Nada Faris

13/2021. This is a Kuwaiti book of anecdotal short stories "based on real events" and told in the first person by one Nada Faris. The anecdotes appear to have been written separately and don't attempt to form a coherent whole.

The first seventy pages tell stories of a young girl aged 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 12, 12, and 13, and are mostly set at private schools. The Nada character is self-willed and, by my cultural standards although not by her own, a spoilt brat. The first three stories (4, 7, & 9 years old) are dedicated to recounting incidents which would have turned out better if the child protagonist had received better guidance from parents, teachers, and other adults around her. The next two (10 & 12 years old) admit her own self-responsibility and lack thereof. The next (12) demonstrates how conformity and a failure to justly rebel against authority can also have negative results, and is a subtle critique of people who allow themselves to be manipulated by the misuse of religion (and, of course, those who do the manipulating). The next (12) is about the boundaries of friendship. The last in this section (13) is, somewhat surprisingly, about professional boundaries, and like the earliest three stories is as much a guide for future adults as a story for young girls.

The next fifty-five pages are about an adult in her twenties and working but unmarried and living with her parents: 23+ x 7 stories. They cover adult children's relationships with their parents, and adult friendships. There were two especially culturally telling stories: one that was supposed to be revealing about Kuwaiti attitudes to women's sport, yikes, and one that probably wasn't supposed to confirm prevalent stereotypes about Kuwaiti drivers, lol. These texts include brief interspersions of Kuwaiti/Gulf Arabic in phonetic Latin letters, like real conversations amongst educated Kuwaitis, which are understandable from context without translation.

I found reading these stories, presumably aimed at young adult Kuwaiti readers, a mixed experience. My favourite aspect was that this is an ethics-centred book, a mutant hybrid of a bratty girl's diary and one of those life instruction manuals aimed at young ladies. My least favourite aspect was the obliviousness of a wealthy young woman offering little perspective on her own privileged place in her society.… (mehr)