A Place for Us – Fatima Farheen Mirza
100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: At the wedding of their eldest daughter, Indian-Muslim parents Layla and Rafiq must balance the expectations of the day with the arrival of their estranged son, Amar.
Expectation: A family drama heavy on religious guilt and first-generation American children defying parental expectations.
Reality: An initially confusing beginning unfolds into a layered, understated and deeply moving portrayal of the danger of secrets, carrying shame and failed second chances.
Recommended For: Fans of Ann Patchett’s “The Dutch House” or “Commonwealth.”
Why I Read It: It was one of my husband’s favorite reads in 2019.
My Take:
This long-gestating title on the to be read (TBR) list had me ready to throw in the towel after 25 percent completed — my threshold before making a decision to not finish a book.
While Part I eases you in — we initially meet the five main characters at a family wedding — in Part II the audiobook became difficult to follow due to the frequently shifting narrators, timelines and long chapters requiring uninterrupted headphone time.
My husband loved this book, so thankfully we already had a hard copy, which made it easier for me to revisit certain sections. It’s worth noting that the actual book includes a design marker to let you know the timeline or POV is shifting — why don’t they do something similar for listeners? But, I digress…
With my husband’s prompting that the payoff would be there with Fatima Farheen Mirza’s debut novel, I soldiered on and about 40 percent in I was completely hooked by the plight of Layla, Rafiq, Hadia, Huda and Amar.
The power in Mirza’s writing is that she can take the experiences of an Indian-Muslim family and make them universally relatable. Ultimately, this is a story about the danger of secrets, children defying parental expectations and how simple decisions — often done with the best of intentions — can alter many people’s futures.
There are three or four watershed moments that Mirza explores from each character’s perspective, and the genius in her storytelling is that they are monumental only for the family. The type of situations that can have huge repercussions but are solely contained to a select few.
While each of the characters has an opportunity to provide commentary and perspective, the story really belongs to Amar, the troubled youngest child; Layla, a mother and wife bound by religious and community expectations; and Rafiq, who is in the periphery until the end (more on that).
We meet them all at Hadia’s wedding — one she chose for love versus arrangement — and it’s the first time in years Amar has actively engaged with his immediate family. We learn upfront that he has battled addiction for much of his life, and his parents carry shame while his siblings have sympathy.
Mirza then helps us unpack the situations that led to Amar’s estrangement — starting from the beginning of Layla and Rafiq’s arranged marriage through the adult children moving out of the home — before bringing us back to the wedding where the reader now understands how charged the situation is. When one final reveal blows the delicate reunion apart, I was as devastated as the characters.
It was here that I began to understand why Mirza constructed the story in the way she did. It was purposely a slow burn, intended to creep up on you, much in the way long-held resentment can. Without experiencing all the past moments with our characters, you simply wouldn’t understand why the stakes were so high at the wedding.
What struck me the most was Part IV, where we finally hear Rafiq’s atonement. For a character, I never really cared about, I was deeply moved by his reflections. Hearing him replay his memories with Amar and thinking about how he could’ve been a different person for him — and Layla, Hadia and Huda — made me want to give my own parents a hug. The story doesn’t necessarily end how you hope, but it was the right conclusion for the situations presented.
There’s a part of me that wishes Mirza started the story with Part IV, because it would’ve made Part II a little less tedious at the beginning. However, putting it at the end also rewards the readers that stayed for the whole journey. I won’t be able to shake “Place” for a long time, and I can’t wait to read the next novel by Mirza.
The audiobook was narrated by Deepti Gupta (Parts I – III) and Sunil Malhotra (Part IV). Honestly, I don’t remember much about either narration. Both were fine and didn’t detract from the story, but since finishing the novel, I’ve applied my own voices and thinking to each character that were not tied to how the narrators performed them. This is more about the power of Mirza’s words, which would likely be better explored in a print or digital format.
Rating (story): 4.5/5 stars
Rating (narration): 4/5 stars
Formats: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: March 16 – March 21, 2022
Multi-tasking: Not recommended. The narrative and timeline shifts are difficult to track if you aren’t paying close attention.
