Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed
An Iraqi-American student brings a homemade jetpack to school and is then accused of being a terrorist. He is later murdered. A Muslim journalism at the school tries to tell the story. The book is filled with the language of racism, even though the concern seems to be primarily with anti-Muslim discrimination. The muslim and BIPOC students are portrayed as noble people suffering in a society of others that are mostly islamophobic buffoons.
By the second half of thee book, it becomes clear that this is a modern day telling of the Leopold and Loeb story. Alas, the modernization does not quite cut it. The south side of Chicago is not the uber-wealthy area it was back then. Trying to reproduce the same Jackson Park setting does not work as well. Leopold and Loeb were both from wealthy Jewish families and had completed college while teenagers. They murdered Bobby Franks, a boy from another wealthy Jewish family that they knew. The case was especially concerning because it involved the educated, well-to-do intellectually descending into depravity and taking one of their own. This modern retelling misses that and becomes just a case of rich bullies being suckered into bad behavior by bad internet forums.
It is a shame the author tries so hard to mix the Islamophobic and the Leopold and Loeb stories. The story is engaging and would succeed well if it didn't try to blur the two.
Turkey and Iran both have rich histories that separate them from other countries in the Islamic world. They have both been the head of large-scale global empires. They have also been open to the western world and have experimented with democracy. The Turkish democracy was helped along by the US, who saw the Turks as a bulwark against Russian communism. Iranian democracy was quashed because it was viewed to go against the interests of big oil companies. This led to a reign of an ostentatious Shah and the eventual rise of clerical power. The type of Islam dominant in each country also has helped contribute to the current conditions, with Turkey more accepting of rule by secular powers. The author proposes that Europe and the west should be more willing to engage the two countries. Turkey is one of the few countries with relations with all the players in the middle east (including Israel). They are eager to be peace brokers. Having them as an active member of the EU could provide huge benefits to Europe. They have have managed to increase religious freedom and democracy at the same time. Iran also has reached out to the US to increase partnership in the fight against common enemies (such as the Taliban), only to be rebuffed by the US.