Aziz's story is a story that is common to many but one that is rarely told. It is the story of growing up the child of immigrants and trying to progress in a society where the realities of racism and xenophobia are all too obvious. It gives voice to the experience of finding oneself caught between worlds and the concomitant feelings of shame, insecurity and powerlessness that this can engender. As he describes it, he found himself ‘a hyphenated man’ struggling to create an identity that fu...

An uncompromising portrait of identity, family, religion, race, and class that “cuts to the bone” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) told through Omer Aziz’s incisive and luminous prose.In a tough neighborhood on the outskirts of Toronto, miles away from wealthy white downtown, Omer Aziz struggles to find his place as a first-generation Pakistani Muslim boy. He fears the violence and despair of the world around him, and sees a dangerous path ahead, succum...