Junaid Afeef reviews Children of Dust. I was thinking I wanted to read it, but his take will move it to the back of my queue. Maybe I’m just not a big fan of memoir. I’m all for dealing with tough issues, and I’m a sucker for stories of redemption of almost any kind, but I don’t want to read about anyone’s sexual exploits, and I mean anyone’s. I’m just not interested and at the same time it is painful for me, especially if it involves Muslims.
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shams 4:06 pm on November 22, 2009 Permalink |
Abu, this book is a sort of pre-quel….background information for the eventual muslim Portrait of the Artist that Ali is currently working on.
I have read drafts, and it is an amazing work.
There are some very relevent insights into his relationship with al-Islam in Children.
I recommend it.
shams 6:40 pm on November 22, 2009 Permalink |
umm….i guess i should ask….have you read Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man?
bingregory 10:59 pm on November 22, 2009 Permalink |
I have. I give credit to my Catholic high school for including it in the required reading, but I didn’t care for it particularly, to be honest. I suppose any muslim kid, or any kid born to a particular faith for that matter, would have to deal with similar issues in their life. The unexamined life is not worth living, as the Jesuits say. But I’m not interested in seeking out a muslim coming of age/grappling with faith book that ends in atheism. So the comparison doesn’t really recommend the book to me.
shams 1:48 am on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
ok…you can read Ali..most of us know him……it doesnt end in atheism.
quit with the sophistry bingregory.
that wasn’t what I took away from Joyce.
it was the passionate beauty of his prose, the spell of the storyteller, how he distilled culture and experience and life itself into words….a kind of alchemy….
bingregory 11:06 pm on November 22, 2009 Permalink |
That was a nice review though, thanks Abu Noor. Just to be clear, I recall PotAasYM ending in atheism – I have no idea if CoD does.
shams 1:53 am on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
I did not care for the tone of the reviwer.
He put too much of himself into the review, and not enough of Ali.
chacun a son goux
shams 7:31 am on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
Ali’s book is the same thing as Dr. Major Hasan to you….how does it reflect on al-Islam?
Is that all your care?
The reviewer…
Yes, because obviously that was Ali’s purpose….to write more apologia for al-Islam.
abunoor 11:19 pm on November 22, 2009 Permalink |
I was also assigned the book in high school, but didn’t get much out of it at the time. As I’ve grown older and especially because of my increased interest in Irish history and culture generally (which I didn’t really have in high school) I’m somewhat interested to go back and read some Joyce, but have not been interested enough to push it ahead of other reading I’m interested in.
shams 1:50 am on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
I’m 4 gen out of County Cork, Abu.
Praps we are related?
bingregory 7:54 am on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
That’s funny, because while it was assigned in my high school, I didn’t read it at the time and only read it about 4-5 years ago. So I was going to say maybe it is a better book to read when you’re young! But that’s enough intellectually crippled sophistry out of me…
shams 8:48 am on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
I read it in my tweens, lol.
Epiphany! Joyce gave me that word.
bingregory 5:24 am on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
Speaking of muslim childhood memoirs, has anyone read “Isfahan is half the World”? It’s been on my wishlist for a while but I haven’t got around to ordering it yet.
Admin 7:31 am on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
no, but Persepolis lived up to its reputation fully. Amazing work.
bingregory 7:57 am on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
Noted!
shams 7:17 am on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
If all people took away from Portrait is a coming of age story that ends in atheism, I’d say they were pretty much intellectually crippled….Portrait is work of art.
This is the same thing as Dr Major Hasan…the only thing al-Islam had to do with what happened was that it was the fulcrum point at which the System broke him.
You are all so worried about appearances….how does this represent al-Islam, how does that represent al-Islam. There is no need to make excuses for al-Islam. It is like you are all hoping for a date to the Religion Prom!
Wallah, do you have so little faith?
al-Islam is a process, it is real and eternal. It doesn’t need “reform”…it can’t be “reformed”…… people like Omar and people like me are part of the process.
The whole frackin’ ummah is part of the process.
wa yuzhira bihi sirrahu ilayhi
it reveals through it its secret to it……literally.
ya-haqq!
plimfix 11:24 am on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
I’m not bothering with the books. I’m waiting for the souvenir mug.
shams 11:30 am on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
i want a t-shirt.
thabet 10:34 pm on November 23, 2009 Permalink |
This review also appeared on altmuslim too, who noted a mistake in the original piece:
shams 7:06 pm on November 24, 2009 Permalink |
Im not sure Aleef read the book….praps he just skimmed it.
Like I said, Aleef seems more about judging how al-Islam is portrayed.
I personally think it was a crappy review, highly subjective and sketchy.