Does my Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah (TF)

  
Does my Head Look Big in This? By Randa Abdel-Fattah

High school is tough enough without throwing a hijack into the mix…

In Randa Abdel-Fattah’s brilliant debut novel, Amal, an Australian-Palestinian girl living in a suburb of Melbourne, makes the biggest decision of her life, to wear the hijab, the Muslim head scarf, fulltime. In spite of her parents’ gentle warning and the ostracizing that is sure to come from the other kids at her snobby prep school. Amal’s decision spring from a deep sense of faith, and she is certain – well, almost certain – that she’s ready to take this step.

But can she handle the taunts of “towel-head”, navigate the wilds of mad crush, and stay true to herself? Amal is sassy, intelligent, sensitive, and hilarious, and her journey of faith will take readers down an unexpected and very entertaining path.

 I absolutely loved this book. While not being preachy about their religion the book really shows examples of not only the culture with flexible parents but Amal also has a friend with a very rigid and traditional family. Using Amal’s interactions with her grumpy neighbour, her conversations with her mother, disagreements/taunts between friends at school and who she thought were her friends the reader gains a deeper understanding within the community of Palestinians and the cultural differences as well as the Teenage interactions and having fun at ages 16 and 17.

Excerpt from the book:
Later that evening, after my parents have come home, I’m in my bedroom pretending to be absorbed in my chemistry homework in order to avoid setting the dinner table. I take out my To Wear of Not To Wear list and review my candidates. I add a couple of people to my right-hand column. Upon further consideration I’ve decided that our local bus driver’s consistently bad mood on school morning (he once kicked a kid off because the kid let out an enormous pizza breath burp as he bought his ticket) doesn’t give me much sense. But, admittedly, there are those I suspect I’ve underestimated and so I negotiate some people out of one column and into another other. I'm just not convinced Lee Ng down at the convenience store warrants a right hand column place given he’s half blind and wouldn’t notice if I walked in dressed as a Teletubby.
As I'm amending my list my mother’s voice yells out: “Ya Amal! Dinner! Coe and set the table!”
I knew it wouldn’t last.

“Yallah! You had all day to study and you wait until we come home? Do you think I’m stupid? Yallah!”
Even thought my parents speak to me predominantly in English there are some Arabic words which are instinctively part of their everyday vocabulary. Yallah means “common” or “hurry up”. When my parents are in a particularly affectionate mood they sometimes prefix my name with Ya so I’m “ya Amal” which means “oh Amal”. When I was little, I actually thought my name was Yaamal.

If I’m in trouble the ya is dropped and I’m addressed as a mere “Amal”. It’s not good news.

At dinner I tell my parents that I’m thinking about wearing the hijab and to my disbelief they look at each other nervously. I was expecting a cheerleader routine around the family room. Not two faces staring anxiously at me.
”Hmm, would you prefer I get a tongue ring?”
My dad rolls his eyes at me and my mom sips on her soda water, her eyes fixed intently on my face as though trying to work out if I’m joking.
”Wow, bring the enthusiasm on.” I slam some mashed potatoes on my plate and proceed to make a potato castle, scraping the fork against the place until my mother raises her eyebrows at me, daring me to ruin her dinner set. I proceed to throw a tantrum instead…

 

If you liked this book, try:

Kabul Beauty School : An American Women goes behind the veil
By Deborah Rodriguez with Kristin Ohlson.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Comments

[Ms. Pickett]

Corrected! Thank You!

[Patricia]

Great review, just one little note: the Muslim head scarf is called a "hijab", not a "hijack".