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The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf

3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 · rating details · 559 ratings · 138 reviews

Syrian immigrant Khadra Shamy is growing up in a devout, tightly knit Muslim family in 1970s Indiana, at the crossroads of bad polyester and Islamic dress codes. Along with her brother Eyad and her African-American friends, Hakim and Hanifa, she bikes the Indianapolis streets exploring the fault-lines between “Muslim” and “American.”
When her picture-perfect marriage goes...more

Paperback, 448 pages

Published September 12th 2006 by PublicAffairs (first published August 22nd 2006)

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May 13, 2007 Amal rated it 2 of 5 stars

It is nice that there is a Muslim fiction book out. And on top of that, it all happened in Indianapolis. One problem though. We read it in school and it wasn't appropriate. It was kind of extreme. Some naive paren tmight pick it up from the library and take it home for their 12 or 13 year old child to read. The problem is that it can easily confuse ANYONE. If you don't discuss it with someone who has read it, you deen can be altered. Lucky enough for me, I had my english teacher and the rest of...more It is nice that there is a Muslim fiction book out. And on top of that, it all happened in Indianapolis. One problem though. We read it in school and it wasn't appropriate. It was kind of extreme. Some naive paren tmight pick it up from the library and take it home for their 12 or 13 year old child to read. The problem is that it can easily confuse ANYONE. If you don't discuss it with someone who has read it, you deen can be altered. Lucky enough for me, I had my english teacher and the rest of my class to discuss it with. The girl in the book immigrates from Syria and moves to Indianapolis area. It takes place in the 70s and 80s. It goes from when the girl, Khadra, is young and her innocent parents try to "protect" her and her siblings from the "evils" of America. My first problem was the language. In the first few pages, the F word shows up quite a few times. Other words show up throughout the book but in the beginning is what bothered me the most. If it wasn't for the fact that I was reading it for a grade, I would have put it down right away. I kept reading and noticed other things on the way. As the girl matures, we hear about everything! Literally, EVERYTHING. Right when she hits puberty, we know her graphic reaction. Kind of awkward when reading it in class, with Muslim boys with you! Anyway, then when she firsts starts feeling attraction for boys (the first being her brother's best friend), we laugh about her shyness. But then, it is time for her to get married. When she does get married, we see the horror she goes through when she marries a demanding husband. When she describes her, ahem, joyful times, we stare at the pages in shock. Is this really an Islamic book? Should we even be reading this? But then again, I remember I have to read this book to pass my class so I continue. I read about how she 'accidently' got pregnant but doesn't want to have a baby. Deciding to get an abortion, she drives to the clinic with her non-Muslim friend. We read about when she gets a divorce. Before her marriage, she goes for Hajj. I was thinking, "okay so maybe the book gets better from here." Was I wrong. She gets raped. During her time in Saudi Arabia, in MECCA! And WE read about it. How sad. We read about her struggles with hijab. We read about how she started as a hijabi. We read about when she questions it. We read about when she takes it off. We read about when she puts it back on. We read about when she takes it off AGAIN. We read about when she becomes a 'liberal' hijabi. She puts it on when she feels like it. We read about how she is friends with this other not practicing muslim guy, with whom she discusses about 'deepening' the friendship physically. I was in shock about their discussions. I don't even feel like continuing about the book anymore. I think I will take a break about this review and move on.

Please, if you do read this book, read it with care. (less)

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Aug 10, 2007 Lubna rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone, especially Muslims & those seeking insight into American Muslim communities

I thought this book really captured what its like to grow up as an American Muslim- the author's attention to detail helps to capture the little idiosyncracies & contradictions within the community & the struggles the American-born have in confronting/reconciling with immigrant Islam. The main character's journey through various phases/types of Islam was done especially well. I also thought the book was good in showing the problems & issues within the American Muslim community while...more

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Jun 23, 2008 Mona rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, 21st-century-lit, immigration, syria, united-states

