Point of View

The author writes the novel from the first person point of view of 17-year-old Layla Amin. By placing the narrative inside Layla's consciousness, Ahmed allows her reader to experience a particular and individualized understanding of the novel's wider social and narrowed emotional implications. Layla's strong will, ferocity of spirit and persistent determination act as a driving form of narrative propulsion. Her unwillingness to bend to the exclusionary rules and movements of her reality, therefore, make her an ideal narrator and agent of change. The reader is not only witnessing Layla's external interactions with and rebellions against her surroundings, but is concurrently living inside her emotional and psychological search for truth and freedom.

Layla's narrative voice is steady and certain throughout, allowing her to guide the reader through the wild and rapid alterations in her reality. At the same time, her interiority grants the reader access...