In The Good Muslim, Tahmima Anam examines the aftermath of war in Bangladesh and the effect of religious fundamentalism on a family. She addresses both of these topics with grace and mastery in a finely wrought narrative that alternates in time between the end of the the war of Bangladeshi independence from Pakistan (1971) and the mid-1980s. Maya, now a doctor specializing in women’s health, left her home during the war to volunteer in refugee camps. At war’s end she finished her internship in a Rajshahi hospital and opened a clinic there, instead of returning home to Dhaka, the country’s largest city.
When Maya enters the story, she is traveling to Dhaka after spending years away. At home she finds much has changed, especially because her brother–with whom she had always been close–has become a leader in the local Muslim community. His reputation has spread widely, even internationally, and his approach to religion is conservative and intolerant of alternate practice or interpretation.
Anam shows the way a good man, a secular-tending and modern man, can become changed by war-time experience. The connection between psychological battle scars and the development of fundamentalist religious consciousness seems rather obvious when a gifted writer lays it out clearly, but it is not something I had considered. One of the beauties of Anam’s book is the seamlessness of past and present, of the residues of war in the years that follow. The survivors view everything in their world through the lens of the wartime past, since the extremities of that time define experience today.
The novel is especially strong in its depiction of the contemporary, single, professional woman confronting rapid cultural change. We also see a personal response to the wave of fundamentalism overtaking parts of the society. Although the narration is third person, Maya’s brother Soheil becomes known to the reader through her point of view. She is estranged from his mindset but loves her brother. He is presumably the good Muslim of the title, although he is not the central figure of the book. He is the novel’s main problem; the story is primarily Maya’s and all the Bangladeshis’. Through many minor characters and their experiences, we see daily life in a young nation, with an emphasis on the effects of cultural conflict (both in wartime and in peace).
Back when Maya was working in the refugee camps, she saw many Bengali women who had been raped by Pakistani soldiers. A couple of weeks ago, in a program on BBC radio, some Pakistanis told a reporter that these rapes never happened, that the stories were Bangladeshi propaganda. Against this denial of history, Anam’s fictional representation shines a light on wartime suffering of many Bengali women and unveils an ugly truth about rape as a tactic of contemporary warfare elsewhere in the world.
The novel succeeds in its representation of people rebuilding their lives following war and of the severe effects of cataclysmic change on individuals. Although Maya is a fully realized character, the novel’s strength lies in its atmospheric realism. We experience the radicalization of her brother through Maya’s eyes; her personal concerns reflect the anxieties of ordinary people, both Muslim and non-Muslim. Although the reader might be tempted to think of Maya as the good Muslim, the title refers ironically to Sohail, who in striving to be a good Muslim becomes a problematic force in his family and his society.
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The book tackles one of the profound issues of our time, religious fundamentalism as a consequence of war, and Anam personalizes the struggle for understanding in a way that is both believable and accessible. The novel is beautifully structured, the story well told, the characters alive. Anam achieves a remarkable impact without overt literariness of language or style. Longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, The Good Muslim is almost a sure bet for the shortlist to be announced on January 10th.
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The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam.
HarperCollins Books, 2011.
297 pages.
First published in UK by Canongate Books, 2011.
Hi Fay. I have also just finished this book, and will post my review this week. I think you hit the nail on the head when you say: “Anam achieves a remarkable impact without overt literariness of language or style”. Her rather flat writing style is my one slight issue with the novel: it is not, in my opinion, anywhere near as well written as The Folded Earth, for example, yet it succeeds in focusing the mind on a much stronger message. I wouldn’t begrudge it a place on the shortlist.
Mark, my personal criterion in reading these Man Asian books is considering the likelihood of the novel enduring. Will it be read years from now? If you compare Folded Earth to The Good Muslim, Anam’s book prevails in my opinion. Folded Earth, while beautifully written, cannot stand the endurance test. Predicting the future is a folly, of course. Who the heck knows? Looking forward to your review.
I felt the book was a quest on the question what is a good muslim and how this is shown on the two extremes of brother and sister and I felt she showed how the moderate approach to it was the best ,I agree this book will stand the test of time ,all the best stu
I think I’m going to have to read this book … I’ll be interested to see how it compares with Mohsin Hamid’s The reluctant fundamentalist. They sound very different though I haven’t read your review properly so as not to totally affect my reading) but the addressing of fundamentalism is an interesting challenge.
An excellent review of an excellent book. I’ll be disappointed if this one doesn’t make the shortlist.
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