Sofia Khan is Not Obliged: A heartwarming romantic comedy

Product Information

Sofia Khan is Not Obliged aces the Bechdel test. I'm a feminist through and through and believe in supporting and uplifting women. My friendships in real life and online are all founded on mutual, unfailing support systems and because of this I love seeing female relationships portrayed positively in fiction. Most female friendships in fiction are either token friendships or are negatively portrayed but Sofia's friends are all shown as incredibly supportive women. I loved the fact that Sofia's BFFs Hannah, Suj and Fozia were well fleshed out characters with their own independent story arcs. They all had distinctly different personalities reflecting the fact that Muslim women are not a monolith. The book also highlights the strong familial relationships that are common in Desi families - Very, very heartwarming. Now, the lightness and fun in the first book was visibly nowhere to be found in this book. It was too heavy and serious all the way. The marriage guide book she wrote in this book, I actually feel sorry for the publishers if it were a real book. They actually commissioned a funny book, there was nothing funny about the excerpts we saw. There’s genuine amusement and laugh out loud moments in Malik’s first novel. Much of Sofia Khan’s misadventures are entirely relatable – to Muslim and non-Muslim readers alike, everything from her well-meaning parents, extended family who would just love her to find a husband, to her work colleagues and friends who form the bulk of her support network, sometimes rather unhelpfully. And then of course, there are the men or ‘emotional f**kwits’ in her life which complicate everything! Labelled ‘the Muslim Bridget Jones’, Malik’s debut novel Sofia Khan is Not Obliged borrows heavily from Helen Fielding’s 1996 novel to tell the story of Sofia Khan, a British Muslim woman living and working in publishing in London. The novel takes the form of a diary following Sofia’s adventures in love as she tries to write a book on Muslim dating commissioned by her culturally-clumsy editor.

She has been working in neurology with the NHS for almost 20 years and as an NHS Consultant Neurologist for over a decade. Throughout this time, she has gained extensive experience in diagnosing and treating patients with neurological conditions. After things have settled somewhat, Sofia is at Waterloo station when she spots the man who originally called her a terrorist on the tube, she follows the man she terms 'the Racist' onto the tube and sits in a seat she could see him making a beeline for. The man responds to this by calling her a 'Paki bitch'. An older lady and a man both come to her defence and make him grudgingly apologise. Sofia then chases him down and calls him a 'cunt' and proceeds to punch him in the face. Why were there only two choices, either to go to Ireland with Conall or get divorced? Couldn’t she work from Ireland? Or even continue with the relationship while she was still in London? What is this conflict, please?

But at the same time WHAT WAS HAPPENING?? ON MY GOD??????? I WAS YELLING AT CONNALL AND HIS BEHAVIOURS RUNNING AWAY AGAIN AND NOT TELLING SOFIA ABOUT HIS CHILD AND THE!! ENDING!!! DID THEY ACTUALLY GOT DIVORCED?? JESUS CHRIST I was yelling all the time to be honest because there's SO MUCH DRAMA and I was SO WORRIED ALL THE TIME??? I was worried about Sofia and Connall and his parents and her mother and her friends and the irish kid and EVERYTHING. Poor communication was the main villain here and it drove me insane. Just. Please. Talk with each other. Tell them stuff. Stop making me suffer. When Imran offers to leave home and marry Sofia, she agrees. She reasons that she likes him and her father will be happy she’s settled. . Big Realizations Sofia Khan is Not Obliged is a romance novel by Ayisha Malik, published in 2015. This post is full of spoilers. If you’re looking for a review, you can find one on Experiences and Reflections instead. Sofia Khan Even now, their sense of safety remains tenuous; Khan said she couldn't connect me to talk with Afghan refugees for this story because they must continue guarding their anonymity. One of my favorite things about the novel is Sofia Khan - Malik's portrayal of a hijabi was so refreshing and accurate. When most people view a hijabi they see two things, a possible terrorist or a victim of oppression. Sofia Khan is neither. She prays five times a day, seeks solace in God, abstains from alcohol/pre-marital sex and fasts in Ramadan. She chooses to wear the hijab. But she's no angel.

She also talks about things that I could not relate to but were concepts I have heard of before so it was nice reading a detailed perspective on those, such as a married woman living with her in-laws. This book starts with Sofia breaking up with her boyfriend because he wanted to have a hole in the wall between two houses after they get married, theirs and his parents, which was a no-go for Sofia because she does not want to live with her in-laws. The book also discusses polygamous marriage and negative viewed things such as a divorced woman and marrying/dating someone from another race. What I liked about the book is that it discusses the issues in a funny/unserious way which made it interesting to read. And Conall feels guilty because he left Claire and his son when he was younger, but does the same thing again - AND leaves Sofia behind this time too. He has absolutely zero growth, but for some reason Sofia forgives him? Though he never asked for forgiveness and didn't actually change anything about him? In Sofia Khan we find a heroine who is witty, sassy, can throw a good punch as well as one who does her best to keep things real and halal. While her older sister is planning her wedding day, Sofia finds herself at the end of a serious relationship with a man who simply couldn’t leave the parental home and expects her to live in a ‘hole in the wall.’As well as hearing from Amy about her thoughts and observations, we will once again be opening the floor up to you, our club members, to share your own observations and remarks. To get you thinking and to help prepare any comments or questions you might want to share, we have prepared three starter questions: Ayisha Malik is a Muslim and Sofia Khan is a Muslim. This book is about young Muslim women. As with Sofia Khan is not Obliged, The Other Half of Happiness gently challenges a few assumptions, it draws attention to a few generalisations but it is all done with a gentle touch. It is not educative or moralising, it's observational and authentic. And Kelly Bright's interview is so cleverly reported that despite the issues underlying the questions she asks, the focus remains the focus of the book - love and happiness. The Other Half of Happiness is a romantic comedy at heart (excuse the pun!). It's a book about realistic expectations, confronting truths and then finding happiness through coming to terms with what happiness means to you. The similarities are what's hurting me," she says. "I broke down in tears when I saw an elderly guy outside his apartment complex pointing and crying and saying 'That was my house.' This guy has nothing left. Where is he going to go now? Or a mother holding a little child in a subway station, protecting themselves from the bombs... It looks very familiar." Men shouldn't make assumptions about her based on the hijab. Sofia resents men assuming that her conservative clothing choices imply conservative morals: ' Thanks, strange person, for your opinion, but who said I'm conservative. Talk about judging a person by their scarf.' Thoroughly engaging and laugh-out-loud funny from the off, this witty, unapologetic, honest, fun and feisty tale fully deserves the buzz it's getting' – HEAT MAGAZINE