The world is not safe outside Café Edenborg.
This morning I decided to pass by Sosta, which is sort of Stockholm's best Italian espresso bar. On my way up to order, I bumped into a young Asian Swedish woman on her way out. The moment she left, the barista and some fancy dressed-all-in-plaid (hurt the eye!) bloke with slick hair started going on about Asian women, very bluntly trying to tell different nationalities apart by their looks. Sexist and racist; need I tell you that the word "gook" was used? Instead of telling them like was, which I probably would have if I'd been more awake, I downed my coffee and got the F out of there. Feeling like shit.
One of the worst things about being of mixed race is getting to hear all sides of people's trash talking. Cause we "sort of" pass. But the worst by far, of course, is the fact that a lot of times we get it from our own families. With divorced parents (well, separated), I've had my fair share.
Alicia Erian's Towelhead is a coming-of-age novel set in the 90's about 13 year old Jasira. She's being sent to live alone with her Lebanese dad, Rifat, for the first time in her life, after her mother's jealous outbreak over the fact that her boyfriend takes an abnormal liking in her. Rifat, on his part, is rather strict and sometimes overly violent.
"Once, a little kid got confused and drifted under the lane divider [of a swimming pool, blogger's note], and Daddy had to stop in mid-stroke. I thought he would probably yell at the kid, but he just smiled and waited for him to get out of the way. I saw then that everything would be fine between me and Daddy if only we were strangers."
Jasira has a hard time figuring her parents out, oftentimes caught in-between because of the selfish ways in which they handle their arguments. She deals with typical teenage issues: daughterhood, a sexual awakening, guilt. And a betweenship due to her being Arab American, ashamed by her father's weird ways and always thought to be latina at school. Or getting called towelhead by her neighbours. However, the story turns extreme after she starts babysitting her neighbours' brat of a son, starting when she finds his father's Playboy mags, and ending in a very serious, unspeakable place.
Despite the awful things Jasira goes through, the novel is laugh out loud funny at times, a page-turner dealing with teenage girl issues in a way I have never before encountered. I'm amazed.
Read the first chapter here.
Hear Alicia Erian read an excerpt over at NY Times (you might need to sign up, but NY Times is always worth it).
Towelhead has been made into a movie by the great Alan Ball, with the genious Peter Macdissi as Rifat. I can't wait to see it. Watch the movie trailer here.
