Samra faces many hardships growing up, but the biggest one of all is her journey towards self-discovery as she comes to terms with her queer sexuality. My Review: After having this memoir on my wishlist for the longest time and my promise to read more non-fiction in 2021, I was so excited to pick up Samra Habib’s memoir We Have Always Been. We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir. Paperback – Deckle Edge, May 27 2019. Samra Habib (Author) › Visit Amazon's Samra Habib page. Find all the books, read about the author and more. Search results for this author. Samra Habib (Author) 4.4 out of 5 stars.
We Have Always Been Here By Samra Habib
4/5 stars.
ebook, 190 pages.
Read from January 29, 2020 to February 1, 2020.
We Have Always Been Here Samra Habibie
Whoop whoop! First book into the Canada Reads 2020 and its started out with a bang. This year Canada Reads brings one collection of novellas, two memoirs, and two pieces of fiction. I started with We Have Always Been Here which is one of the two memoirs heading into the debates. We Have Always Been Here will be defended by Amanda Brugel during the debates taking place from March 16-19th.
Samra spent her childhood years growing up in Pakistan in fear of religious persecution as well as the threat of a highly patriarchal society that stifled her and her family. After being sexually assaulted by a family friend her life became even more restricted. From a young age Samra had a fire in her that couldn’t be put out no matter what was thrown at her. When violence started to escalate her family was thankfully able to pack up and flee to Canada to safety. Samra and her family found themselves in a new home where they were not as affluent as they were in Pakistan. Samra struggled as a new immigrant at school and even more so with her identity as she struggled between her conservative family values and a country with a new way of life that she found immensely appealing. Samra is married and divorced, twice, before the age of 25 and goes on an exploratory journey with her own sexuality as she realises her own queerness. Still, Samra is drawn to her religion and needs to find a new way to connect with her church and her family as she blooms into her true self.
How do you find yourself when the world tells you that you don’t exist?
Samra HabibSamra is now an advocate for the queer Muslim community with her writing and photography to help highlight and bring light to queer Muslims who have been in her situation. Samra’s writing is frank and engaging as she details the story of her life without asking for sympathy. Her journey is an empowering one and one that I didn’t want to put down. Samra embraces her queerness, femininity, and religion with grace and strength and I thoroughly enjoyed reading her memoir.
Is this the one book to bring Canada into focus? While this is an immensely important topic we will have to wait and see what the other books bring to the table to the debates.