Amal Unbound

The story is interesting enough to maintain interest but there's a lack of emotional engagement and the characters seem flat. I would wager that Aisha Saeed is a plotter and not a pantser.

Short middle-grade audiobook about the oldest daughter of a Pakistani family, Amal, who dreams of going to college and becoming a teacher, but finds herself missing school to help her mother, who is suffering from postpartum depression. Because it was meant for the younger set, it was quite a bit idealistic in its notions about indentured servitude and societal hierarchies, but it was still a good story and I enjoyed spending time with Amal and her sisters and the little family she creates for herself when the need presents.

This is really a beautiful book. Of course the cover is gorgeous, but beyond that, Amal is so impressive. She is wise beyond her years for profoundly unfair reasons. One chapter ends with her saying, “They weren't bad people. They were just lucky enough to have no idea of the reality I faced.” Her emotional maturity is remarkable yet believable. She's a great role model to readers young and old.

One of main themes Saeed focuses on is the power of education. Lives change tremendously when people are provided access to literacy, information, and technology. The opportunity to read—both learning how to read and having an abundance of materials available to read—is a deeply empowering and human thing.

Saeed shows how factors like gender and class impact the quantity and quality of one's education. Even before Amal is forced to leave her family, she has difficulties getting others to take her schooling as seriously as she does. Her father expects her to leave school behind to help out around the house. She has to rely on her male friend Omar to sneak her materials allotted to the boys school but withheld from the girls. After leaving home, when Jawad Swahib finds Amal looking at his books, he assumes that she is stealing and does not know how to read. Fatima is thrilled by the idea of knowing how to read and write, but doubts her ability to learn because in the past, others have doubted her ability. Ultimately, being able to read gets Amal through her time as an indentured servant, and also gets Amal out of being an indentured servant. Access to educational resources can fundamentally alter the quality and course of one's life.

Another important theme Saeed covers is the impossible “choices” made in financial desperation. Amal's father has to choose between losing his only means of income and going into debt. When he takes out loans, he thinks he is making the decision he must to support his family. But in the end, these loans are what lose him Amal. People in situations like his who have nowhere to turn but to people like Khan and Jawad Sahib are doomed by design.

At certain points Amal Unbound reminded me of The Book Thief. In each, you have a young girl who wants to read, but she faces social, economic, and political barriers that make it difficult for her to even get books into her hands without fear of repercussion. It also reminded me of Kelly Yang's Front Desk, what with its commentary on the compounding (no pun intended) misery of debt.

I recommend this for those interested in reading more middle grade. The themes are broad enough to be relatable to most anyone who picks it up. But its setting is different than many US new releases, including books written with adults in mind.