Mohja Kahf's fiction debut tells the story of Khadra Shamy, a Syrian Muslim girl who, at a young age, moves with her family to the United States during the 1970s, and grows up in Indiana. Khadra's parents struggle to raise their children in accordance with Islamic values, while awash in a mostly Caucasian, Christian, and very American environment. The reader follows Khadra's journey to understand herself as an American Muslim well into adulthood. She travels to Syria after her marriage breaks do...more Mohja Kahf's fiction debut tells the story of Khadra Shamy, a Syrian Muslim girl who, at a young age, moves with her family to the United States during the 1970s, and grows up in Indiana. Khadra's parents struggle to raise their children in accordance with Islamic values, while awash in a mostly Caucasian, Christian, and very American environment. The reader follows Khadra's journey to understand herself as an American Muslim well into adulthood. She travels to Syria after her marriage breaks down, and while there, learns her mother's secrets and the meaning of prayer. She lives in Philadelphia, away from the confines of the Indiana community she was raised in, and discovers Jewish friends and a passion for photography. And finally, the reader follows Khadra when she is finally able to go home again.

Khadra's childhood and adolescence are peopled with other Muslim families with a wide variety of backgrounds. There's Aunt Khadija and Uncle Jamal al-Deen, who came to orthodox Islam by way of the Nation of Islam; the Abdul-Kadir family, Cambodian Muslims who work as doctors and engineers, rather than as full-time members of the Dawah Center; and Tayiba Thoreau's family, which consists of a Muslim American convert married to an African woman from Kenya. Through Khadra's childish perspective, Kahf creates a community of families born of differing backgrounds. As Khadra grows up, the reader also is introduced to the very real tensions that occur within the American Muslim community, as a result of immigrant beliefs about Islam colliding with converts' beliefs. There are also hints and mild suggestions that though the immigrant Muslims purport to hold different values from their American counterparts, there are more similarities than they would think.

Most of my complaints with Kahf's book are related to writing. I found the first half of the book, which describes Khadra's childhood and coming of age in Indiana, most engaging. It somewhat mirrored my personal experiences, but in terms of writing, I felt that it was too imitative of the style of Sandra Cisneros. Kahf herself has admitted in interviews that she has included direct quotes as tributes to her favorite writers (including Cisneros). There is no doubt that the quality of the writing was quite good, but I think I would have liked it better if it had more of an original effect, rather than the imitative effect that I perceived.

There is a certain "chick-lit" element to the book that I found irritating. It almost seemed as if a romantic possibility had been thrown into the book to make it more appealing to a certain type of audience or to make the book more mainstream. I wasn't and still am not entirely sure what the point of that side-plot was.

The book lacks a plot, which would not be a huge problem (for me) if some of the other issues were resolved. (Indeed, one of my favorite books, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, has the same sort of trajectory as Kahf's does - it is simply the story of a girl growing up in a certain time and in a certain place, and how she develops as a person.) The plot in Kahf's book is a girl growing up as a Muslim in America, and some may argue that that is enough of a plot as it is. Along the same lines, in terms of the structure of the book, the ending felt incomplete and was easily forgettable.

On a personal note, at times I found the content of the book unnervingly familiar. On the other hand, the book is almost too familiar, and may have lent to my dislike of it. I think I may be entering a phase, personally, where I've heard enough of the points that often get raised about political and religious progress in conversations among Muslims, so that when those discussions were described in the book, I got impatient. It seemed that there was nothing there I hadn't heard already. However, I recognize that to readers who haven't grown up in similar situations, these discussions would be new, and perhaps, interesting.

