Book Summary and Reviews of Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis

Book Summary

A wickedly funny and audacious debut novel following an academic who flees from heartbreak and lands in Iraq with an insane job offer—only to be forced to do the work of confronting herself.

When Dr. Nadia Amin, a long-suffering academic, publishes an article on the possibility of rehabilitating ISIS brides, the United Nations comes calling, offering an opportunity to lead a deradicalization program for the ISIS-affiliated women held in Iraqi refugee camps. Looking for a way out of London after a painful, unexpected breakup, Nadia leaps at the chance.

In Iraq, Nadia quickly realizes she's in over her head. Her direct reports are hostile and unenthused about taking orders from an obvious UN novice, and the murmurs of deradicalization being inherently unethical and possibly illegal threaten to end Nadia's UN career before it even begins.

Frustrated by her situation and the unrelenting heat, Nadia decides to visit the camp with her sullen team, composed of Goody Two-shoes Sherri who never passes up an opportunity to remind Nadia of her objections; and Pierre, a snippy Frenchman who has no qualms about perpetually scrolling through Grindr.

At the camp, after a clumsy introductory session with the ISIS women, Nadia meets Sara, one of the younger refugees, whose accent immediately gives her away as a fellow East Londoner. From their first interaction, Nadia feels inexplicably drawn to the rude girl in the diamanté headscarf. She leaves the camp determined to get Sara home.

But the system Nadia finds herself trapped in is a quagmire of inaction and corruption. One accomplishment barely makes a dent in Nadia's ultimate goal of freeing Sara ... and the other women, too, of course. And so, Nadia makes an impossible decision leading to ramifications she could have never imagined.

A triumph of dark humor, Fundamentally asks bold questions: Who can tell someone what to believe? And how do you save someone who doesn't want to be saved?

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. How do you understand the nature of Nadia's relationship with Rosy? Why has Nadia engaged in this relationship, and how does her perspective on Rosy change throughout the book?
2. How does Nadia's academic background prepare her for the UN's rehabilitation program in Iraq? In what ways does it leave her underprepared?
3. Nadia is told by Sherri that the entire deradicalization program is "career suicide" and that they are, in fact, "on the wrong side of history." What do you think about the ethics of the program Nadia helms?
4. When Nadia visits the camp, what is her first impression of the ISIS-affiliated women? Why is she immediately drawn to Sara?
5. The novel depicts many characters coming to and leaving organized ...