A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza

Often as I read this novel I thought that this is a story about a family which is like every other family - same sibling rivalry, same disappointed parents, same love-hate connections.  But then this is a Muslin family that emigrated from India that must maneuver the minefield of post 9/11 America.  These are Americanized girls who must choose hijab or no hijab.  Layla, the mother, struggles to preserve the customs of her youth and still celebrate the choice of her eldest daughter Hadia to go away to medical school.  But the central tension is around the youngest child Amar.  From the very beginning, he is the son his sister's dote on but who cannot man up to meet his father's expectations. Just like in Exit West, there is the struggle of every immigrant to preserve their unique identity at the same time they look for a place in their new home.  The tricky part of this book is multiple narrators and the jumpy time line.  Never my favorite.