Home Fire was The Stacks Book Club pick this week on the podcast. We discussed the book in detail with actress and comedian, Tawny Newsome. If you want to hear that full episode, click here, but be warned there are plenty of spoilers throughout our conversation.
Here is a little more on Home Fire
Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume a dream long deferred. But she can’t stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London, or their brother, Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream, to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. When he resurfaces half a globe away, Isma’s worst fears are confirmed.
Then Eamonn enters the sisters’ lives. Son of a powerful political figure, he has his own birthright to live up to—or defy. Is he to be a chance at love? The means of Parvaiz’s salvation? Suddenly, two families’ fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined, in this searing novel that asks: What sacrifices will we make in the name of love?
Home Fire is a master class in my kind of fiction; plot driven, strong characters, a world that I recognize, political topics, moral conundrums, and life and death stakes, oh, and of course, beautiful witing. Kamila Shamsie checks all my boxes and more. Reading this book was engaging and emotional without ever getting too corny or predictable (which is worth noting, when the book is based on Sophocles’ Antigone). Part political thriller and star-crossed romance and family drama, I am telling you, Home Fire has it all.
The central conversation of this book is what it means to be Muslim in a country that has become fundamentally distrustful and hateful toward Muslims, who you can trust, and what loyalty means. Home Fire looks at the extremes of political rhetoric and terrorist groups and asks, what is fair and what is not? What laws are meaningful and which are hateful? What rules of humanity are we bound to obey?
Of course there is much much more in the book. There is family, loyalty, romance, and drama, so much drama. The characters are developed and clear on what they (think they) want and need and how best to get it. It leads to plenty of conflict that is beautifully captured by Shamsie. The female leads, Isma and Aneeka, are strong and pragmatic and fierce, and endearing and all the things that women so rarely get to be. All the characters are great. I was particularly struck by Karamat Lone, the politician and father. I could have read an entire book just about him, a Muslim conservative who is constantly called on to be the chosen representative of both sides (the Muslim minority and the Conservative party), though he doesn’t really fit anywhere. He is the golden boy of diversity and the villain turncoat. He is all the things and none of them particularly well. He manages to be despicable and pathetic, and captivated me throughout the book.
Home Fire is an exceptional book. Enjoyable to read, thought provoking, and good luck with the ending. The book gets going and never really slows down. And it should be noted, the book is short, under 300 pages, and it still packs a punch. There is much to discuss and dissect, which of course we do on The Stacks Book Club.
Click here to hear The Stacks Book Club discussion of Home Fire with guest Tawny Newsome.
- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Riverhead Books; Reprint edition (September 4, 2018)
- 5/5 stars
- Buy on Home Fire Amazon
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