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Seven
Seven | Farzana Doctor
9 posts | 3 read | 3 to read
"Penetrating and subtle, Seven deftly explores loyalty in changing times... [An] immersive, absorbing portrait."--EDEN ROBINSON "Explores with courage and storytelling finesse the harsh truths within the ideals of kinship and community." --DAVID CHARIANDY "An urgent and passionate read." --VIVEK SHRAYA "Visceral and emotional... a courageous feat."--QUILL & QUIRE (starred review) A brave, soulfully written feminist novel about inheritance and resistance that tests the balance between kinship and the fight against customs that harm us. When Sharifa accompanies her husband on a marriage-saving trip to India in 2016, she thinks that she's going to research her great-great-grandfather, a wealthy business leader and philanthropist. What captures her imagination is not his rags-to-riches story, but the mystery of his four wives, missing from the family lore. She ends up excavating much more than she had imagined. Sharifa's trip coincides with a time of unrest within her insular and conservative religious community, and there is no escaping its politics. A group of feminists is speaking out against khatna, an age-old ritual they insist is female genital cutting. Sharifa's two favourite cousins are on opposite sides of the debate and she seeks a middle ground. As the issue heats up, Sharifa discovers an unexpected truth and is forced to take a position.
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blurb
Singout
Seven | Farzana Doctor

#Bookspin for April

1. We Measure the Earth
2. Lesser known Monsters
3. Seeing Ghosts
4. River Sing
5. New Jim Crow
6. Dream States
7. Pedagogy of the Oppressed
8. How Much of these Hills
9. The Savage Detectives
10. Sleeping Car Porter
11. Fresh Banana Leaves
12. The Mountains Sing
13. A Small Place
14. Night Tiger
15. Rememberings
16. Nasty Brutish
17. What You Have Heard Is True
18. Of Women and Salt
19. Beekeeper of Aleppo
20. Pure Colour

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 13mo
4 likes1 comment
review
Singout
Seven | Farzana Doctor
Bailedbailed

Well, I‘ve had this on my list for a long time, pulled it as a #Bookspin at least twice, but I just couldn‘t get into it. I feel bad, because the author is a queer Muslim Torontonian, whom I met many years ago in a book group, and I was really expecting to enjoy this. Maybe someday I‘ll try one of her others.

quote
Singout
Seven | Farzana Doctor

#Bookspin March
1. We Measure the Earth
2. Lesser known Monsters
3. Seeing Ghosts
4. River Sing
5. New Jim Crow
6. Dream States
7. Pedagogy of the Oppressed
8. How Much of these Hills
9. The Savage Detectives
10. The Sleeping Car Porter
11. Fresh Banana Leaves
12. The Mountains Sing
13. A Small Place
14. Night Tiger
15. Rememberings
16. Nasty Brutish
17. What You Have Heard Is True
18. Of Women and Salt
19. Beekeeper of Aleppo
20. Time War

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 1y
7 likes1 comment
blurb
Singout
Seven | Farzana Doctor

This month's #Bookspin list:
1. What is the What
2. How Much of Hills
3. Under the Undala Trees
4. Seeing Ghosts
5. How Beautiful We Were
6. New Jim Crow
7. Soldier Boy
8. Wayward Lives
9. A Long Way Gone
10. Disruption
11. The Innocents
12. The Mountains Sing
13. The Prophets
14. Follow Those Zebras
15. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
16. H is for Hawk
17. We Wish to Inform You
18. The Underground Railroad
19. The Night Tiger
20. American Spy

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2y
10 likes1 comment
blurb
Bookish.SAM
Seven | Farzana Doctor
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My mini #bookhaul from the little Indigenous-owned #indie bookstore downtown. ‘Seven‘ came very highly recommended by the owner. I‘d never heard of it but figured I‘d give it a go.
‘Small Game Hunting‘ has been on my radar forever. He was giving away copies of ‘Spirit Bear‘ so I grabbed it for my nephew.

#canlit
#booksandbooze

36 likes1 stack add
review
Lindy
Seven | Farzana Doctor
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Pickpick

The moral urgency that underpins this novel makes it the most compelling of all of Farzana Doctor‘s novels. It‘s about FGM & its complex ramifications for contemporary women as well as an Islamic cultural community, the Dawoodi Bohra. Sharifa, Fatema & Zainab, cousins from three families, are equally interesting characters with differing views on the practice of khatna. A parallel 19th-c storyline adds layered texture. #Ownvoices 🇨🇦

BookishTrish Are you attending her virtual VWF event on Thursday? 4y
Lindy @BookishTrish No. I attended her virtual book launch and then, last week, she attended one of my book clubs when we discussed Seven. (The lesbian book club has had every one of her books in our roster, as they were released.) 4y
45 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Lindy
Seven | Farzana Doctor
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Normally, the Syedna offers a male & a female name, but Alifiyah forwarded us the email that offered a single, unusable name for any child growing up in the West: Fakhruddin. Later, an ultrasound confirmed we were having a girl. “Who knows,” Murtuza had scoffed. “Maybe modern technology is wrong & the Big Guy is right. And it has a nice ring to it. Fahk-ru for short.”
(Internet photo)

Lcsmcat 😂 4y
27 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
Penny_LiteraryHoarders
Seven | Farzana Doctor
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Mehso-so

Sigh. I ran out and bought this one, so thinking it would be on the Giller longlist. Now....I'd be disappointed I suppose if it is on there.

I sadly found it tremendously tedious despite its interesting subject matter and at 402 pages much, much too long and drawn out. 😔 Another bummer read for the #ShadowGiller project.

@Lindy

Lindy Sorry to hear this. I‘m going to read it anyway because it‘s been picked for one of my book clubs. (I think we‘ve discussed every one of her books in the Edmonton Lesbian Book Club.) 4y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders @Lindy 👍👍 you may have a different opinion! I look forward to hearing what you thought of it. 4y
34 likes2 comments
blurb
Penny_LiteraryHoarders
Seven | Farzana Doctor
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But I did buy this one on Saturday and it would mean I could continue reading books for the #ShadowGiller so I will probably start reading this one first. 😊

MsMelissa Pretty cover! 4y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders @Book_Fiend_Melissa Isn't it?? 🌸🌼😊 4y
25 likes2 comments