The second in the trilogy, this novel takes up a decade after The Golden Age - Soheil has become ultra-religious and Maya has become a doctor. Both are dealing with the aftermath of the war and the loss - in part - of their ideals. The Good Muslim doesn't have the structural elegance of The Golden Age but it's a wonderful continuation of the story and characters who I'd grown to care about very much. ( )

(8.5) This book continues the story of Rehana and her children Sohail and Maya, now adults who fought as freedom fighters in the nine month war. The book looks at the impact the war had on these individuals and their country. A heartfelt story as they come to terms with the changes wrought in their lives and relationships. ( )

An engrossing and excellently portrayed story of the effects of war upon the individual, the variety of coping mechanisms and the disaster wrought by silence. The characters are well developed. ( )

The Good Muslim, by Tahmima Anam.

GLOBAL WOMEN OF COLOR

A moving novel by a woman from Bangladesh exploring how people coped after their war for independence is won.

In her first fine novel, A Golden Age, Tahmima Anam told the story of a mother and her two college-age children during the war for independence in Bangladesh. In this novel Anam follows the same family after the war has ended but its scars remain. The book moves back and forth through time, recounting what happened when the war ended and the problems that still festered a decade later when the mother’s illness and the problems of Sohail’s son force a new resolution. Although a sequel, The Good Muslim stands alone and does not require readers to have read the first novel. As in her first novel, Anam writes with great power, bringing readers to feel what her characters are experiencing.

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The second book in the Bangladesh trilogy.

I have just come back from a book group where we discussed this book, and the overall impression was that the shifting time frames had caused quite a bit of confusion. Added to this was the fact that, within the more recent time frame, there were also flash-backs to the earlier time. Kindle readers, in particular, found this problematic.
However, I did learn a lot about Bangladesh, a country that rarely appears in fiction, and for this reason I gave the book four stars.

Although I had read the first book of the trilogy, A Golden Age, it was four years ago and I struggled to remember the details. Many of our book group members had not read the first book and felt that a short precis at the beginning would have helped. In addition, a brief history of the time would also have clarified certain points.

Rehana Haque was a central character in A Golden Age, where her children, Sohail and Maya, were young. Here we meet them in 1971, as the war for independence is ending and the soldiers and casualties of war make their way home. The second time frame is thirteen years later, when the long term effects of the war have stamped themselves on all the survivors.
Sohail has become devoutly Muslim, while Maya rejects all the trappings of religion. The relationship between these siblings is the central issue of the book and incorporates all the after-effects of war.
One of my favourite characters was Zaid, the mischievous, but lonely son of Sohail. Maya takes Zaid under her wing, but is unable to overrule Sohail when he decides that his son will be educated in a madrassa.

Although the war lasted only nine months, there were a million dead, ten million exiled and thousands of abused women left behind. It is a truly tragic piece of history, given a human slant by Tahmina Anam.
I didn't enjoy this book as much as A Golden Age but I will certainly be on the lookout for the third episode of the trilogy.

Also read:
A Golden Age by Tahmina Anam - 4 stars ( )