Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕? 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒃𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆.

𝑲𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒂 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒔𝒊𝒆, 𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒆

B ͦ ͦ ᷜ: Home Fire

A ͧ ͭ ͪ ͦ ͬ: Kamila Shamsie

G ͦ ͦ ͩ ͬ ͤ ⷶ ͩ ᷤ ͬ ⷶ ͭ ͥ ᷠ ᷚ: 4.07/5

M ꙷ ͬ ⷶ ͭ ͥ ᷠ ᷚ: 5/5

Home Fire is a story about the loss, and pain and the humiliation and hatred that two daughters go through every day for the sole fact that their father might have been a member of the ISIS. It revolves around Isma, the elder daughter and sister to nineteen-year old twins, Aneeka and Parvaiz, who were, as Aneeka puts it, devoted to each other.

The storyline is stunning and chilling. It's a book you cannot put down.

Here is my original review of the book dated, October 18, 2019.

So, I finished reading the book last night. Till 2 am, just couldn't put it down.

There's a turmoil inside of me because of it. I have so much to say about the book, yet so little.

Isma. I don't know whether to admire her courage and strength or pity her as she really is alone now. She was alone even when she had her sister and that just breaks my heart. _A pair of nineteen year olds. One of them dead._ This really made something inside of me break and I'm not going to forget this book because of this line. I really wonder what her life is going to be like now, how much more pain and humiliation she will have to endure.

Eamonn. I admire the guy for his courage. First when he found out about Parvaiz and then in the end. The fact that he always had to live under the shadows of his father but at the end really found his own voice is what I think this book was about. Even after everything he didn't stop loving Aneeka till the end and that's as beautiful as love gets. Although I do blame him for breaking Isma's heart, but you love who you love, so not going to hold it against him.

Aneeka. I don't know if I should call her obsessed or dedicated. The lengths to which she went for her brother make you both cringe and admire her love. How often do we see that these days? Pity is what I felt for her in the last part of the book. Real pity. But finding out that Eamonn got to her in the end made my heart a little bit lighter.

Karamat. A man who is blinded by power and thirst for more of it. I don't consider myself the best person to comment on his moves and choices from a political angle, but as a father he surely failed.

Kamila Shamsie. This woman is gold. The way she described her characters is flawless and the way she portrayed the story from four different angles at the same time just makes me love her more as an author. She truly struck a nerve with me in this book. This book actually made me think about the families of the people who get manipulated and end up this way. I can't imagine the pain and suffering and humiliation those souls have to bear with when they had absolutely no role in anything that happened.

I'll quote Observer here,

"Shamsie excavated the deepest corners of human heart."

Very few books captivate me enough to sacrifice sleep and read with eyes that disavow me the next morning if I don't let them sleep. This one has surely made it to the list.