I absolutely love when poets write novels and this is no exception. On a structural level, Asghar is playful and sharp and deeply aware of how words can arrange spatially to punch right into an emotional core - all things I expect from a good poet. 

The novel is exceptional for its blending of the form and structure with the content. Memory is a sometimes comforting sometimes nasty and always slippery thing and Asghar's fragmented, hazy writing captures this effortlessly. I'm especially fascinated by the ways she depicts the trauma of/causing forgetting through textual fading, blocking, and genre shifts. Her writing also does a thorough job of breaking down racism and xenophobia pre and post 9/11. 

I can see why this got put on the longlist for the NBA and I wish it made it further along!