Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Aug 2011
304 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Pankaj Mishra praised A Golden Age, Tahmima Anam's debut novel, as a "startlingly accomplished and gripping novel that describes not only the tumult of a great historical event... but also the small but heroic struggles of individuals living in the shadow of revolution and war." In her new novel, The Good Muslim, Anam again deftly weaves the personal and the political, evoking with great skill and urgency the lasting ravages of war and the competing loyalties of love and belief.
In the dying days of a brutal civil war, Sohail Haque stumbles upon an abandoned building. Inside he finds a young woman whose story will haunt him for a lifetime to come... Almost a decade later, Sohail's sister, Maya, returns home after a long absence to find her beloved brother transformed. While Maya has stuck to her revolutionary ideals, Sohail has shunned his old life to become a charismatic religious leader. And when Sohail decides to send his son to a madrasa, the conflict between brother and sister comes to a devastating climax. Set in Bangladesh at a time when religious fundamentalism is on the rise, The Good Muslim is an epic story about faith, family, and the long shadow of war.
"Starred Review. [G]ripping and beautifully written... From historical, political, and social tragedy, Anam has fashioned a mesmerizing story capturing a culture and a time..." - Publishers Weekly
"Anam seems to be a novelist not so much luxuriating in the act of writing as in total control of it, using just the right words to create her stunning story." - The Independent (UK)
"The story is dark... yet the style is so easy, that of a masterful realist unafraid to capture chaos and crisis, that it carries you through the pain." - The Telegraph (UK)
"Its clarity, alacrity and succession of brief, vivid scenes give the characters room to breathe." - The Observer (UK)
"Anam has a gift for tackling complex issues both personal and political." - Library Journal
This information about The Good Muslim 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.
Photo: Abeer Y Hoque
Tahmima Anam is the recipient of a Commonwealth Writers Prize, an O. Henry Prize, and has been named one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and was recently elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she was educated at Mount Holyoke College and Harvard University and now lives in London where she is on the board of ROLI, a music tech company founded by her husband.
Name Pronunciation
Tahmima Anam: Emphasis on the second syllable of last name
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