The Beauty Of Your Face

The Beauty Of Your Face has two distinct parts - the first centres around a shooting at the all-girls Muslim school where Afaf Rahman is a principal and the second looks back at Afaf's youth and her family life growing up in Chicago as Palestinian immigrants. Through these two story lines, the author includes many relevant and important subjects centering around prejudice, mental health, family, and religion. 

Based on its blurb, I expected the story to revolve around the school shooting, but I was surprised that it remained quite secondary and wasn't explored in more depth. Instead, most of the page time is spent in Afaf's youth - her struggles with her mom and fitting in. Being able to walk in her shoes for a bit - to witness her lack of connection to her family and the blatant prejudice she routinely faced - was hard to read and I felt for her. But even with these poignant issues, it wasn't as emotional as I would have expected, and I was left feeing detached from some of these scenes.

Religion is a big part of this book and Afaf only begins to find her way when she allows religion into her life. Many readers will be able to relate to this aspect, but I was not one of them. I had also hoped to learn more about Nada, Afaf's older sister - particularly why she left, and I wanted to know more about the shooter - to better understand his reasons for mercilessly killing innocent girls. 

This is a simple story about self-discovery that has its poignant moments and I appreciate how the author weaves important issues into her story and allows readers to witness bits of a culture they may not have experienced before. But while it touches on important topics, I was hoping for more depth and felt I wasn't as captivated by the story or characters as I had expected.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Sahar Mustafah

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, BIPOC author

Type and Source: Hardcover from public library

Publisher: WW Norton Company

First Published: April 7, 2020

Opening Lines: Another angry phone call, and it was only Tuesday. 

"It's very haram, Ms. Rahma! All that drinking and debauchery!"

Book Description from GoodReads: A Palestinian American woman wrestles with faith, loss, and identity before coming face-to-face with a school shooter in this searing debut.

A uniquely American story told in powerful, evocative prose, The Beauty of Your Face navigates a country growing ever more divided. Afaf Rahman, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, is the principal of Nurrideen School for Girls, a Muslim school in the Chicago suburbs. One morning, a shooter—radicalized by the online alt-right—attacks the school.

As Afaf listens to his terrifying progress, we are swept back through her memories: the bigotry she faced as a child, her mother’s dreams of returning to Palestine, and the devastating disappearance of her older sister that tore her family apart. Still, there is the sweetness of the music from her father’s oud, and the hope and community Afaf finally finds in Islam.

The Beauty of Your Face is a profound and poignant exploration of one woman’s life in a nation at odds with its ideals.