(5 / 5)“A Place for Us” is a book that can touch your heart as easily as it can sink its teeth into you. It hurts, it reminds, it hopes for better. It explores a family trying to figure out how their histories, religion, and individual identities can co-exsist, sometimes at devistating costs.
The book’s title is borrowed from a line of the musical “West Side Story” (I admit to singing it internally each time I picked it up). Like the Romeo and Juliette re-telling, the roots of “A Place for Us” are grounded in a forbidden love, but this is not a love story. The book opens at the wedding of the eldest sister of an Indian American Muslim family. Tensions are running a little high amongst all the family members because the youngest child (and only son) who has been estranged for the past 3 years, has returned for the wedding at the request of the bride. Throughout the course of the book the reader jumps back in time to the various memories of the family members to find out what caused the estrangement and what the future holds for the fractured family. I admit the different narrators and timelines were probably the hardest part to get used to as a reader. It took me a little while to figure out which character was speaking and at what point in time, but after a few chapters I acclimated fairly easily to the format. Don’t let it put you off. The pay off is worth it. This summary is short and vague and if it doesn’t immediately grab you, you aren’t alone. It took three encounters of hearing about this book before I was persuaded to pick it up. It’s hard to explain more without giving key points away, but I hope you’ll take my word for it.
Perhaps the book’s greatest strength is that it’s author (Fatima Mizra) knows what its like to be another person-a sister, a mother, a grandfather, a troubled teen, an honor student, a young boy, a beliver, a doubter. I felt such authenticity from each character, I loved and hurt for each one. Each could have been my own family member, neighbor, or friend; and many times I saw myself. It impressed upon me that although the exteriors of our lives may look very different, the insides have strong likenesses.
This book is why I love to read. It touched every part of my soul. The themes of regret, forgiveness, familial love, hope, shame, and redemption rang true. It is a tribute to life, and families, and people who keep trying. Long before the novel’s conclusion I knew this was a book I would always remember. “A Place for Us” is both heartbreaking and hopeful, not one to be missed.
Violence: Low/Medium
Language: Medium
Adult Content: None