WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HERE
A Queer Muslim Memoir
by Samra Habib
Two memoirs in one month?! Madness and complete coincidence, I assure you. I do strangely have quite a few biographies and memoirs at the top of my reading pile right now though, so I may be in a bit of a phase.
Samra Habib is an Ahmadi Muslim who spent her early childhood in Pakistan before fleeing persecution with her family and settling in Toronto. As a young teen in Canada, Habib faces huge challenges from bullying to being the sole translator for her parents as they navigate a whole new bureaucracy. At age 16, she is married to her cousin and immediately understands it could be the biggest mistake of her life. But, she has no examples of or support in ending the marriage. She does manage to escape, however, and through a series of friendships and relationships, discovers her identity as a young woman, as a Muslim and as a Pakistani Canadian.
Habib’s voice is raw and vulnerable, but she manages to share many difficult stories while still maintaining a hope for her future, and even her future relationships with her family. She has a streak of imagination and artistry that lifts her prose into something truly beautiful that will touch your heart. (Lily)
