The Way Things Look to Me
A Novel
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4.2 • 5 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
My name is Yasmin Murphy, and I don't remember very much about the morning that my mother died, which is odd, as normally I remember everything. Everything.
The Murphy family has never tried to be different; they just are. When Yasmin, the youngest sibling, was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, her older siblings learned to adapt to less attention and more responsibility, to a sister with "special abilities" that no one, not even they, could ever truly understand. And then there's the way Yasmin sees it: she sees music in color, and her mind remembers every tiny detail of every day until sometimes she wishes she could just forget.
Since the deaths of their parents, the three siblings have become adults in their unique, tragic ways. Yasmin's differentness polarizes her siblings. Asif, the responsible oldest brother, has been left to take care of her by their middle sister Lila, the stubbornly rebellious beauty who resents Yasmin for her emotional distance, and for stealing their mother's love and attention. Now, Lila leads a wayward existence, drifting in and out of jobs and relationships, avoiding the home where she was raised and where Asif and Yasmin make their own brittle household. As Yasmin's committed caretaker, Asif is worn down. A young professional, he feels his freedom slipping away as he tries hard to keep the remains of their family together.
When the unthinkable happens, threatening the Murphy siblings' delicate balance, and sweeping in the chaos they've spent their lives holding at bay, will they stand together or fall apart? The Way Things Look to Me is a deeply moving portrait of Brothers and Sisters, of three siblings caught between duty and love in a tangled relationship both bitter and bittersweet.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Farooki's moving third novel (after Corner Shop) is told from the perspective of London-born siblings still coping with the death of their unmarried mother after five years. At 23, Asif Murphy has become the reluctant head of the family that includes brooding Lila, a year younger, and 19-year-old Yasmin, whose Asperger's requires Asif to enforce a strict schedule. Asif, however, shares Lila's complicated feelings for this girl who so monopolized their mother's affection and time, resulting in "a childhood of uneven treatment without the satisfaction of actual neglect." The two turn apoplectic after learning that Yasmin will be featured in a TV show about living with autism, but are both too busy to notice when their sister's perspective begins to change. Told in first-person sections, these chapters form the basis for Yasmin's show, point to Farooki's title, and reveal the book's somewhat faulty heart. Basing a novel around an autistic child is less than inspired, but Farooki rises above the clich to deftly depict how family can encapsulate strife while also being a form of salvation.
