From the Bookshelves: The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed Masood
Practicing attorney Syed Masood has a new comic novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America titled The Bad Muslim Discount. It follows two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s through to San Francisco in 2016.
From Booklist *Starred Review*
The first time Anvar had to slaughter a goat, he forgot his line in the ceremony. He was 10, and his family was celebrating Eid al-Adha in their home in Pakistan. As usual, his goody-two-shoes older brother knows the right thing to do and saves Anvar from wrecking the ceremony. Wisecracking Anvar does not develop into a devout Muslim; indeed, he is devastated when his secret girlfriend, Zuha, commits more fully to Islam and ends their relationship. Anvar had even taken her to prom, thanks to the distraction afforded by the discovery of porn on his brother’s laptop, having framed him, of course). Masood adeptly balances humor with pathos in this unforgettable, twisting tale. After the family moves to San Francisco and Anvar becomes a lawyer, gaining notoriety for representing a man killed by a drone, he meets Azza, whose route to California had taken some darker paths. Her father, who fought with Americans in Afghanistan, only to be tortured by them in Iraq, blames her for leaving her dying brother to breathe his last tortured breaths in Baghdad. His beatings and her silence leave Azza wishing for escape when Qais, a young man who visits her secretly at night, offers her a passport to America—for a price that only keeps increasing. Once Anvar and Azza find each other, their connection opens a possible path toward what they each want most. A moving, comic take on the immigrant experience.
SYED M. MASOOD grew up in Karachi, Pakistan. A first-generation immigrant twice over, he has been a citizen of three different countries and nine different cities. He is also the author of More than Just a Pretty Face, a young adult novel. He currently lives and practices law in Sacramento, California. An author interview appears in a book podcast and video interview here.
MHC