Shaila Abdullah

Blog Tour Stop 11: Literary Safari

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An interview and a heart-warming review by Sandhya Nankani of Literary Safari. An excerpt is below with a link to the full posting:

“We have read numerous stories in the mainstream media about the widows of 9/11. Not so many about the Muslim victims. In her novel Saffron Dreams, Austin-based Pakistani-American author Shaila Abdullah fills a void in that literature by providing the perspective of a pregnant Pakistani woman, Arissa, who loses her husband–a writer with a masters in literature who worked as a waiter in the Windows on the World restaurant–on September 11.

I read this novel just after I’d wrapped my writing of a curriculum guide for an oral history of Muslim youth in New York City, This Is Where I Need To Be, which was published by Teachers College’s Student Press Initiative. It would make a wonderful read for both a young adult and adult audience interested in further exploring the ways in which America’s Muslim population experienced 9/11. Intertwined with flashbacks to Arissa’s childhood in Pakistan, this novel provides a valuable insight into secular, upper middle class Pakistani society. A much-needed perspective in the void of the American Muslim experience, it is an unflinching and moving look at the societal pressures of widowhood, the role that art can play in the healing process, and the impact of media bias and stereotyping on the Muslim American community in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks.”
Read the full review and the interview

Blog Tour Stop 10: A Day of Reviews

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Two fabulous reviews from two great reviewers. Please visit the sites below and post comments.

A Garden Carried in Your Pocket (Review Excerpt)
by Jenclair

This is a quiet book about loss and grief, about hope and commitment, about cultural differences, and about our common humanity. It is, above all, a success story in the sense that living, in spite of all its difficulties, is a worthy challenge.

Saffron Dreams addresses many serious problems (death of a loved one, prejudice, cultural differences, caring for a child with disabilities, and more), but in such a manner that allows us to see the ways human beings triumph over circumstances wrenched from their control and gradually find ways to re-adjust their dreams and move forward.

A beautifully written narrative that looks at the aftermath of Sept. 11 with a slightly different perspective, the book unfolds and blossoms with an unexpected tenderness while never denying the the myriad effects of tragedy.
(Full review)

Reader Views (Review Excerpt)
by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson

There are books that are beautiful simply because they are so positive and pleasant. And there are those that manage to be beautiful in spite of the pain and the suffering and the heartbreak contained within. Shaila Abdullah’s “Saffron Dreams” is both. Her writing is mesmerizing. On one hand it feels like a classically cut diamond – precise, sparkling, blindingly beautiful, but also incredibly sharp. On the other hand her writing reminds me of a dish I’ve often had traveling in India – a thali. Yes, I am very well aware of the fact that the author is Pakistani and not Indian, but many of the foods she mentioned in the book reminded me a lot of India, and that is probably why I thought of thali. Thali is usually a round metal tray with many compartments, each containing a different item, such as rice, dhal, different vegetables and curries, chutney, yoghurt and something sweet to finish. Each of those items complements or contrasts the others to perfection, and together they are some of the best food I’ve ever tasted. This is the way I feel about “Saffron Dreams.” It was comforting, it was funny, it was spicy; and then heartbreaking, full of despair, filled with hope, amazingly fresh and vibrant and satisfying. Following Arissa’s story makes the reader realize how little most of us know and understand the world of Muslims, and how incredibly wrong so many of our perceptions are.
(Full review)

Blog Tour Stop 9: RebeccasReads

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In the book review world, who hasn’t heard of RebeccasReads? They provide a wonderful environment in which book lovers can learn about new and exciting books. Sandie Kirkland of RebeccasReads reviewed Saffron Dreams and offered her thoughts. Here is an excerpt with link to full posting:

“Saffron Dreams is a compelling look into another culture and into how we each can build the life we were meant to live. The writing is lyrical and pulls the reader along quickly. One focus I found interesting was looking at the tragedy of 9-11 through the eyes of an American immigrant. The thread of Muslim beliefs in a modern world, and how women especially balance ancient and modern traditions, is a fresh, different viewpoint. Finally, the self-affirmation that we can handle whatever life throws at us is valuable. I enjoyed this book and will recommend it to others.”
Full posting

Blog Tour Stop 8: Book Stacks

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This one was a fun piece to do. I was asked to guest post at Book Stacks about books, writing and life. Here’s a short excerpt of that posting with link to full text:

I am a fool, a heartbroken lover, a goddess of inner beauty and outer glow. I am balanced, I am tipsy. I am and then I am not.

On paper and in my mind’s eye, I am this and much more.

I am inside the plot. It thickens and thins out. It pulsates, it throbs. It weakens, it strengthens.

My fingers have a life of their own as they type. I am amazed at what appears on the screen in front of me. I am giddy with the power that words give me.

I seek refuge in the magic of the written word. I type with two fingers because I never learned to type. For the initial twenty-three years of my life in Karachi, computers and typewriters had no presence. I can still type with a certain speed, my gaze fixed not on the screen but on the keyboard. In the early part of my writing career, I went through draft after draft written in long hand. When inspiration hit, I hid in a corner and wrote furiously. I was fourteen then.

Full posting

Blog Tour Fifth Stop: Book Connection

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See my guest post at Book Connection as I talk about the impact of 9/11 on the lives of the ordinary Muslims.

There was a time before September 10, 2001, when I could jaywalk down 6th street in downtown Austin and blend in with the locals. I was colorless, stripped of ethnicity, even faceless at times. After all, diversity is what added to the flavor of the city––that and a certain cross dressing gentleman in thongs who once ran for the city mayor.

That was before some of the locals exchanged their world vision glasses with compromised ones and took a serious look around. What they saw terrified them. They were in a minority in their own land with a group of people they knew little or nothing about. It scared them that the color of their skin matched the ones who took the towers down. After all, didn’t all Muslims prostrate in the same manner as the attackers? Did they not worship at mosques as well? Then came the lumping-of-all-potatoes-in-one-sack epiphany. If all Muslims prayed the same way, surely they must share the same ideology as the terrorists. As the overly-corrected vision of the locals turned blurry from the daily input they received from the media and those around them, they learned to live in fear. With every change in color in the national security threat level, their hearts sank even more. Could they trust the friendly Muslim neighbor across the street, the one who greeted them every morning but sported a beard and whose wife wore a headscarf? The day after 9/11, Muslim-Americans woke up to a new America––the one where they were no longer regarded as locals but outsiders and lumped together with the fundamentalists. They struggled to know themselves, only to lose themselves in the interpretation of others.
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