Desi Girl: On feminism, race, faith and belonging

by Sarah Malik

As a Pakistani-Australian teenager growing up in western Sydney, Sarah Malik came of age in the shadow of September 11. At the age of twenty, she moved out of home to begin her life as a university student, Muslim feminist and journalist. In this energetic and timely book, Walkley Award-winner Malik dissects the many layers of identity that have shaped her, from faith to feminism, race and class. While navigating religion and family, forging a career in media and looking for a home of her own, Sarah lays bare the complexities of living between different worlds. She shares stories of working in a newsroom in the age of Islamophobia, studying Arabic in Jordan, mastering the art of swimming, loving Jane Austen, and her experiments in the world of 'wellness' and therapy. Desi Girl explores the power of writing from the margins and how to find – and take – your place in the world.

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 30, 2022

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Malik brings a confident, engaging, often funny, voice to this book. Each chapter/essay stands alone, tackling a theme with a focus on a chronological part of her life, from adolescence to the end of her 30s. The chronological structure also means it all fits well together into an overall narrative about becoming an adult, developing skills and confidence in them, and working out who you are. We also see the world change, Desi families adapt cultural norms, Islamophobia waxes, and, well, waxes, and narratives around gender and diversity change dramatically, even if experiences of sexism and racism change slower.

[Fernanda Duarte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoughtful

This is a thoughtful, candid, intelligently written memoir, though I felt that the last three chapters didn’t sustain my interest.