Name: The Bad Muslim Discount
ISBN: 9780385545259

Syed M. Masood

"Following two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 90s through to San Francisco in 2016, a comic novel about being Muslim immigrants in modern America"--

A Novel

The Bad Muslim Discount

Lamia Hajani

The second I saw this cover and read the description, I knew I needed to read this book. I was absolutely drawn to it because one of the main characters is from Karachi, the city both my parents were born and raised in before they immigrated to the United States. So, I read all ~350 pages in one day and stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish it the night before its official release! Totally normal, right?!

The story goes like this: Anvar is a boy from Karachi, Pakistan whose family immigrates to the U.S. once the far-right religious fervor becomes too constraining for the patriarch of the family. Safwa is a girl from Baghdad, Iraq who is living through the senseless war the U.S. is waging on her country. Both end up in San Francisco, crossing paths in a rundown Tenderloin apartment complex owned by a Muslim landlord that desis will recognize as being exactly like some uncle they know (think: lots of paan and bad jokes). 

This is obviously a very simplistic synopsis - Anvar's family and ex-girlfriend play a major role in the story, as do Safwa's fiancé and father. Masood does a fantastic job of showing Anvar's problems versus Safwa's problems in a way that shows that they are in completely different orders of magnitude, but they both matter in their own right. It is both a great check on the privilege of most likely many of the book's readers, but it's also a simple message: your problems matter, because they matter to you.

The story is engaging, and it's difficult to put the book down once you start. It will definitely be a great read for Muslim readers. It may not be relatable for other readers, especially white ones, but you know... we have to sit through your unrelatable books and movies too.

I should mention, the book seems to be marketed as a comedy and, although I laughed a ton at Anvar's commentary, it deals with a lot of serious issues and is not what I'd consider a comedy.

5+ stars, the + because Syed M. Masood lives in Sacramento, and he makes sure to mention it and Davis a couple of times. A man after my own heart. Thanks to him, NetGalley and DoubleDay Books for allowing me this eARC the day before the book published.

Elise Harris

One of the most heartfelt and thought provoking books I have read in quite some time! Everyone should read this book. 

“Masood’s novel presents a stereoscopic, three-dimensional view of contemporary Muslim America: the way historical conflict in the Middle East lingers in individual lives, the way gossip travels in a close-knit immigrant community.” The New York Times Book Review Following two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016, The Bad Muslim Discount is an inclusive, comic novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America. It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued boy doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalism takes root within the social order and the zealots next door attempt to make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, to start life over in California. Ironically, Anvar's deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother adjust easily to life in America, while his fun-loving father can't find anyone he relates to. For his part, Anvar fully commits to being a bad Muslim. At the same time, thousands of miles away, Safwa, a young girl living in war-torn Baghdad with her grief-stricken, conservative father will find a very different and far more dangerous path to America. When Anvar and Safwa's worlds collide as two remarkable, strong-willed adults, their contradictory, intertwined fates will rock their community, and families, to their core. The Bad Muslim Discount is an irreverent, poignant, and often hysterically funny debut novel by an amazing new voice. With deep insight, warmth, and an irreverent sense of humor, Syed M. Masood examines universal questions of identity, faith (or lack thereof), and belonging through the lens of Muslim Americans.

Morgan Kinney

This book! I went into it thinking it was a contemporary romance. I was so wrong! It was eye opening to be in the perspective of people from a different culture and their experiences. I am so thankful that I was able to read this book. 

Salam Kabbani

The Bad Muslim Discount was so many things on so many levels, but before I delve into the review I would like to start by stating that many and I mean MANY of the "facts" attributed to the religion by the author are fallacies. I can confidently claim this as I have read the Quran in Arabic (the original language it was revealed in) many times and I have been fortunate to spend months in Syria studying the religion and the interpretation of the Quran. For example the story of Lot's wife looking back at the town is not in accurate. In the Quran Lot's wife was actually in the town being punished and God spoke to Lot and told him not to look back. I believe that many of these details are either lost in translation, or perhaps are peppered with cultural folklore and passed on as religion from one generation to the next. Regardless, I cannot state that people do not practice as Masood described, simply that this is not part of the religion. 

