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The Book Pages Q&A: Bushra Rehman shares her favorite books, fairy-tale curses

Dec 03, 2022 Admin

Bushra Rehman is the author of “Roses, In the Mouth of a Lion,” a queer coming-of-age novel set in a 1980s-era Muslim American community. A native of Corona, Queens in New York, Rehman co-edited the anthology “Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism,” and her previous books include the story collection, “Corona,” and “Marianna’s Beauty Salon,” a book of poems. She responded to The Book Pages about the books and people who made an impact on her.

Q. Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?

I’ll always remember the experience of reading “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” The fierce love Betty Smith showed for the Nolan family and father, her knowing of what it was like to be from a community that was misunderstood in this country … that is the fierce love I feel for my Muslim father and community. Although our lives were almost a century apart, I could relate deeply to her experiences of being a child in an impoverished immigrant neighborhood in the outer boroughs on NYC.

Q. Is there a book or books you always recommend to other readers?

Whenever I answer this question, I worry I’m going to leave someone out. Then my child will be cursed like the Queen’s daughter in “Sleeping Beauty.” But here goes:

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For anyone looking for ways to bend language to save your life and the life of others: Audre Lorde’s “Black Unicorn, Sister Outsider” and basically anything by Audre Lorde; for anyone wanting to learn more about South Asian American history: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s “Leaving Yuba City” and the “Karma of Brown Folk” by Vijay Prashad; for anyone wanting to write about childhood trauma in language that is achingly beautiful: “The Dead and the Living” and “Satan Says” by Sharon Olds; for anyone writing about sexual abuse, before there was #MeToo, there was “Bastard out of Carolina” by Dorothy Allison; for anyone who wants to read lyrical, heart-breaking work on being a queer Black woman in this country with love, love, love: Kamilah Aisha Moon’s “She Has a Name” and “Starshine & Clay.”

I could go on and on, but I’ll stop for now. By the way, there is a fairy tale, where the Queen, wanting to avoid what happened to Sleeping Beauty, doesn’t invite any fairies at all to her child’s christening. Her daughter ends up being cursed by all the fairies, except for one, who transforms all the curses into one curse of just having massive amounts of hair.

Q. What do you find the most appealing in a book: the plot, the language, the cover, a recommendation? Do you have any examples?

I read a ton of narrative poetry, so it’s all about language, but it’s the story I’m also feeling. I turn to fiction to get lost in a plot, but if the language isn’t working, it’s harder for me to finish the book. In “Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion,” the main character Razia always picks books from the library based on their covers, because she knows her mother will judge the books she’s reading by their covers. She finds “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” this way.

Q. What are you reading now?

I’m always reading multiple books at once, some for pleasure, some for teaching. Luckily there is great overlap in those worlds as I teach a community workshop for queer people of color and allies called “Two Truths and a Lie: Writing Memoir and Autobiographical Fiction.” Some of the students have been taking the class for almost a decade, so I’m always looking for new readings.

Right now, I’m reading “Nevada” by Imogen Binnie, “No Country Like Home” and “Girls That Never Die” by Safia Elhillo, “Who is Wellness For?” by Fariha Roisin, “Imposter Syndrome” by Patricia Park, “Antiman” by Rajiv Mohabir and “How to Kill Yourself Instead of Your Children” by Quincy Scott Jones.

Q. Which books do you plan, or hope, to read next?

I have an obsession with putting books on hold at the library. It still amazes me that I can, with a little patience, read any book my heart desires. They are the happiest emails I receive, when a book has arrived at the library. Currently on my hold list is “Finding Me” by Viola Davis “When We Were Sisters” by Fatimah Asghar and “The Hero of this Story” by Elizabeth McCracken.

Q. What’s something about your book that no one knows?

This one is tricky as it’s hard for me to keep secrets of any kind. In the final hour, I re-wrote a scene that takes place in Grand Central Terminal in NYC. It’s a gorgeous space, with the constellations of the winter sky mapped onto an enormous cathedral-like ceiling. Then I realized the stars would’ve been blacked out by smoke, ash, and pollution in the ‘80s. None of the constellations would’ve been visible.

A deeper secret, one only people close to me know, is I spent much of the last year, completing the book by my father’s bedside in the hospital, and later at home as he was struggling to live for us. To write a book about a daughter possibly leaving her father and her family behind, while my own father was about to take his leaving is woven throughout the emotional intensity of the book.

Q. Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, are there any titles or narrators you’d recommend?

Absolutely. My inner child is soothed by audiobooks. This week, I’m loving “More Myself” by Alicia Keys. The feelings of being a New York City kid, of hustling all the time, of working hard and taking care of family, of having a spiritual center, or trying to have one, struck a chord in me. “Notes on Grief” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was what I needed to hear in a moment of deep grief. “In the Dream House” by Carmen Maria Machado and “Good Talk” by Mira Jacob were both incredible. And I won’t lie. I love listening to Eckhart Tolle and Oprah whenever I’m down. I emotionally survived the pandemic by walking for hours and hours and listening to audiobooks.

Q. Is there a question you’d like to ask readers?

By any chance do you know the name of the fairy tale where the Queen and King don’t invite any fairies and their child gets cursed by almost all of the fairies? I’m looking for this story!

That’s it for this week. Next week, we’ll be back with more interviews and Q&As, and I always want to know what books you’re enjoying. Please let me know your recommendations at epedersen@scng.com and I may include them in the newsletter.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

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