Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis audiobook review – a sharp comedy about Islamic State brides

Sarah Slimani’s droll delivery is the perfect fit for this hilarious Women’s prize-shortlisted debut, in which an academic embarks on a UN mission in IraqNadia Amin is a thirtysomething academic who is estranged from her mother and recovering from a painful breakup with her ex. When she is offered a job heading up a UN programme aimed at rehabilitating Islamic State brides, she jumps at the chance for change. Having published a paper on deradicalisation, Nadia feels she is more than qualified for the job. But when she arrives in Iraq, she realises she will need to overcome prejudice – her own and that of her co-workers – if she is to make any progress.Shortlisted for this year’s Women’s prize for fiction, Fundamentally is the smart and acerbic debut novel from Nussaibah Younis featuring a hilarious heroine who, noting the absence of burned-out cars and bullet holes at her destination, notes: “It’s not like I was expecting Stalingrad but Baghdad took the piss … Why was it so … nice?” Yet it also offers more serious commentary on the creaking bureaucracy of humanitarian missions that are meant to be about solving problems rather than creating them. Continue reading...

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