I read a couple of reviews by non-Muslims online because I was curious to see whether they had had the same reaction. I personally would not recommend this book to non-Muslims who want to learn more about the tenets of Islam. It seems like it would be more appropriate as a casual read to understand one (of many) types of environments in which American Muslims grow up. Most of the reviews I read by non-Muslims saw the book as an eye-opener to both Muslims living in the United States and those abroad (in the Middle East). Many of them do note, however, that a glossary and guide to Kahf's invocation of Arabic terms would have been useful, and that they did not have a greater understanding of Islam as a religion.
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Apr 19, 2010 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-fiction

This book is about growing up Muslim in Indiana in the 1970s. I think that there was a lot that I didn’t get from the first reading, lacking the cultural references, but overall I found this book enjoyable. Really the main character as she develops into a woman is searching her spiritual, cultural, feminist, intellectual and religious identity. And while all her cues were different than mine, I felt that it was still identifiable. Her parents are fundamentalist Islam, but I liked them. And Kahdj...more

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Dec 22, 2007 Karen Keyworth rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Reading The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf felt strange to me - in a good way. It was the first time I had ever read a book in which I felt like I could have been on the next page, a part of the story. I KNOW the community; I have dealt with every character she described. It felt like "coming home" to a place I know and love with all its warts and scars.

The writing style was a bit sparse for my taste, hence the 4 stars rather than 5. But the story was riviting. I think there is a universal truth to...more

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Feb 09, 2009 Giedra rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked this up in the library completely on a whim because the title caught my eye. It's a novel about a conservative Muslim Syrian girl growing up in the suburbs of Indianapolis in the 1970s, and her experience determining where she fits in. Is she foremost a Muslim? or foremost an Arab? Or foremost an American? Or foremost a woman? etc.

I enjoyed it on many levels. First, I have recently read a wide variety of books on the Muslim experience, but none about Muslims growing up in the United St...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Emma rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 3-stars, muslim-american, united-states, contemporary

It's been a few weeks since I read this book, but I find that I still have mixed feelings about it.

First, I have to question who the book was intended for. This tale of a Syrian-American girl trying to find her place in both American and Muslim society was written in English, but did Kahf intend her readers to be primarily Muslims who might recognize themselves in her characters, or was she writing for a wider audience? I can't help thinking that perhaps the book was intended for other Muslim i...more It's been a few weeks since I read this book, but I find that I still have mixed feelings about it.

First, I have to question who the book was intended for. This tale of a Syrian-American girl trying to find her place in both American and Muslim society was written in English, but did Kahf intend her readers to be primarily Muslims who might recognize themselves in her characters, or was she writing for a wider audience? I can't help thinking that perhaps the book was intended for other Muslim immigrants: the characters' consistent criticism of American society, and in particular their hypocrisy in complaining that Americans are ignorant about them while displaying equal ignorance about their American neighbors, is hardly endearing to this American reader. Although I appreciate that Kahf is being honest and that such opinions are common among immigrants generally, this is likely to be a limitation for readers who don't share Kahf's obvious prejudices.

As for the quality of the book, it's a mixed bag. I certainly learned from it. Kahf writes about the difficulties of growing up Muslim in America, but more than that she focuses on the diversity in opinions and lifestyles among Muslims; she seems intent on discrediting the idea that there is one monolithic "Muslim community." The protagonist's shifting personal relationship with Islam takes center stage for much of the book, providing an interesting story. The characters seem lifelike (although most have little depth or development), there are some vivid descriptions, and the writing style isn't bad (although I felt at times that Kahf was trying too hard: she would veer from literary allusions to heavily colloquial language so fast I got whiplash).

My biggest problem with the book is one several other reviewers have mentioned: too many characters. At the beginning, Kahf introduces seemingly every single member of the community in which her protagonist grows up, by name, whisks them away before we can get to know them, then brings them back later to speak a few lines, evidently expecting us to remember them. It felt a bit like spending a weekend at someone else's huge family reunion: the characters I met were believable, but I can't tell them apart or put names to faces. Later in the book, Kahf seems to want to introduce a character for every possible variation of Muslim ancestry and experience: conservatives and progressives, multi-generation American citizens and new immigrants and foreign students, those who've assimilated into American culture and those who haven't, people from the Middle East, from Central Asia, from the Persian Gulf, from Africa, a polygamist family thrown in for good measure.... and for a bit more diversity there's the heroine's Iranian roommate, Jewish friend, evangelical Christian friend, feminist friend, and on and on. There are simply far too many characters to get to know in a book of this length; they become mouthpieces for their various opinions and experiences rather than real people.

