Title: Home Fire
Publication Year: 2017
Plot: Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume a dream long deferred. But she can’t stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London, or their brother, Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream, to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. When he resurfaces half a globe away, Isma’s worst fears are confirmed.
Miscellaneous: Shamsie began Home Fire at the suggestion of London theatre director Jatinder Verma that Shamsie write a modern update of Antigone, by Sophocles; she was interested in the project and quickly decided on what the story she would tell, though she preferred to pursue it as a novel rather than a play.
We had a fiery discussion sparked by Home Fire (pun intended). This novel put a lot of things in perspective for us. Our conversation was all over the place, but I’ll do my best to present the ideas clearly and convey what what talked about in an organized way.
Being Muslim in a western country in the 21st-century is complex. Shamsie mentioned an acronym that we had never heard before: “GWM” or “Googling while Muslim,” referring to the fact that Muslims may think twice what they Google in case they are being monitored. One reader related it to DWB, or driving while black. Groups have their own lexicon to communicate more fluidly with each other; they have shorthand for phrases and ideas.
We then got on to the “non-person”-ism aspect of this novel. The Muslim characters have different ways of navigating and expressing their faith and culture. Some are loud and proud, some believe it should be private. Some Muslims feel uneasy about expressing it in certain public places, and we talked about how this can be applied to many different social situations. For example, one gay reader talked about how he sometimes acted more flamboyant when he sensed that someone might be homophobic. Another reader brought in his identity as a felon, and how when he gets out, he really doesn’t want have that be known.
This led into a conversation about the consequences of actions. Parvaiz’s actions have immense consequences on him and his family. It was going to be hard for him to reintegrate into society; there would be certain limitations. The readers commented they feel the same way as felons. They’re going to have to work twice as hard and to shed that stigma, or at least get past it in a way that allows them to be a participating member in society. There’s tension with many identities between sticking out and blending in.
We talked a lot about what to do with the dead body in the novel (spoiler, but don’t worry, I won’t say whose body). The way Shamsie navigates political and family relations is effortless. She draws the reader so easily into a complex world, but it’s an “easy” read, in that many of the readers they would sit down to read and be surprised at how much they read. As readers of this novel, we learn so much about the background, thoughts, and nuance of each of these characters. And then Shamsie also shows us how “the world” or “the media” sees them, and it’s frustrating because we know what’s going on and we see them as three-dimensional characters! We talked about refugees, immigration, and terrorism…three hot button topics! We realized we had to steer the conversation back to the novel at hand, as we could talk about geopolitics for a long time.
There’s a passage about grief on page 187 that is moving. One reader mentioned how he lost someone in a car crash a few weeks ago. He read this paragraph out loud and to be honest, it was one of the more moving moments of the reading group to date. Shamsie is gracious, yet economical in her writing. This novel is succinct, yet it envelopes so much. The way she structured the novel allowed us to become more intimately acquainted with the main characters. I grew to like this novel more after talking with everyone about it.
Here is an interview with Kamila Shamsie.
Please feel free to share your thoughts on Shamsie, her work, and anything else related in the comments!
Next week, we are reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
Until next time,
E.
You can purchase Home Fire from these places: