Hijab Butch Blues : : a Memoir

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Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / H, Lamya	4-week checkout	On Hold Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	921 H, Lamya	4-week checkout	Due 05-04-2024
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / H, Lamya	4-week checkout	Due 04-22-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Biography / General / H, Lamya	4-week checkout	Due 05-10-2024

Maryam -- Jinn -- Allah -- Musa -- Muhammad -- Asiyah -- Nuh -- Yusuf -- Hajar -- Yunus.
"Fourteen years old and growing up in the Middle East, Lamya is an overachiever and a class clown, qualities that help her hide in plain sight when she realizes she has a crush on her teacher-her female teacher. She's also fourteen when she reads a passage in Quran class about Maryam, known as the Virgin Mary in the Christian Bible, that changes everything. Lamya learns that Maryam was untempted by an angelically handsome man, and later, when told she is pregnant, insists no man has touched her. Could Maryam be... like Lamya? Spanning childhood to an elite college in the US and early adult life in New York City, each essay places Lamya's struggles and triumphs in the context of some of the most famous stories in the Quran. She juxtaposes her coming out with Musa liberating his people from the Pharoah; asks if Allah, who is neither male nor female, might instead be nonbinary; and, drawing strength from the faith and hope of Nuh building his ark, begins to build a life of her own-all the while discovering that her identity as a queer, immigrant devout Muslim is, in fact, the answer to her quest for safety and belonging"-- Provided by publisher.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

A stunning memoir submitted by sns101 on June 12, 2023, 9:17pm Hijab Butch Blues is a stunning memoir and unlike anything I’ve ever read before, which speaks to the dearth of queer Muslim lit and also to Lamya H.’s singular writing style and beautiful prose. Lamya blends stories from the Quran with their own personal reflections, in an audacious and powerful call to see ourselves as sacred. The author’s redefinition of queerness and their challenge to white supremacy and patriarchy is a gift to readers who are seeking new frames of understanding spirituality, sexuality, and life.

Great Book submitted by qwertyq on July 24, 2023, 12:29pm This book was a really amazing exploration of the ways queerness and religion intersect and what that can mean on a personal level. As a former catholic school queer with a complicated relationship with religion I wholly recommend this book.