Brouhaha in Baghdad
by
HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO Nussaibah Younis, whose debut social and political satire has been shortlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, having already gathered a truckload of rapturous reviews including The Irish Times, Guardian and The Times, which describes Fundamentally as Bridget Jones in Iraq.
This novel, a tale of a heartbroken English academic who finds herself running a United Nations-funded team in Baghdad to deradicalise and repatriate ISIS brides, is an absolute joy to read. An odd statement given the subject matter, perhaps, but the hilarious situations the characters find themselves in, set against the brutal backdrop of Middle Eastern realities, make for a truly engaging experience. It’s as if Call My Agent meets The State meets M*A*S*H, and it’s an absolute hoot!
Hats off to Younis for this wild ride. A story about day-to-day life set deep within the world of Islamic State detritus that isn’t simply a news headline, it features mixed-up lesbians, haughty diplomat nepo-babies, a fit security detail, Muslims across the spectrum, a wise counsel driver, a yoga-loving Californian convert imam, orthodox parents, shifty sheikhs, plenty of sex, petty squabbles. Ripe pickings for the must-watch TV adaptation already in development.
It’s unsurprising that life is rather hedonistic in the Green Zone, the protected UN-occupied area, and our protagonist Nadia is swiftly swallowed up by the politics, corruption, ineptitude, rivalry, and pleasure-where-you-can-get-it vibe. You’d be forgiven for immediately thinking of Shamima Begum when Nadia first arrives at the Iraqi camp and meets mouthy 19-year-old East Londoner Sara amongst the captive women. Sara, thrice married (all ‘martyred’), with a dark secret she tries to hide, is one of the women Nadia is tasked with rehabilitating and persuading their native countries to take back.
Fundamentally is darkly funny, warm-hearted, and detoxifying.”
No spoilers here, but the book is packed with laugh-out-loud dialogue and situations. From Nadia’s relationship with her estranged mother (an orthodox Muslim who took four years to accept Nadia’s secular lifestyle) to UN programmes and schemes going alarmingly wrong, Younis keeps the reader thoroughly entertained. Her own academic background and work on rehabilitation with the Iraqi government have equipped her with the knowledge and understanding to recreate a fictional situation based on events and realities of which she has first-hand experience.
This uproarious take on UN missions and personalities provides insight into what can often feel like an impenetrable and much-maligned global organisation. It’s easy to forget that there are living, breathing individuals tasked with fixing the world’s most impenetrable problems. Fundamentally is darkly funny, warm-hearted, and detoxifying as it cleverly slams the lid on the ease with which too many practise the ‘othering’ of people from cultures that demand a little more understanding and compassion.
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Dr Nussaibah Younis is a peacebuilding practitioner and globally recognised expert on contemporary Iraq. For several years, she advised the Iraqi government on proposed programmes to deradicalise women affiliated with ISIS. She has a PhD in International Affairs from the University of Durham, and a BA in Modern History and English from the University of Oxford. As a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC, she directed the Task Force on the Future of Iraq and offered strategic advice to US government agencies on Iraq policy. She was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, and has published Op-Eds in The Wall Street Journal, the Guardian and The New York Times. She has worked in Washington DC, Dubai, Cairo, Beirut and Baghdad and currently lives in London. Fundamentally is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in hardback, eBook and audio.
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Farhana Gani is a freelance copywriter and book scout for film and TV, and a founding editor of Bookanista.
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