Now, onto the actual review. This book follows two protagonists in their separate lives, Anvar and Safwa. Anvar, the young boy from Pakistan is very skeptical about essentially everything in his life from the get-go and he has a very sarcastic sense of humor that guides us through his thoughts throughout the book. Shortly after the novel begins, radicals begin to take over his hometown and his family makes the decision to leave to San Francisco, California. There he experiences all of life with its ups and downs alongside his family and yet very separately from them. Having different personalities and religious beliefs, his family members all eventually find their own places within their new home. Anvar falls in love with his high school sweetheart and their relationship undergoes really heavy events while they are in college. Things become challenging for them when they find that their religious beliefs are longer aligned, and the reader has to find out whether their relationship stands this test of faith. 

Meanwhile across the Atlantic, Safwa is living in worn-torn Baghdad with her monstrous and misogynistic father as well as her mother and brother. Her life take a quick downward spiral when her mother suddenly dies from an illness and her father is sent to prison. She finds herself being the sole caretaker of her dying brother. With the impending threats that accompany war, Safwa is forced to make very difficult decisions at a young age. Eventually Safwa makes it to the United States after paying a very heavy cost. 

After changing her name in the US, Safwa finds that some of the perils she most feared in Iraq have followed her to America, and she is advised to seek assistance from a lawyer, Anvar. It is at this point that the lives of these two collide and they both learn so much from each other. 

This novel made me feel sympathy, pain, fear, anger, happiness, love, confusion, and so much more. The author delved into the experiences one faces in war, and what that can do negatively to a personality. He shows how there can be hope even in the darkest and ugliest moments of humanity if one is lucky enough to be guided to a helping friend. He showcases the bonds that tie families together, the different relationships we all have (or don't) with God and faith, the sacrifices each of us may be willing to take for the chance of freedom, and what I found near and dear the longevity of advice from a loving grandmother. 

This was a really heavy book for me to read. I do believe that part of this is because I am Muslim and at times have heard bigoted comments that were completely misinformed. My biggest advice to any fellow Muslims reading this: do not be offended, wait and finish the novel, and remember it is a novel. My biggest advice to anyone with a different religious background: please read this with an open mind and know that everyone practices faith differently and as stated before many of the stories referenced in the beginning are highly inaccurate, likely a mixture of translation error and folklore passed on from one generation to the next. 

CW: Physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Anti-religion talk. War. Death. Torture.

Francine Corry

Bonnie M Taylor

Leila Somani-Davis

Sarah Miknis

"Masood's novel presents a stereoscopic, three-dimensional view of contemporary Muslim America: the way historical conflict in the Middle East lingers in individual lives, the way gossip travels in a close-knit immigrant community." The New York Times Book Review Following two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016, The Bad Muslim Discount is an inclusive, comic novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America. It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued boy doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalism takes root within the social order and the zealots next door attempt to make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, to start life over in California. Ironically, Anvar's deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother adjust easily to life in America, while his fun-loving father can't find anyone he relates to. For his part, Anvar fully commits to being a bad Muslim. At the same time, thousands of miles away, Safwa, a young girl living in war-torn Baghdad with her grief-stricken, conservative father will find a very different and far more dangerous path to America. When Anvar and Safwa's worlds collide as two remarkable, strong-willed adults, their contradictory, intertwined fates will rock their community, and families, to their core. The Bad Muslim Discount is an irreverent, poignant, and often hysterically funny debut novel by an amazing new voice. With deep insight, warmth, and an irreverent sense of humor, Syed M. Masood examines universal questions of identity, faith (or lack thereof), and belonging through the lens of Muslim Americans.

The Bad Muslim Discount A Novel

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