Countdown to YALC: I Am Thunder by Muhammad Khan
As I mentioned a few weeks ago in my review for The Electrical Venus, I recently had a lovely, relaxing week in Mallorca with my girlfriend, and of course we took a small case full of books with us! One of the books I lapped up whilst I was out there, was debut author Muhammad Khan’s I Am Thunder, which I’ve been itching to read since it was first announced.
Fifteen-year-old Muzna Saleem, who dreams of being a writer, struggles with controlling parents who only care about her studying to be a doctor. Forced to move to a new school in South London after her best friend is shamed in a scandal, Muzna realizes that the bullies will follow her wherever she goes. But deciding to stand and face them instead of fighting her instinct to disappear is harder than it looks when there's prejudice everywhere you turn. Until the gorgeous and confident Arif shows an interest in her, encouraging Muzna to explore her freedom.
But Arif is hiding his own secrets and, along with his brother Jameel, he begins to influence Muzna with their extreme view of the world. As her new freedom starts to disappear, Muzna is forced to question everything around her and make a terrible choice - keep quiet and betray herself, or speak out and betray her heart?
I absolutely love books which deal with social issues, difficult topics or morally grey areas, so I knew this was going to be one I’d be interested in. Whilst I do read for entertainment and pleasure, I also feel a kind of responsibility to use books to learn about the issues which face our society, and to listen to the voices of people with different experiences to my own, in order to grow as an empathetic person. Therefore, a book about religious extremism, radicalisation and Islamophobia – topics I’d not really explored all that much before – was really appealing to me. And right from the start I figured I was onto a winner; the very beginning of this book made me incredibly uncomfortable, and call me a glutton for punishment, but I often applaud that in a book, because it means it’s having a real impact on me. It had the feeling of a book which – like those such as Asking For It or The Handmaid’s Tale – would be difficult to read, but important that you do.
Whilst that might sound really depressing or boring, it actually didn’t feel at all like Khan was trying to preach to his readers, and instead it had a perfect balance of great storytelling and thought provoking social commentary. From the point of view of a white reader (which is obviously the only one I can comment on), it didn’t feel like it was written specifically for me in a bid to educate me, but equally I didn’t feel excluded from the narrative, or that I couldn’t relate to it. I imagine that for many British-Pakistani readers, it will be wonderful representation, and great to see the nuances of their culture, and life experiences they might share, reflected so truthfully. And I truly do understand the power of seeing yourself on the page like that, so I’m incredibly happy that Khan seems to have been able to do that for a marginalised audience. But for me personally, I loved that it highlighted the similarities in things like school life and family relations across different cultures, and meant that I could still see bits of myself in Muzna even though we have different backgrounds. Along with that, the more reading we do outside of our own experiences, the more we begin to understand other cultures and points of view, so I think this straddles the cultural divide beautifully and is the perfect book for teen audiences of any heritage. Khan himself summed it up perfectly in his author’s note:
‘I wrote Muzna’s story for you. Muslim or non-Muslim? It doesn’t matter to me. It shouldn’t matter to you.’
Whilst it’s wonderful that a book like this has universal appeal, I can’t stress enough how important representation is, and not only in seeing characters like yourself on the page, but in seeing authors like yourself as role models. Watching people who share your own marginalised identity achieve, can be one of the most powerful things in making you believe in yourself, and I really think that Khan can be for desi and Muslim teens what people like Juno Dawson, Rachel Lucas, Patrick Ness, Malorie Blackman and Melinda Salisbury are for trans, autistic, gay, black and working class teens. Something I loved in this book, was when it got ever so slightly meta in one passage, where Muzna talks about wanting to be a novelist, saying ‘you don’t hear about many Muslim authors… I want people to read my books and go, “You know what? Muslims are alright.”’, and that just sums up why the move for more diversity in publishing is so necessary.
I love that, as someone not from a desi community, the book really helped me to understand some of the nuances of that kind of life experience, by picking apart what is down to religion and what is more simply Pakistani culture. It also highlighted the differences between what is most widely accepted as the teachings of Islam, and what has been twisted to fit the views of extremists. Having things spelled out this way by somebody with a first-hand understanding of it was really helpful, and seeing everything from Muzna’s point of view made it so much easier to understand and empathise with her. This gave me an insight into how insidious radicalisation is, and how easily it can happen to vulnerable people. Those uncomfortable first 30 pages drew an instant parallel with grooming for sexual abuse (which is something I have much more experience and understanding of than religious extremism and radicalisation) and set the tone for the rest of the book, allowing me to see Muzna and Arif as victims rather than the ‘evil terrorist’ narrative which the right wing media prefers.
A book like this is obviously going to be powerful, moving and important, but I was perhaps most impressed by how authentically teenage it was. The influence of Khan’s experience as a teacher is very evident, and you can feel how much he understands his audience. This, for me, is what pushes it from a great book to a brilliant book. Yes it’s impactful, wise, eye-opening, and in places scary, but it’s also optimistic, funny, relevant, and youthful; it’s just as multifaceted as today’s teens themselves, and I’m sure it will be loved for everything it is.
I Am Thunder gets a big fat yes from me, so I’ll be taking my copy along to YALC for signing. (At this rate, my shoulders are going to be seriously aching aren’t they? :p) If you have any thoughts on the book, feel free to give me a follow on twitter or Instagram where you can throw said thoughts at my face.
