That Thing We Call a Heart

Politics of identity and religion dealt with in a light charming style. What it means to be Muslim in small town America.A lovely introduction to Sufi poetry punctuates the narrative, adding to the romance and charm of That Thing We Call a Heart.The Bosnian genocide, the partition of India are backstories that strengthen the central narrative of love and romance.Skunk Girl (FSG) by Sheba was published in Denmark, India, Italy, Sweden. Sheba's work has been featured in the young adult anthologies Cornered: 14 Stories of Bullying and Defiance and Love Like That and Other Stories. Her fiction has appeared in 580 Split, Asia Literary Review, Barn Owl Review, Shenandoah, South Asian Review, Time Out Delhi and the anthologies Electric Feather and Baker's Dozen: the Elle-Tranquebar Book of Short Stories. Two of her short stories have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is the editor of the anthology Alchemy: The Tranquebar Book of Erotic Stories 2 (Tranquebar Press, 2012). She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop and currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee.Shabnam Qureshi is a funny, imaginative Pakistani-American teen attending a tony private school in suburban New Jersey. When her feisty best friend, Farah, starts wearing the headscarf without even consulting her, it begins to unravel their friendship. After hooking up with the most racist boy in school and telling a huge lie about a tragedy that happened to her family during the Partition of India in 1947, Shabnam is ready for high school to end. She faces a summer of boredom and regret, but she has a plan: Get through the summer. Get to college. Don't look back. Begin anew. Everything changes when she meets Jamie, who scores her a job at his aunt's pie shack, and meets her there every afternoon. Shabnam begins to see Jamie and herself like the rose and the nightingale of classic Urdu poetry, which, according to her father, is the ultimate language of desire. Jamie finds Shabnam fascinating-her curls, her culture, her awkwardness. Shabnam finds herself falling in love, but Farah finds Jamie worrying. With Farah's help, Shabnam uncovers the truth about Jamie, about herself, and what really happened during Partition. As she rebuilds her friendship with Farah and grows closer to her parents, Shabnam learns powerful lessons about the importance of love, in all of its forms. Featuring complex, Muslim-American characters who defy conventional stereotypes and set against a backdrop of Radiohead's music and the evocative metaphors of Urdu poetry, THAT THING WE CALL A HEART is an honest, moving story of a young woman's explorations of first love, sexuality, desire, self-worth, her relationship with her parents, the value of friendship, and what it means to be true.THAT THING WE CALL A HEART is the charming, moving story of Muslim-American Shabnam Qureshi's explorations of first love, sexuality, desire, self-worth, her relationship with her parents, the value of friendship, and what it means to be true.Populated by complicated characters who are so well described readers will feel they might bump into them on the street, Karim's second novel delivers on its title's promise.The contrast between Shabnam (a typical, suburban teen from a nonpracticing Muslim family) and Farah (who melds her punk and religious sensibilities) is thought-provoking and realistic. Additionally, the story touches on the Bosnian genocide, provides a lovely introduction to the beauty of Urdu poetry in translation, and includes a diversity in characters. Fresh, funny, and poignant, Karim's novel is noteworthy for its authentic depiction of a Pakistani American teen coming of age and falling in love.Shabnam's relationship with Jamie.is realistic and heartfelt, but the real resonance lies in her hard-won reconnection with Farah and her new consideration of her father and her mother, who emerge as compelling and dimensional characters. Ultimately, this is a warm-hearted story that may encourage readers, like Shabnam, to find possibilities in greater human connections.