Despite its problems, I do think this book is interesting and that it has value--but more as a book you'll learn from than as one you'll enjoy for its plot or characters. (less)

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Nov 18, 2009 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Making peace with disillusionment
Mohja Kahf presents an insider’s loving view of Islam through this coming-of-age immigrant novel, The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf . Khadra Shamy, a young Syrian girl, moves to Indiana with her family to be missionaries to the evil Western world and help the American Muslims navigate the difficulties in clashes between shariah law and American law. They face many difficulties as they build the small Dawah Center into an established Muslim community. Khadra struggl...more Making peace with disillusionment
Mohja Kahf presents an insider’s loving view of Islam through this coming-of-age immigrant novel, The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf . Khadra Shamy, a young Syrian girl, moves to Indiana with her family to be missionaries to the evil Western world and help the American Muslims navigate the difficulties in clashes between shariah law and American law. They face many difficulties as they build the small Dawah Center into an established Muslim community. Khadra struggles between doing what is expected of a proper Muslim girl -- the limitations it puts on staying true to herself – and the freedom that American culture offers. As Khadra grows, she sheds her black-and-white thinking with the stages of childhood: discovering that her idealistic view of Islam is not always perfectly practiced in Arab or American lands, that parents sometimes lie, and that she can be a good Muslim while also being an independent woman.

The author advocates Islam as love, a woman’s right to enter a mosque and pray and learn, and the importance of Mohammed’s wives. It also reveals that shariah law allows abortion up to 120 days, and wife-initiated divorce – showing how progressive Islam could be considered. This is juxtaposed with one character’s suicide bombing, polygamy, Holocaust denial, the delight the Muslims took in the Iranian hostage situation and the Iranian Revolution. As Khadra grows older, she meets many who disagree with the views she was brought up with, and she begins to challenge them and herself to seek a way to tie her beliefs and new understanding together.

I enjoyed reading this novel for the inside take on Islam. However, in my view, it is a little too easy to say, “oh their interpretation is wrong, that is why they commit these terrible acts.” It is too easy to say that jihad ought to be a war of words, not violence, when it is obvious that many interpret passages of the Quran to be a call to violence. I agree with the author that most Muslims are more apt to desire peace – as most people in general are – than to wish to be a radical and possibly lose their lives, but it also seems like a pat answer. Fundamentalists of any religion are dangerous, but the idea of martyrdom has drawn many after all. Kahf mentions the Islamic challenges to freedom, yet seems to believe that these will fade away as Muslims encounter Western culture and assimilate only the good aspects of it. This can be true for some communities, but certainly not all. This is in rather direct opposition to Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s portrayal of the Muslim interactions with the Western world and I am more inclined to believe Ali, who has gone through much tribulation for challenging woman's freedom and place in Islam.

For further reading: check out Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s two wonderful books: A Caged Virgin and Infidel.

I want to end with this quote by Khadra’s father from The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf.
“Brothers, do not for a minute think that we will stop protesting against the immoral and unfair policies of America outside, in the Muslim world. May my tongue be cut off if I forget Jerusalem. But let’s face it: here inside American, there are many good qualities. Law and order, cleanliness, democracy, freedom to work and honestly seks the provision of the Lord, freedom to practice religion. These are Islamic qualities. America is like Islam without Muslims. And our sick and corrupt Muslim home countries – they are like Muslims without Islam” (144).(less)

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Jul 03, 2009 Catherine rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Jenns, Siri

Shelves: 2009, 50books_poc, nonwhite_us, syria, saudi-arabia

The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf should be prized for it's whole that is so much greater than the sum of its parts. When I read in bursts, a few chapters at a time, I was struck by the shifting narration - one character's point-of-view here, another's there - and confused by the flashblack form of storytelling that only appears in perhaps the first third of the book. In places I wondered if the book was trying so diligently to capture one Muslim experience that it was going to be a paint-by-numbe...more The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf should be prized for it's whole that is so much greater than the sum of its parts. When I read in bursts, a few chapters at a time, I was struck by the shifting narration - one character's point-of-view here, another's there - and confused by the flashblack form of storytelling that only appears in perhaps the first third of the book. In places I wondered if the book was trying so diligently to capture one Muslim experience that it was going to be a paint-by-numbers. I was wrong.

