12 Apr / The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood [in Booklist]
YA novelist Syed M. Masood (More than Just a Pretty Face, 2019) makes his adult debut with a seemingly disparate dual narrative headed for collision. Self-described “lapsed lawyer” Anvar is drifting – he’s lost his love-of-his-life-since-childhood Zuha; he consistently embarrasses his devout Muslim Pakistani American family; he’s floundering in moldy San Francisco digs. And then his landlord sends over legal-advice-seeking, Iraqi refugee neighbor Azza, who lives with an abusive father and who’s desperately trying to escape her violently manipulative fiancé, Qais. Implosive surprises prove inevitable.
Pej Vahdat excels as cleverly snarky Anvar; Hend Ayoub is Azza’s empathic cipher. Individually, both debut narrators can expect long audiobook careers because they’re that good. Alas, a dynamic duo they are not, plagued by jarring inconsistency between chapters. Names are different enough to need a rewind, and while Vahdat portrays Zuha as patiently charming, Ayoub voices her as unnecessarily, unrecognizably caustic. A more careful production would have better served these notable performers and been an easy enhancement for Masood’s provocative narrative.
Review: “Media,” Booklist Online, March 26, 2021
Readers: Adult
Published: 2021