Category: Fathima M
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βKarbala and the Ethics of Resistance: Premchandβs Vision of Communal Harmonyβ by Fathima M Premchand (author), Haris Qadeer and Sami Rafiq (translators), Karbala, Sahitya Akademi, 2023. 232 pgs. The tragedy…
![[REVIEW] βπΎππππππ and the Ethics of Resistance: Premchandβs Vision of Communal Harmonyβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/02smpremchand-removebg-preview.png?w=494)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThe Endearing Sisterhood in Yoko Ogawaβs Mina’s Matchboxβ by Fathima M Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mina’s Matchbox. YΕko Ogawa (author), Stephen B. Snyder (translator), Minaβs Matchbox, Pantheon Books, 2024. 288…
![[REVIEW] βThe Endearing Sisterhood in Yoko Ogawaβs ππππβπ πππ‘πβπππ₯β by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/819ycgclrml._sl1500_.jpg?w=940)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Saad Omar Khan, Drinking the Ocean, Buckrider Books, 2025. 250 pgs. βWe die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βA Love that Doesnβt Bind: Saad Omar Khanβs π·πππππππ π‘βπ πππππβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/saad-omar-khan-drinking-the-ocean.jpg?w=971)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThammika Songkaeo’s Stamford Hospital: Love and Loneliness in a Capitalist Cityβ by Fathima M Click HERE to read Thammika Songkaeo’s “Twist of Fate” Thammika Songkaeo, Stamford Hospital, Penguin Random House…
![[REVIEW] βThammika Songkaeo’s ππ‘ππππππ π»ππ πππ‘ππ: Love and Loneliness in a Capitalist Cityβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/thammika-songkaeo.jpg?w=977)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Niloufar-Lily Soltani, Zulaikha, Inanna Publications, 2023. 332 pgs. If there is a single word that can encapsulate the novel Zulaikha, it is beautyβa beauty that transcends the physical…
![[REVIEW] βBeauty and Strength in Niloufar-Lily Soltaniβs ππ’ππππβπβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/in-niloufar-lily-soltanis-zulaikha.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Stephanie Foo, What My Bones Know, Ballantine Books, 2022. 352 pgs. Addressing trauma is never an easy undertakingβespecially when it is the survivor herself who must confront it. Stephanie…
![[REVIEW] βThe Invisible Pain of Abuse and its Diagnosis: Stephanie Fooβs πβππ‘ ππ¦ π΅ππππ πΎπππ€β by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/stephanie-foo-what-my-bones-know-1.jpg?w=987)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ A Woman Burnt. Imayam (author), GJV Prasad (translator), A Woman Burnt, Simon and Schuster India, 2023. 336 pgs. We step into a new worldβotherwise inaccessibleβevery…
![[REVIEW] “A Tale of Love and Abuse: Imayam’s π΄ πππππ π΅π’πππ‘” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/a-woman-burnt-1.jpg?w=952)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Annie Zaidi, Bread, Cement, Cactus: A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation, Cambridge University Press, 2020. 166 pgs. Annie Zaidiβs memoir Bread, Cement, Cactus: A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation…
![[REVIEW] βLived Reality: Annie Zaidiβs Memoir π΅ππππ, πΆπππππ‘, πΆπππ‘π’π ” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/annie-zaidi-bread-cement-cactus-a-memoir-of-belonging-and-dislocation.jpg?w=971)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on The Woman in the Purple Skirt. Natsuko Imamura (author), Lucy North (translator), The Woman in the Purple Skirt, Penguin Random House, 2021. 224 pgs. The conventional…
![[REVIEW] “Thin Line Between Observing and Stalking: Natsuko Imamuraβs πβπ πππππ ππ π‘βπ ππ’ππππ πππππ‘” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/the-woman-in-the-purple-skirt.jpg?w=925)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Zhang Yimou (director), Raise the Red Lantern, 1991. 125 min. Raise the Red Lantern, directed by Zhang Yimou and based on Su Tongβs novella Wives and Concubines (1987), begins…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βThe Absence of Female Desire and Patriarchal Oppression: Zhang Yimouβs π
πππ π π‘βπ π
ππ πΏπππ‘πππβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/raise-the-red-lantern_cha_banner.jpeg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kamila Shamsie, Home Fire, Riverhead Books, 2017. 288 pgs. In almost every literary discussion I have had with fellow readers, whenever South Asian literature has been mentioned, Kamila Shamsieβs…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βThe Politics of Love: Kamila Shamsieβs π»πππ πΉπππβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/home-fire-a-novel-by-kamila-shamsie.jpg?w=993)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Dina Nayeri, Refuge, Riverhead Books, 2017. 336 pgs. Home does not always represent comfort or safety. Often, it becomes a place from where you need to flee. I am…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βIn Perpetual Transit: Dina Nayeriβs π
πππ’ππ” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/refuge-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1989. 288 pgs. The day I began writing this piece, a family of Chinese descent were killed in a shooting…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Amy Tanβs πβπ π½ππ¦ πΏπ’ππ πΆππ’π and the Will to Live” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/le_joy_luck_club__c1.jpg?w=1024)
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{Written by Fathima M, this review is part of Issue 46 ofΒ Cha.}Β {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} David Chaffetz, Three Asian Divas: Women, Art and Culture in Shiraz, Delhi and Yangzhou, Abbreviated Press, 2019. 88 pgs. Culture and cultural…
![[REVIEW] “Subversive Truths: A Review of David Chaffetz’s Three Asian Divas” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/three-asian-divas_david-chaffetz_abbreviated-press.jpg?w=1024)
Cha 