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"Beneath My Mother's Feet"

by: Amjed Qamar.

2008; 198 pages.

Rating: 1.5

"Beneath My Mother's Feet" is Amjed Qamar's first book. And, to be brutally honest, it shows.

If there were one thing that could make this book infinitely better, it would be the narration. Make Nazia the narrator. Having the book be in 3rd person just doesn't work. In fact, it was a bit confusing.

This mystery 3rd person narrator kept calling Nazia's parents Abbu and Amma. But then sometimes, their real name would be used. If you're going to call parents "mom" and "dad", the narrator needs to be their child.

"Beneath My Mother's Feet" is a coming of age story about a young Pakistani girl (Nazia) whose mother takes her out of school because she needs to help earn money in order for the family to live. A series of unfortunate events continues the family's struggle. All the while, Nazia struggles to become her own person and live the life that she wants to live.

I didn't like the book. Not really at all. The reason I picked it up was so that I could learn about Pakistan, and I don't think I learned all that much. I could have learned more by reading the Wikipedia article.