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Publication Date: April 1, 2022
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir
List Price: $19.99
Page Count: 432
ISBN: 978-1-63988-303-5
In Through Her Eyes, Mazhar goes through the journey of her life—her Pakistani roots constantly clashing with her American identity, the struggle, the shifting emotions—and compiles a scrapbook of hopes, memories, dreams, and reflections. Mazhar, who emigrated from Pakistan, as a toddler with her family, recalls her difficulty staying true to her American identity while respecting her family’s Pakistani roots, a struggle that drove her to question her major life choices along with a feeling of helplessness. Told through Mazhar and her grandfather’s eyes, the narrative delves into the family’s South Asian background while exploring Mazhar’s own life path—from navigating the fraught realities of being stuck in dual identity of a Pakistani-American to finding balance between personal standards and others’ expectations. In their alternative first-person voices, Mazhar and her grandfather narrate family stories, weaving in the cultural and socio-political history of Pakistan. Particularly poignant are the portraits of Mazhar’s bond with her family. Mazhar’s prose is delightfully direct as she narrates the ups and downs of her life, including childhood and young adult struggles, school life, health scares among others. The book’s greatest strength is in its embrace of cultural identity while respecting one’s roots. Inspiring and eye-opening, this deeply introspective, elegantly rendered book offers a nuanced mediation on family, culture, faith, identity, resilience, hope, and belonging. A winner.
***
Categories: memoir
BookView Review 
A good insight into diaspora and identity crisis.
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