Home Fire

This has been on my TBR for the longest time. I’m glad it turned out to be a great read for me and even helped me got out of my awful reading slump.

It’s quite nice reading a book that centers on Muslim characters but it was also kinda disappointing to see how these Hijabis are always portrayed in Western media. I guess it’s just how it is when the culture surrounding you influences the way you practice your faith.

The ending was insaneee but I think it was fitting and I wish to know how Karamat felt for failing to care for his son when he needed it the most.

This book was extremely compelling to read, and deals with complex political issues while also being a retelling of an extremely old play. I really enjoyed the characters and found them complex, well-rounded, and sympathetic.

i'm a dumb butt who had no idea this was a modern remaking of antigone. completely changed my perspective on the book.

3.5. A timely, humanizing story about the sacrifices people make to get to (where they think) they want to be. Each character has their faith/cultural background associated with terrorism, and each character responds to these associations differently. Shamsie does a good job presenting different perspectives in a manner that lets each character featured be dimensional, able to both cause and feel pain.

The entire book was kind of a slow burn (no pun intended), and I often get bored when romance is so integral to the plot. But, I think Home Fire brings something valuable to contemporary adult fiction.

This is a very good book. The writing was beautiful, the story enthralling and the pacing very well done.

I liked that the story was broken up into different sections for different POVs, it really let you get to know that character on a deeper level and see that everything isn't one sided and perceptions can be wrong when looked at it from one person's view. What Shamsie conveys in such a short novel is an achievement.

The one thing I didn't really like or get was Isma and Eammon's relationship. It just felt like a way to get him to meet Aneeka and I just didn't like how his story progressed when he got back home. Maybe I missed the point but I just didn't like that side of him.

Don't be put off by this being a retelling of Antigone, I knew nothing about Antigone and was no worse off whilst reading this. I've since looked up the story and can see the underlying theme and how this is a retelling but it's still an excellent story without that behind it.

This novel presents timely perspectives (immigration, terrorism, family, love, social impact) and makes you ask complicated questions (do you stop loving someone just because he changes? is it someone's fault if he expertly gets manipulated into something? do you do the right thing or the most strategic thing?). I like it for that, possibly more than the actual story and writing itself.

3.5

Home Fire is one of those elusive novels that's difficult to review. The story is told in five parts, each from a different character's perspective, and though each part picks up where its predecessor left off, each change in narrative and style results in a distinctly different feel. It's almost as though one were reading five interconnected stories—though it doesn't feel like that in the slightest. See how confused I am already?

From the opening pages, I was very much invested in this story. Isma's trials at the airport and her perspective of her life at an American university were engaging. Even as her story shifted toward little more than a conservation between her and another character at a coffee shop, I was eager to see where this story was going. I was ready to go with Isma on her journey.

Then the story shifted and became Eamonn's, then Parvaiz's. There was absolutely nothing wrong with each shift and all put together the five narratives make a good story. It's just that some were more engaging than others. Some characters I wanted to be fleshed out more. Some—especially Isma (maybe Karamat)—deserved their very own novel. This is especially true since Isma dominates the first fifty-five pages and then drops back to be little more than a secondary character to the love and politics than envelop the remaining four. Home Fire deals heavily in the subjects of love—both romantic and familial—politics, and religion. That place in between these topics where all things get messy is where you find Home Fire.

Overall, Kamila Shamsie's latest is a stupendous novel and it's a shame that it did not make it on the Man Booker shortlist. It was one of my personal favorites from the longlist, it is both intelligently written and highly readable. The writing style is simple but effective. The story always moves forward. Yes, it is uneven. Also, some of the plot points lack a bit of believability at times, but I don't feel like the novel hinged on realism. I would've enjoyed the story more had it gone in a different direction or been handled a little differently, but I was not displeased at all. My interest in the author has been sparked and I hope to read more of her work soon.

2.5

A powerful and important look at the lives of a family touched by Muslim extremism, and the ripples of tragedy radiating out from one decision. This book is narrated by multiple characters, and the only thing keeping it from being a 5-star read for me is the POV used for the end of the book - by far the least sympathetic in the novel, and the last person I'd want to experience the ultimate scenes with. Despite that quibble, however, this will be a story I won't soon forget.