How Does It Feel To Be A Problem?: Being Young And Arab In America (2008) - Plot & Excerpts
I really, really liked this book. I picked it up from the library to read for research for my own writing, and I'm glad I found it. It was very insightful. I loved that he mixed personal stories (told very well, I might add) with facts. I love that intertwining of teaching and entertaining and at the end of each story felt a connection with the players even though I am not Arabic or Muslim myself. I think people forget that people are people, and wish a book like this was mandatory reading in high schools. Kudos to you, Moustafa! Excellent work! This was a good idea for a project. The message is important; the people chosen were vibrant and diverse.But the writing is really just not fun to read. The descriptions are at times painfully bad--overwrought, reaching for poetry that the author can't find. Also, the author very blatantly glosses over any negatives of conservative Islam when they pop up. For instance, one character talks about their future child and how they might move to Syria so that child doesn't experience the "temptations" of the US, but the author does not press the point at all - lots of similar moments to that as well.
What do You think about How Does It Feel To Be A Problem?: Being Young And Arab In America (2008)?
It was a compilation of stories and accounts of the struggles experienced by Muslims in the U.S.
—Caitlyn
Interesting stories, but not told all that well or that cohesive.
—Karoan
It was interesting and moving to read these different vignettes.
—kotabunny
Excellent look at real people living in Brooklyn.
—Jessie