By the end of the book, the protagonist has gone through unending personal and situational changes. She is still a Muslim, but how - in look and practice - and where is different from before. The language of the book changes too - from the short sentences and precise, yet emotionless phrasing in early chapters, to utter lyricism in the last few, as Kendra considers the more esoteric dimensions of her faith, and muses on finding beauty and inspiration in other cultures. Kahf's style matches the style of her protagonist's Islam - from that of a child, to that of a revolutionary adolescent, to that of a college-student trying to figure out where she fits as a woman . . . and so on.

There are uncomfortable scenes, but Kahf centers us so completely in the bodies of her characters that their thoughts seem perfectly true in the moment, for that person, while the complexities of the situations are left for the reader to explore. Things that seem unexamined in one scene are examined in another, often by an older, changed character, and in this sense the book really does allow us to peek inside someone's psyche, into their spirit, to see what makes them tick, and change, and grow, and think anew.

One of the very best parts of this book, to me, was the constant emblem of the hijab. From the time Kendra dons her first, right through to the very end of the book, the hijab is Kendra's constant companion, and I have never read anything that does the hijab as much justice as this text. The hijab's purpose changes in Kendra's life just as her faith does, and yet its value - as a connection to faith and culture; as armour, as comfort, as devotion - is always clear.

Again, a book with much to make me think!(less)

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Aug 08, 2011 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: immigrant-experience

Did not actually finish this one. It wasn't grabbing me, and I'm not sure why. I may try again someday, though the catch is, this was hard to track down. After reading about it on Boston Bibliophile, I was able to find it only at a university library. My public library is really good, so I'm surprised this one isn't on its shelves.

This book is about a community of very, very devout Muslims living in Indiana in the 1970s. The community is tight-knit and very conscious of how outnumbered and misun...more Did not actually finish this one. It wasn't grabbing me, and I'm not sure why. I may try again someday, though the catch is, this was hard to track down. After reading about it on Boston Bibliophile, I was able to find it only at a university library. My public library is really good, so I'm surprised this one isn't on its shelves.

This book is about a community of very, very devout Muslims living in Indiana in the 1970s. The community is tight-knit and very conscious of how outnumbered and misunderstood it is. At the same time, there are fault lines within the community--between Shia and Sunni, between Nation of Islam followers and other Muslims. Lots of big festive gatherings, but also lots of rules about how to behave.

The author painted two images that, for me, represent two contrasting themes. In one, a little girl plays and laughs and rolls around on her grandfather's back while he's praying at mosque. A nice image of gentleness, tolerance, patience. In another, an adult woman is baffled by a transgender visitor at her door (if the visitor is a woman, she should be invited in; if the visitor is a man, hide?). For me, this seemed to show how rules can sometimes be the opposite of helpful.

Nice passages showing what day-to-day religious practice looks like, especially through the eyes of a child. The child-narrator viewpoint may also explain why the characters seem to have such a fascination with the proper way to clean oneself after using the bathroom. The author is willing to be candid about unpleasant contradictions within a religious group (for example, an aunt visiting from Syria makes off-hand racist comments).

