We Are ~ (Ana Johnsson)

I *heart* this song....the mere fact that I am resorting to the dubious *heart* is testimony to the fact that I can hear this song on repeat for an hour or two or...well, you get the drift. I also like the way it has been neatly incorporated into key-moments from Spidey 1 & 2 (who, I also *heart*). I will refrain from further pretentious twaddle and enjoy the video. I advice you to quit the eye-rolling and do the same.

Ten Things I Hate About Me

At her Aussie school, she is Jamie: a (bottle) blonde with blue(courtesy contact-lens) eyes. She is neither a member of the popular brigade nor a reject of the nerd-parade. Hovering between the two, she’s just trying hard to fit in.

At home, she is Jamilah: a brown-eyed, Lebanese-Muslim girl who has to deal with a widowed traditional father, an activist sister and a brother who knows he’s God’s gift to the ladies.

No one at school is aware of Jamilah’s ethnic background. Wary of peer pressure and the scathing rascist comments peppering the school corridors, she decides that blonde Jamie is a safe way to coast through school with minimum mental turmoil. And when the most popular boy in class starts paying attention to her, she feels that the subterfuge is paying off.

Jamilah also has to deal with her strict, composer-of-curfew-charters father. Paranoid about raising his youngest daughter in the right manner, he has effectively brought Jamilah's social life to a grinding halt. His only concession is to allow her to attend the Madrasa where she plays the darabuka in an all-Muslim band.

Her two worlds exist parallel to each other, never colliding; never clashing…..Jamie makes very sure of that. But all the angst and secrecy is getting to her. Her only confidante is a smart-talking chat friend called John. With John, Jamie can vent and rant and rave, totally secure in the knowledge that John will never spill into her everyday life.

But double life’s have a way of meeting up when you least expect it. Jamie’s Year10 Formal is coming up and true to form; her father has forbidden her to partake in the festivities. But Jamilah’s Muslim band has also been hired to play at the party. Suddenly the train-wreck waiting to happen seems very close and very very likely.

10 Things I Hate About Me is a sensitive story of many Muslim teens facing the travails of a crime they never committed. While some have the gumption to stand up for themselves, others like Jamilah prefer to keep things under wraps. Jamilah admires her friends like Ahmed who don’t take the racist cat-calls with an uncomfortable wince. Instead, they retaliate, risk alienation and ensure that their voices are heard. Jamilah wants to have an identity too. She wants to be proud of her hijab, her big family dinners, her inquisitive but caring relatives, her darabuka, her Arabian music and myriad other factors. But she also wants to sail through school with minimum friction.

The book is about Jamilah/Jamie’s mental and social growth. Randa Abdel-Fattah handles the culture issue with the insouciance of a native. Splashes of wry-humour and a chatty writing-style make it appealing to teens without appearing preachy. My only grouse is that certain situations were glaringly obvious (e.g. the real identity of chat friend, John) and I wondered why the sharp Jamie couldn’t put two and two together. Moreover, things were tied up a tad too neatly in the end. I feel a sequel would have done more justice to Jamilah’s conflict-resolution.

On the whole, a charming read which gives you fodder for thought.