Home Fire

Book Title: Home Fire

Author: Kamila Shamsie

Date Started: December 17th 2018

Date Completed: December 28th 2018

Genres: Contemporary

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Final Rating: Five stars

Review:

Antigone is my favourite play of all time, so I had high expectations going into Home Fire. As it ends, I think this is a book everyone should read, and enjoy doing so. I look forward to it being studied on syllabuses, discussed widely; it needs to be screamed from the rooftops and mailed to every politician in the country.

Addressing Muslim identity in the context of Britain the ignorance and disparity of its politicians was always going to be difficult. Shamsie dos it fearlessly, fiercely, and honestly. Humanising people is so important, and showing the forces pushing them that we can see and can't so obviously is how to do it. I am a reader that isn't as educated as she'd like to be about the matters of ISIS and racial prejudice, but this book was accessible to me regardless. It has its message, but for those of you that aren't into 'preachy' fiction (though it's sometimes necessary) will still be able to get lost in Home Fire; it's about the people and their story.

Knowing the plot of Antigone was interesting going in. There were definitely some things I knew were coming because of the parallels, but that didn't ruin it at all. In fact, I was excited to see how Shamsie was going to reinterpret it and make it her own. The play is an inspiration, but it gets developed in all directions for this rich and all-encompassing drama.

Home Fire's characters are electric, flawed and impossible not to be compassionate for. I became attached to people that weren't so compelling in the play because Shamsie does a brilliant job of positioning us at all angles with all the characters' lives - and each is different and gives something more to the story. It's a magnificently orchestrated book, really.

If you couldn't tell, I really enjoyed this book and I think it deserves all the praise it has received and more.