I take this book to be about one particular group in one particular place. This group seems so intense and serious, that I found myself doubting that it represents the experience of most Muslims living in the U.S. And that's okay--this book is about one perspective among many. If you want to read about a group that has a very single-minded focus on its faith, a community that binds itself together in essentially a missionary experience, then this may interest you.(less)

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Mar 08, 2009 Linda added it

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Sep 07, 2011 Juwairiah Omar rated it 5 of 5 stars

Mohja kahf shows us the world of the miss understood.
She takes you to see in the eyes of a Muslim girl growing up in America.
I adore this book very much beacuse I my self am a Muslim and it is very nice to see stories I can relate to. I dont want to give the details of the book away but the main character is Khadra who is living in Indiana with her family. She is very active in the Muslim communtity and has friends but life is challenging for her.
I can relate to Khadra so much beacuse of what...more

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Apr 14, 2007 Khadijeh rated it 5 of 5 stars

A very honest look at the immigrant Muslim community...it seems to be based off the author's experience growing up near ISNA headquarters. Rather dramatized in parts, it is nontheless a well-written story of growth, self-exploration, and finding one's self and spirituality. Definitely the first "good" Muslim-American piece of literature I've come across.

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Apr 05, 2011 Colleen Clark rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

A young woman's coming of age story; coming of age as an American Muslim of Syrian-born parents in Indianapolis. An earlier working title was "Greetings from Islamistan, Indiana." Time is from the 1970's to the early 90's. The girl is Khadra, with one older and one younger brother. Her parents are political refugees from Syria but never talk about it. The politics are in the background but not off stage.

I chose to read it because the author is one of the contributors to the book "The Veil" which...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Caroline rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am really enjoying this book. It is on the syllabus for my women and religion class, and
I just can't put it down. I really enjoy the look at what it feels like to be a Muslim woman, what Islam means to one (admittedly fictitious) woman. I feel like I know a bit about factoid type info and history of Islam, but very little about the practice of it, the reality of it. I really enjoy ready about the beauty and the struggle. It's what I love about my own religion, the beauty and the struggle, and...more

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May 20, 2011 Kay rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary-fiction

I read this for an interfaith discussion group I belong to. This story of a Syrian family that ends up in Indiana in the 70's is a great introduction to what life is like for Muslims who want to be accepted by their neighbors while maintaining their own traditions. The many variations of Islam are presented quite effectively, along with some heartbreaking moments. The narrator, Khadra, experiences some painful rejections, but the worst, to my mind, was when she finally made it to Mecca and was s...more

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Aug 10, 2011 Laurie Deane rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a remarkable first book from Syrian-American Professor Kahf. Simplistically put, it is the coming-of-age story of a Muslim girl in 1970's Indiana, raised by her parents in a strict Islamic tradition in an environment that is, at turns, hostile, bemused, and curious. For a non-Muslim, the book provides an education into the culture, religion, and assimilation experiences of the devout Muslim family. I would think that for Muslim girls and women growing up and living in the U.S., this nove...more

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Jan 19, 2011 Tricia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Tricia by: Ruth

Shelves: adult-fiction

This book was difficult to read. At the surface level, it was difficult because of the Arabic/Islamic terminology that regularly occurred - I felt like I needed a glossary to refer to. Although these terms were usually not central to advancing the story, it did result in making me feel like an outsider - but I *am* an outsider to the culture portrayed, so I suppose that is appropriate. On a deeper level, it was difficult to read because of many challenging situations Khadra is placed in because...more

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Nov 26, 2010 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, chick-lit, fiction, middle-east

This book tells the story of a young Muslim girl in middle America dealing with being both an American (albeit grudgingly) and staying true to her faith. In the end, she realizes that she can have it both ways and feels a sense of freedom. It was interesting to see this sort of fish out of water story but it just wasn't my favorite. It sort of meandered a little without much of a goal or a conclusion.

The premise was good but it seemed like the author could have tried to make it a little more in...more

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May 17, 2009 Janet added it

My best friend from college, Trudy Karnes, gave me this book to read. Any book she gives me, I read with great expectation. The author of this book is a professor at the U of A, so I read this with even greater expectation. You might think with all this expectation, I would be let down, but it was wonderful! I loved it! I think I understand what my daughter, L.E., has been trying to tell me - that most of us are just trying to love our families and our countries and to honor the faiths of our ch...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Anastasia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, class-issues, fiction, racial-ethnic-experiences, womens-issues

