Noor

Noor is one of the main characters and first person narrators of the novel. In her opening section of Part One, she describes herself as “an Egyptian girl with a shaved head” (4). Noor grew up in Michigan with her mother and father, who emigrated from Egypt to the United States in the 1980s. Some years later, Noor relocated to New York City where she also attended school at Columbia. Throughout her time in New York, Noor felt a perpetual sense of displacement and alienation. Although she changed her style, dress, and modes of self-expression innumerable times, she still felt out of place.

In an attempt to resolve her internal unrest, Noor decided to relocate to Cairo, Egypt roughly two months before the start of the novel. Upon leaving New York, Noor hoped to find a sense of home and belonging in her home country. Her parents, however, did...