Hijabistan
“Hijabistan” (a self-explanatory title) is a collection of short stories attempting to shatter long-lived stereotypes of Pakistani women in light of the modern-day feminist movement. Often perceived as demure, oppressed, and filial, the book intends to portray the darker, defiant side of Pakistani women - at the expense of religion, of course.
I’m all for debunking the myth that women of a shared ethnicity are carbon copies of each other, but instead of actually challenging stereotypes in a meaningful way through the creative medium of storytelling, these writers embarrassingly perpetuate stereotypes in a wholly counterproductive manner.
I am not denying that there are aspects of Pakistani culture that require reform, for there is much to be said about the ongoing abuse of women’s rights, however, Hijabistan just comes across as grossly desperate in its effort to portray Pakistani women as the antithesis of docility. Absolutely no attempt is made at reconciling/separating culture and religion. The only thing this succeeds in is demonstrating the nauseating eagerness some writers of colour have to entertain and pander to a white Western/feminist audience.
What I particularly disliked was the exaggerated, overtly sexual language and poor writing. It’s almost as if the writers had a brainstorming session in which they took turns listing every vulgar, explicit, and voyeuristic scenario they could think of and then distributed the outputs after the session, making sure each story was just as, if not more, disturbing and outlandish than the last. Who said Pakistani women couldn’t be raunchy?
If you’re looking for a read that amalgamates every single inaccurate, negative Pakistani and Muslim stereotype/narrative, look no further: Hijabistan will provide you with liberating pre-marital sex, phenomenal rejection of morals, sensational pseudo-religious abuse, and, of course, exciting acts of terrorism. 1/5 ⭐️
Book Reviewer
Sahar is an avid reader from the UK who writes varied book reviews on her Instagram. An advocate of diversification in literature, she endeavours to amplify the voices of authors that are reclaiming the Muslim narrative. Read her reviews on her bookstagram page @bookifiction and for book recommendations follow her Goodreads page
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