Romany Arrowsmith's Reviews > How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America

The stories (and the millions like it that go unnoticed and untold in this country) are as important as the writing is horrendous. At the beginning of every new essay, Bayoumi feels the need to orient himself into the story - where he was when he first saw so-and-so, what so-and-so first looked like, and it always ends up reading like a bad noir detective talking about, I don't know, "the tall drink of water with gams from here to chicago who walked into his office on a friday evening with heavy mascara and a heavier secret drawn all over her face". Not even exaggerating that much. He constantly pauses in the narrative flow to make heavy-handed and unnecessary descriptive asides that don't add to the story, or even neutrally punctuate the story; they just pull the reader out of each character study, reminding us of Bayoumi's awkward authorial presence.

Two stars for effort, but it should not have taken me TEN DAYS to read this slender book, and his writing is the reason why.

Examples:
"She's fine-boned, with porcelain features that give her what you think is sparrow innocence, but soon you'll realize that it's more akin to a hard fragility. If you drop her, she'll break, but she'll cut you, too."

"...But without a good job, the movie jams and the celluloid burns in the projector".

"Their union gives Yasmin her unique looks--a sandy complexion, puffy lips, and black currants for eyes."

BLACK CURRANTS FOR EYES? LMAO OKAY