Reviews for The Writing on My Forehead

The average rating for The Writing on My Forehead based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-12-26 00:00:00 Kimberly Lee I'm stuck between 3 and 4 stars for this one. I settled on 4 because I like the roll of the prose. Very readable. Some of the "big reveals" are perhaps a bit too predictable---or maybe it's just that I'm a genius. ;-) As Saira reaches adolescence, she begins to probe her family history while on a visit to Pakistan. She discovers some juicy secrets her parents had been keeping from her, but as time goes by also gains a new respect for the choices and struggles of various family members. There's a passel of novels coming out these days with this theme. Child of Indian/Pakistani immigrants caught between two worlds--wants to be part of the American youth culture while respecting family traditions. This book is a good choice if you want a lighter version of the theme. Nafisa Haji did an especially good job of capturing the endless chatter and gossip among the women in the extended family. In that culture, there is no such thing as "mind your own business." For the numerous aunties, cousins, and grandmas, discussing and arranging your life IS their business. Big Nanima is my favorite character. She is a brazen and intelligent career woman who is a good role model and confidant for Saira. My only real complaint is that the author skips over huge chunks of time. Just when things are getting interesting, there comes an abrupt leap forward with a one sentence brush off of what happened in between. Another 50 pages or so of depth scattered throughout the book would be welcomed by most readers.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-06-17 00:00:00 Barry Oakes For the majority of the past year, I've been searching for novels written by Pakistanis, about Pakistanis. As someone who both identifies as a writer and South Asian, I figure that any future personal projects would be strongly influenced by my background. I was curious to see how other writers, those who identify similarly to me, would navigate this kind of task especially with consideration to the audience. I fear that Nafisa Haji hasn't really given readers a well-crafted story here and so I have been disappointed. While I believe that Haji had a strong story lurking somewhere within the pages of The Writing on My Forehead, it appears that she could not reign it in. It's not that I don't believe that a novel can have interchanging themes, but I don't believe Haji connected the themes of her story convincingly or fluidly. I would think that most readers appreciate a story that is circular in some way, or at least one where the ends meet. And though life rarely works out that tidily, I find that it is the job of the author to guide us in such a way that the story appears to find an inclusive, comprehensive end. The Writing on My Forehead presents readers with a lot of questions without ever really coming up with resolutions or conclusive purposes for these questions. It for this reason that I felt uncertain about most aspects of this novel. Most especially, I wanted there to be some beautiful and profound revelations or observations, but most of these moments fell short. Additionally, as someone familiar with the Urdu vocabulary, Haji's italicized words and explanations of Pakistani tradition felt clunky and they disrupted the text. While I understand that these explanations are necessary, I feel that they would have been better situated if they were integrated into the context. All in all, I really wanted this novel to be a lovely one, but it simply wasn't. And I'd certainly be willing to read Nafisa Haji's next publication, but The Writing on My Forehead was poorly organized and I think it is for this reason that it did not resonate with me.