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In this wry, provocative debut, two gay Afghan men—cast out of their respective countries of birth by circumstances beyond their control—collide in Istanbul, a city that will test their willingness to sacrifice everything for the ones they love.
When Delbar—a hapless twenty-something with dreams of becoming a drag queen—is spectacularly outed, he flees the insular immigrant-dense suburbs of Washington, DC to seek refuge with his sympathetic aunt in Istanbul. There, he discovers a vibrant community of dissidents, sex workers, activists, poets, and heretics. Among them are Leif and his boyfriend, Mansur, with whom Delbar quickly develops a blazing fascination.
But Mansur also nurses a wounded heart, having left his own family, and his first love, behind in Iran. This time, Mansur's learned not to dream bigger than his own survival. He'll keep a low profile, work hard to send money back, and remain faithful to Leif—at least until his refugee status is granted. When riot police descend on attendees of the annual Istanbul Pride march, Mansur and Delbar are thrust into dangerous proximity. With the country surging into authoritarianism, each person must ask themselves: what constitutes a life well-lived, and how high is the price of freedom?
Told through the alternating viewpoints of Delbar and Mansur, Bobuq Sayed's debut is a story of borders and boundaries transgressed, and a seductive exploration of what it means to make a home at the margins of society. At once an immigrant family saga, a thwarted love story, and a searing portrait of politics made intimately personal, No God but Us is an ambitious introduction to a bold new voice.
"[I]mpressive... Though the ending feels rushed, Sayed skillfully balances the personal with the political, as in tender moments between Qandal and Delbar when she visits him in Istanbul, despite refusing to acknowledge his sexual identity. It's an auspicious first effort." —Publishers Weekly
"At its core, this is that rare thing: a political novel that remembers to be a human one." —Kirkus Reviews
"In a powerful debut, Bobuq Sayed reveals how forces of rejection from state and family meet the alchemy of attraction, desire, and belonging. No God but Us not only expands American literature, but also Muslim, gay male, and migration writing. A new kind of novel, with vast geographies of nation and heart." —Sarah Schulman, author of The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity
"I can't remember the last time I was so moved by a book. Bobuq Sayed's No God but Us asks what might happen to one's consciousness when it's mangled by the forces of empire. The deeply felt and irreverent story traces two Quixotic journeys through personal pain, faith, exile, and queer self-discovery, all the way from the Afghan refugee community in Tehran to the suburbs of Northern Virginia. At its heart, this is a novel about family—chosen and not—and I am lucky to count this story among my literary kin. This book is simply necessary, and very gorgeous." —Aria Aber, author of Good Girl
This information about No God but Us was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Bobuq Sayed is the author of A Brief History of Australian Terror and the novel No God but Us. They were a 2022–23 Steinbeck fellow at San José State University, a Lambda Literary scholar, and an award-winning James A. Michener fellow in the University of Miami's MFA program. Bobuq currently lives in New York City.
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