I really enjoyed this novel, based on the author’s experience growing up in Indiana. It was written with many, many references to Islam and Islamic culture that weren’t all explained to the reader; although I wasn’t able to understand all the references, this didn’t bother me because it meant the author did not write the book for me, but rather for other American Muslims. One of the most interesting things about this novel was the protagonist’s journey to integrity. She so desperately wanted to...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Korri rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, american-culture-and-history, islam, family, immi-emi-mi-gration, life-cycles-birth-death-adolescence, women-s-history

Mohja Kahf has written an insightful book about the tumultuous experience of adolescence in America. Khadra's growing pains are made more difficult by the negative reactions to her faith community by her fellow Americans. Kahf follows Khadra through different phases of her life and of her relationship to Islam. As she grows older, she realizes that there are many different ways to be a good Muslim and many different ways to be okay with herself, her family & her community. She learns how to...more

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May 11, 2011 Ellen Keim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: i-own, religion

I gave this book five stars, not because it ranks up there with To Kill a Mockingbird or other classics, but because I did find it to be amazing--for me. It may be that it was just the right book for me at the right time. I'm a Muslim convert of almost two years and I admit to having been confused by all the different messages you get about what it means to be a Muslim. This book covers almost all of these messages and shows how one Muslim woman incorporated them into her heart and life.

Khadra...more

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Jan 05, 2011 Jana Schroeder rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 07, 2011 Hannah rated it 4 of 5 stars

I heard about this on an NPR broadcast and was really interested by the premise - a Syrian immigrant girl growing up Muslim in the heartland. I found the writing a bit stilted at first, but then became absorbed in the story and in the view of the culture that Khadra grows up in. So many interesting traditions, stories, and ideas, even about things as mundane as cleanliness, that made me feel like the book opened up a whole new world for me. I read some comments saying that it seems like this boo...more I heard about this on an NPR broadcast and was really interested by the premise - a Syrian immigrant girl growing up Muslim in the heartland. I found the writing a bit stilted at first, but then became absorbed in the story and in the view of the culture that Khadra grows up in. So many interesting traditions, stories, and ideas, even about things as mundane as cleanliness, that made me feel like the book opened up a whole new world for me. I read some comments saying that it seems like this book was written for Muslims since there are a lot of sayings or terms that Kahf doesn't define, but I found that parts of it did describe - although in a roundabout way - or explain what the terms meant, not necessarily so that I knew what they were exactly, but so that I had enough of an idea so that I could understand the progression of the story, without slowing the pace of the narrative to explain everything. In a way, I think it was a good as someone outside the culture to experience what it's like to have a barrage of new, unfamiliar words bandied about - I don't think the non-Muslim reader is supposed to feel fully comfortable with the way the novel is written, just as Khadra doesn't feel fully accepted or at home amongst her schoolmates. It felt like it reinforced her overall feeling of being a Muslim, being Syrian, and yet being American, and having to deal with the conflicting memberships and loyalties between those identities. (There were, however, a lot of characters, and it was difficult to keep them all straight, especially when they were referenced way later in the book without a contextual reminder of who they were... some sort of chart would have definitely been helpful.)

I liked how the book walked through Khadra's life and through that, showed many diverse forms of Muslim belief, showing how Islam is not a monolithic institution, but like many religions, has its different sects and more conservative and liberal strains that don't always agree with one another. Growing up in a conservative religious household myself (although more moderate on the spectrum than Khadra's family was), I could identify with parts of her story and with descriptions of her community, so that helped me to appreciate her story more. It was also interesting reading about her interactions with friends of different religions, and trying to make connections with them while also maintaining her values - not always an easy balance, as she shows.

I also liked how Khadra struggled with women's roles in Islam, sometimes finding the traditional roles comfortable and upright, and other times clashing with them and seeing them as limiting or unfair (as with her not being able to go into the mosque in Saudi Arabia, or not being able to participate in the recitation of the Quran). I was really surprised that the novel dealt with some of the issues that it did in that respect because I imagined that they would be so taboo, but I found that I respected Kahf more for bringing them up and for having her characters deal with real life - with things that we are not always comfortable with. Through all of that, Khadra's wearing or not wearing the hijab was an interesting symbol of her personal and religious growth and identity. I'm not sure that I would re-read this because a lot of the interest for me was discovering Khadra's world for the first time and tracing her path, but I would definitely read other books by Kahf.

