Alif the Unseen

So good on so many levels! Perhaps because the plot kept surprising me, but also because this book allowed me to question stereotypes I didn't even know I had, and readjust what I thought I knew. Amazing how sf/f can do what reading 1000 articles written by Muslim feminists cannot.

Programmer Vs. State. Programmer Vs. The Hand. Programmer Vs. Jinn. Programmer Vs. World. This book is packed with everything that a story worth telling(and worth reading) is packed with: Compelling characters; colorful writing; fantasy; cultural value. Want to dive into the "Twitter Era", and ponder how the way we communicate today on the internet affects the political landscape? READ THIS! As a programmer myself I found Alif to be well-crafted; his anxiety was on point; his quirks are unique enough to make him feel authentic; the way his thought process works is akin to that of a programmer--break problems piece by piece and solve each piece at a time. However, the "programmer character" gimmick does NOT get in the way enough that you show more don't enjoy the other richness of the story; the way Wilson uses myth, religion and fantasy makes this story one hell of a sucker-punch when it comes to craft. It's a fun story--read it! And also read Ms. Marvel(also by Wilson); the writing in Alif the Unseen also has the vivid quality of a comic book-- coloring subjects that seem black and white--religion, politics, the digital era--while at the same time inspecting them seriously enough to provoke your brain. Can't say it enough: Read this book, you will get the chance to jump into this colorful world and also get some perspective into the political landscape in the "Twitter Era". show less

This book ate my brain. So good! It’s like Harry Potter and the Arabian Nights had a love child raised by Jason Bourne.

I read this for a book club and the discussion was fascinating. I seemed to be on the extreme on one side, loving the book while others liked it with reservations, with a few having serious problems with it. Though the issues others had with the book, I was able to explain away because I saw the story and the characters as a series of allegories. Alif et al represented different parts of a modern Arab society, and I appreciated how Wilson wove the different threads together to show that the culture was at once both a melting pot of the old and new, as well as a renunciation of the old.

There was a bit of handwavium show more going on with the coding (Willow is obviously not a programmer) which I was able to suspend disbelief for, for the most part. And it was interesting that of all the characters, the convert was never named.

I enjoyed it. show less

Having essentially committed literature, you could call this book a work of urban fantasy but it's probably better described as an exercise in fabulism. While Wilson has incorporated a variety of fantasy elements, starting with a prologue involving a scholar who has caught & bound a djinn, she's also writing a commentary on the contemporary scene in the Muslim World through the lens of a rogue IT-operator who protects his clients existing in the "Dark Web" from state "security" elements. At least until things start going horribly wrong, and he's forced by events to rise above his "angry young man" pose to meet the challenge of his life. Well written and fast moving, I'm inclined to agree that the ending seems too positive under the show more circumstances, but there's no denying that we could all use a happy ending these days! show less

Alif is a grey-hat hacker in an unnamed Middle-Eastern city, providing protective services for anyone willing to challenge the State and pay for his services - so this includes everyone from Islamists to Communists. But the security services are closing in, in particular the Hand, a hacker working for the State. Alif is a callow young man, in love with a rich girl, but when the girl announces that she will have to marry someone else and the Hand launches a devastating attack, Alif's life starts to crumble around him. From this cutting-edge world of cyberpunks in an oppressive state, we are propelled into the realm of djinn and magic and religion via a mysterious book, and Alif will have a lot of growing up to do if he's going to show more survive, save his city and maybe help launch a revolution.

A great read in a terrifically realised setting, mixing fantasy and techno-thriller and political thriller, gleefully ignoring genre boundaries. Oddly enough, I expected a bit more from Dina, Alif's childhood friend, but mostly she's a rather stalwart and steadying presence and, obvious to the reader from her first appearance, the real love interest in the book. One feels vaguely that she might have made a much more likable protagonists from the get-go, but Alif's growth to some sort of awareness and maturity is still rather satisfying, even as you squint a bit at the idea that she's been waiting patiently for him to cop on to himself.

Cracking read, though: Neil Gaiman meets Bruce Sterling. Top stuff. show less

This book kept my interest, and I enjoyed the the mythological underpinnings, but I found the gender politics and embrace of purity culture disappointing. The girl who puts out is the bad girl; the girl who veils & is loyal is the good girl.

And this line upsets me: "She would probably be raped in her prison cell. She was probably a virgin, and she would probably be raped." (p.18) Fucking purity culture, that values virginity, assesses rapes of virgins as more harmful than rapes of women who have had sex.

An American convert to Islam is treated with mild contempt by several of the characters, but is viewed in a whole new light once she's married a djinn and gotten pregnant. And now she has influence through her marriage -- and can call show more in her chips. So that's again very traditionally gendered, and is just described in an unproblematic way. (Plus it's kind of a cheap trick, plot wise.)

The protagonist, Alif, basically does a creepy stalking of his ex-girlfriend, setting up spyware on her computer to watch her; filter her; track her -- while blocking himself from her. I can see ordinary folks doing this, of course, but I call them jerks and creeps when they do it.

I was bothered, also, by the frequent use of the slur "ass-coveter", which is the equivalent of "faggot". So there are a lot of straight men including the protagonist -- slinging that insult around, and no gay people or countervailing messages. Icky.

It's not a total fail on gender -- Wilson is trying to show smart capable women who are underestimated, because of sexism and prejudice against piety, and she succeeds at that. So she's trying, and in future hopefully her treatment of gender will improve or become more sophisticated (ideally, both). Wilson's better on race and ethnicity, dealing with racism and class issues in a number of characters. And the book had an interesting blend of topics I like -- politics, religion, hacking, fantasy -- so I'll keep an eye out for future books from Wilson. show less

Alif the Unseen is something truly unique -- an urban fantasy spin on djinns and the Arabian Nights from a Muslim author, set in the the modern Middle East/Arab world. It sits on the edge between the genres of urban fantasy and cyberpunk in a delightful way, with computer code invoking imagery of the worlds of djinn and fantastical creatures. Like good speculative fiction, Wilson uses the speculative elements to cast a light on aspects of "real life" in the modern world, namely surveillance and suppression of the populace as the true scourge of the Arab world, oppressive to both the religious and the secular.

In the praise column here is also Wilson's beautiful, nuanced, discussion of religion, belief and faith. She contrasts the show more beliefs of several characters who do and don't believe in religion and/or djinn to various degrees of literalism. This exploration is fascinating. Many of the ideas, such as how to believe in the fantastic are generalizable across religions. It also was fascinating as a discourse on Islam.

Usually, any truly unique book on my shelf gets four stars, and this is truly unique and well-done. However, there is a major drawback that I would feel remise if I didn't address, which is the female characters. I know that Wilson is much believed for her work on the Miss Marvel series, which I had not read. However, there is not a shred of evidence of feminism in this book. The female characters have no agency at all and exist largely to be sexualized/romanticized by the male characters who do have agency. No book needs to be perfect in every respect, but the extent to which female characters exist only for male gaze here is beyond just failing the Bechdel test and borders on disturbing. show less