Hijab and Red Lipstick
Hijab and Red Lipstick by Yousra Imran
Reviewed by Linda
📒📕📘📒
I loved this book, I read it in one sitting and didn’t realise it had gone dark by the time I’d finished. Well done Yousra, I’m so glad you plucked up the courage to write about your experiences so vividly and honestly - there is so much more to come from you I’m sure.
Growing up in 90s west London, of mixed British/Egyptian heritage, Yousra moves to the Gulf in her early teens and it is then that she experiences the wrath of her father. Having been influenced by the patriarchal nature of the Arab and Islamic society around them, her father runs a tight ship causing Yousra to strive for freedom (and rebellion along the way). Despite the hardship, Yousra shows determination and stubbornness to achieve her goals but there’s a lot of humour too. Her personal anecdotes of her summer trips to Egypt to see family made me chuckle especially when describing food poisoning of the Egyptian variety. We’ve been there, done that and got the T-shirt unfortunately 😂😂
Story aside, I really wanted to give you some of my candid thoughts, regarding some comments I’ve seen floating about.
I think it’s important to remember that critiquing a memoir/someone’s personal experience is edging towards judging someone personally. And although the book wasn’t branded a memoir in the official sense, there’s nothing fictitious about it. Having discussed this with Yousra further, there are politically sensitive issues that weren’t expanded upon in the book for several reasons: fear, links to important people and not fitting into the YA category.
I was a bit surprised that this book was branded YA fiction. With themes such as rape and trauma, I didn’t think it suitable. I’d like to see Yousra give us an unabridged memoir because I’d pick it up in a heartbeat.
Yousra and I also spoke about some of the backlash she received from readers complaining about the book playing into the “strict Arab dad story”. But if that’s someone’s real life experience why is it branded a negative trope?
For some, elements of the story might not be groundbreaking but they clearly happen. Everyday. And it happened to Yousra.