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Jul 03, 2009 Osho rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, around-the-world

Syria.

An awkwardly written novel that becomes more compelling as it gathers steam, The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf is worth reading for content, though not for style. Kahf provides a look at Muslim communities in the Midwest and elsewhere, racism and sexism directed both to and from Muslims, and the immigrant's dislocation. The childhood sections are overly sentimental and do not ring as true as the adolescent and young adult portions. However, Kahf does a relatively good job of depicting the pr...more

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Apr 10, 2009 Merry rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a great way to get a background on Muslim-Americans and the struggle of one young woman. The time she was growing up in Indiana was not that long after I left, the author's discriptions of Indiana in the winter were so 'right on' that I felt i was looking out the car window with her. I kept thinking that the small town I grew up in would have been different....but i know that's not true. And I'm amazed that this whole community was so close and so unknown to me. As is frequently true these...more

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Aug 17, 2008 Dana rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone should read this!

Recommended to Dana by: found this on Goodreads

I found this book to be very enlightening. I still have a lot to learn about Islam - the author used so many unfamiliar words, especially around prayer time and the preparations involved for it. There were a few moments in the book when the main character had an "aha" moment that brought me to tears. I especially found it touching when she related with the Orthodox Jewish woman and they discovered that they understood one another better than most would because of the similarities in cultures, pa...more

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Dec 11, 2008 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone interested in learning about the many flavors of Islam

Recommended to Jennifer by: Zahie

According to the author's acknowledgments, this novel began as 30-page piece entitled "Henna'd Hoosiers," and much of this story continues to be rooted in Indiana as it focuses on a young Muslim woman's coming of age as a woman, a Muslim, and even as a Hoosier. Khadra Shamy immigrates to the U.S. from Syria with her parents and older brother when she is quite young. However, after spending some idyllic years in a university town, her parents move to Indiana, outside of Indianapolis, to run the D...more

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Dec 21, 2007 Hafsa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mohja Kahf is phenomenal. I've read some of her short stories before reading this book and I loved them. Girl in Tangerine Scarf is an excellent debut---the characters were all very real, and thankfully, for once, nuanced. The main characters story totally mirrors mine growing up, leaving home, returning to the "homeland," being shocked at the things that happen in Muslim countries, coming to terms with her American-ness, etc. Her problems with the "fundos" as well as the secular Muslims are rea...more

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About Mohja Kahf

Mohja Kahf (born 1967, Damascus, Syria) is an Arab-American poet and author.

Kahf moved to the United States in 1971. Her family has been involved in Syrian opposition politics, a theme reflected in the life of her character Khadra of The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf.

She received her Ph.D. in comparative literature from Rutgers University and is currently an associate professor of comparative litera...more

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Books by Mohja Kahf

Western Representations of the Muslim Woman: From Termagant to Odalisque

Dinarzad's Children: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Fiction

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“I'm not defending their views. I'm defending their right to have their views. There's a difference.” — 4 people liked it

“Generally speaking, Americans cussed, smoke, and drank, and the Shamys had it on good authority that a fair number of them used drugs. Americans dated and fornicated and committed adultery. They had broken families and lots of divorces. Americans were not generous or hospitable like Uncle Abdulla and Aunt Fatma; they invited people to their houses only a few at a times, and didn't even let them bring their children, and only fed them little tiny portions of food they called courses on big empty plates they called good china. Plus, Americans ate out wastefully often...

Americans believed the individual was more important than the family, and money was more important than anything. Khadra's dad said Americans threw out their sons and daughters when they turned eighteen unless they could pay rent--to their own parents! And, at the other end, they threw their parents into nursing homes when they got old. This, although they took slavish care of mere dogs. All in all, Americans led shallow, wasteful, materialistic lives.” — 2 people liked it

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