place and accepting yourself.  All that aside I really enjoyed pickpocketing, imaginative, determined, sarcastic, loyal detective Zeyna, and I think kids will join me in hoping this is the first in a series.

SYNOPSIS:
Zeyna is 12, and likes to imagine she is a detective on a case, sneaking and snooping, and roping her inventing younger brother Mahir to be her Watson. The city is on edge with the theft of the Shirin Jewel, a large Persian ruby, a case involving the 15, that Zeyna would love to solve.  When she sees a man with knife in London, who later seems to be following her and her mum, and then drops a paper with their street name on it, Zeyna is convinced this her chance to prove her self. A sudden trip to Pakistan though dampens her mood as the clues to the case will be left in the UK. She doesn’t stay down long though, as her parents start acting peculiar in Lahore, meeting with strange people, lying about why they suddenly made the trip at all, and when the police show up at the familial home to arrest her parents, they all discover that her parents have vanished.  Zeyna realizes her parents and the events in London are tied to the missing ruby, and with the help of Mahir and their cousin Amina they set off to solve the case and find her parents.

WHY I LIKE IT:
It’s hard to review a book like this without giving the twists and climax and resolution away, but more than once I gasped in delight when something happened on the page, and it crystalized where the book was going in my head.  Sure there were some particularly outlandish connections and a few plot holes, I even Googled when fax machines were invented, but I had a blast reading the book.  I loved the historical backmatter discussing the events in post partition Pakistan, a year before Bangladesh was independent, Soviet Union and UK competing over influence in Afghanistan, the discontent voices in Iran toward the shah, and the role of the Pudding House for messages in Turkey.  There are also discussion questions, a glossary, acknowledgements, and about the author at the end.

One tiny concern was the assumption that money could be stolen because the people around them are poor, it is just one paragraph, it isn’t a constant in the book, but it struck me as odd and stereotypical, and really not needed.

FLAGS:

Lying, stealing,  deception, pretending to be someone you are not, breaking and entering, eavesdropping, snooping, its a heist book!

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:
This would be an awesome book club book or novel study read, I can’t wait for it to be released in a few weeks so that I can have my kids read it.

Feb19

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

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A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

tempest

At 352 pages this YA vampire book is remarkably clean, a little slow burn, a few kisses, and some killing, but for the genre, I was quite impressed.  The book is written by a Muslim, but there is no Islam in the book, the closest it gets is a character named Laith Sayaad, but he is from Arawiya, so the fictional world stays in its lane.  The commentary of colonialism, classism, found family, however is very real.  Throw in some tea, some vampires, and a heist with a less than trustworthy crew and I was swept away.  As a Muslim book reviewer, I often schedule in breaks to read books I don’t have to screen shot, annotate, and scrutinize, aka non Islamic books.  So this book was a bit of a surprise for me once I realized I would not have to read it with all the critical lenses in place, but would still feature it because the author is Muslim.  As a result, this review will be a little different from my normal format.

Told in multiple voices, Arthie, Jin, and Flick, the linear story moves along with each characters progression. The story however, twists and in a style that feels a bit slight of hand, we are told what to look at and see, but in an unveiling that makes you want to slow down, flip back, reread, and then carry on.  Honestly at times the book is utter chaos, but again, because I knew this wouldn’t be a typical review, I kept on keeping on.  When plot pieces started to fall into place, about two-thirds of the way into the book, and details in passing started carrying weight, the book was impossible to put down.  I didn’t find many of the “plot twists” super surprising, but I was utterly delighted to know that they connected so many crumbs of the story.  I’m a bit of a sucker for “no loose ends,” and while the ending left a lot for me to desire and grapple with, the story for the most part felt satisfying at its close.

Arthie Casimir and Jin Casimir, siblings by choice, run a tea house by day, a blood bar by night.  Always on the run from the ruling Ram, they have networks of spies, and years of criminal experience, to make it all look rather easy.  When Spindrift is threatened, the two will be tested to pull together a team, enter the dark vampire world of the Athereum and take on the colonizing rulers that hide behind masks.  Things don’t always go according to plan, and their plotting, successes, failures, and backstories make the book a fast-paced read that ends too soon.

FLAGS: Death, attraction, romance, fantasy, colonization, violence, stealing, systemic corruption, spies, etc.  I would be fine with 15 and up reading it.