Review: Jameela Green Ruins Everything

Zarqa Nawaz’s debut novel was described to me as being a dark comedy. Between that and the cover, I thought, hey this could be a good read. And it was. Jameela Green Ruins Everything is completely bonkers in the best way but underneath the excellent writing and entertaining story, the novel also takes a look at the issues between the US and the Middle East. It’s heavy and light all at the same time and it’s a great read.

Here’s the book’s description:

Jameela Green only has one wish.
To see her memoir on the New York Times bestseller list. When her dream doesn’t come true, she seeks spiritual guidance at her local mosque. New imam and recent immigrant Ibrahim Sultan is appalled by Jameela’s shallowness, but agrees to assist her on one condition: that she perform a good deed.
Jameela reluctantly accepts his terms, kicking off a chain of absurd and unfortunate events. When the person the two do-gooders try to help is recruited by a terrorist group called D.I.C.K.—Dominion of the Islamic Caliphate and Kingdoms—the federal authorities become suspicious of Ibrahim, and soon after, the imam mysteriously disappears. 
Certain that the CIA have captured Ibrahim for interrogation via torture, Jameela decides to set off on a one-woman operation to rescue him. Her quixotic quest soon finds her entangled in an international plan targeting the egomaniacal leader of the terrorist organization—a scheme that puts Jameela, and countless others, including her hapless husband and clever but disapproving daughter, at risk.

I honestly wasn’t expecting to laugh as much as I did when I started reading this book. It is funny and so well written. The circumstances aren’t funny – Jameela’s imam is being forced to infiltrate a terrorist group. But that group goes by D.I.C.K. Like, come on. How can you not snicker?

Nawaz’s characters will stick in your mind for a long while. Not just Jameela and Ibrahim but the terrorists they encounter as well. You won’t feel sympathetic for those men, not exactly, but by meeting a large number of the residents in the community, you’ll be reminded that human nature is complicated and not as black and white as we like to think.

Jameela isn’t a particularly likeable character as she’s pretty self-centred and comes across as a bit abrasive. But, over the course of the novel, the reader learns why Jameela is the way she is and, again, is reminded that there are layers to people and reasons for their actions that we may never know about. Jameela dealt with a hugely traumatic event when she was a teen and hadn’t appropriately dealt with it, though she thought she had. It was really lovely to see her work through some issues and have some closure by the end of the book.

I was honestly on the edge of my seat as I was reading this book. I had no idea how Jameela was going to save herself and Ibrahim from D.I.C.K. And then her daughter shows up and my stress levels skyrocketed. Her daughter is a force to be reckoned with though – she was so fun to read. I truly couldn’t have predicted the ending (though I knew what I was hoping for, the details were fuzzy) and I really appreciated that.

As serious as some of the topics in Zarqa Nawaz’s novel are, Jameela Green Ruins Everything still manages to be lighthearted and you’ll find yourself laughing at some of the circumstances Jameela and friends get into. It’s worth a read!

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*