Love from A to Z
By S.K. Ali
April 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1534442726
What are the chances that two young people living on two different continents are both inspired by the same thirteenth-century Islamic manuscript to keep a journal detailing life’s highs and lows? This very manuscript, The Marvels of Creation and The Oddities of Existence housed in the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, helps bring together eighteen-year-olds Adam Chen and Zayneb Malik in S.K. Ali’s highly original spring break love story, Love from A to Z.
The circumstances in which the Muslim teens find themselves in the Qatari capital during a two week period in March could not be more different. Adam, a college freshman in the U.K. from Canada who is of Chinese and Finnish heritage has recently been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and returns to his adopted homeland to spend time with his family while trying to hide his disease from them for as long as he possibly can. Zayneb, half-Pakistani and half-Carribean, via Illinois, has been sent to stay with an aunt for a “suspension vacation” after a gross misunderstanding with a dangerously Islamaphobic high school teacher. After an initial airport meet-cute in London, Adam and Zayneb re-meet unexpectedly at a gathering in the home of the head of the Doha International School (Adam’s father, of course) and make plans to get to know each other during the rest of her stay.
The bulk of the young adult novel alternates between Adam and Zayneb’s diary entries filled with their day-to-day “Marvels” and “Oddities,” which have been rewritten in narrative form by an omniscient narrator. While typical love stories tend to be the most thrilling when we are privy to a couple’s shared moments, which are undoubtedly swoon-worthy in the novel as well, the unique storytelling structure allows the reader to get to know Adam and Zayneb as individuals first and how their own thoughts and past experiences shape their interactions with each other. They are fully developed characters who existed before the other came into their lives and each have their own sets of unique personal battles.
Ali also does not shy away from real issues that are affecting many of today’s youth. After her suspension, Zayneb is the victim of online harassment on her social media accounts, and in Qatar, she experiences prejudice as a modest Muslim woman when she is told to wear “proper” westernized swimwear. Zayneb has zero tolerance for inequality or cultural insensitivity; she rarely hesitates to call out such injustices, which makes for a highly inspirational heroine. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself looking up to a fictional eighteen-year-old.
Review by Amanda Cheung. Editing assistance by Molly Higgins.