Of Towelhead by Alicia Erian

Where to begin?

I just finished Towelhead by Alicia Erian
it was a decent book, graphic and detailed, but decent

The main character, Jasira, is one helava 13 year old. She has huge jugs and model's face and the innocence of a child her age, and everyone notices.
Barry, her mother's boyfriend, is the first to take advantage of Jasira, and that's where this story begins. He doesn't have sex with her, but he is vastly inappropriate.
Well anyways, mother-dear finds out and, instead of kicking the bastard out, she sends her daughter to Houston, Texas to live with her strict and overbearing Labanese father, who also notices his daughter's ....growth spurt...ahem.
He, uncomfortable with her budding womanhood, is even more fierce and strict than he needs to be, to a violent level.
And all this does absolutely nothing but send Jasira into the hands of a Mr. Vuoso, her reservist neighbor who actually does take advantage of her in sick and perverted ways.

For an objective stance, most of you probably think that Vuoso and Barry need to die burning, but Jasira, not so much.
She liked, even loved, these men, or at least she believed she did, right to the very end. That's what made the story so interesting, her confused emotions and unfamiliar desires. Although I'm not sure how many 13 year olds think about doing it with men thrice their age.

The point is, she felt that way because of a desire to belong. Her mother sent her away in favor of another man and her father doesn't know how to handle her unless he's telling her what to do.

What's worse is that no one cared enough to explain to her what was going on with her body. And as disturbing and unwanted that conversation is, sometimes health class isn't enough. The book addresses embarrassing, but surprisingly accurate elements that goes along with being a woman, like shaving (more specifically, shaving the pubes and pits) and periods, and buttons and boys, and most importantly, feelings.

Jasira had a lot, and I mean a lot, of sexual drive. Some of that was unrealistic to me because, I don't know about you, but I certainly didn't get off reading playboy that young (btw, did you know they have a playgirl?). She had a lot of physical attractions, but she didn't understand it, so when Vuoso took advantage of her and her body easily submitted, she didn't know what to think even though she didn't actually want it.

So she mistakenly believed she loved him. Part of it was because he felt so sorry after which made her feel powerful, something she was unused to because of her own unforgiving parents. But because of her parents she felt like she was the one who was always wrong, so she only ended up feeling sorry for that rat bastard, instead of angry like she should've.

It's an interesting story, told in the eyes of a child, and admittedly, the reader too has a hard time remembering that their supposed to hate Vuoso.

Besides dealing with these sexual urges, Jasira also deals with a lot of social issues as an Arab during the Iraq War, which probably also contributed to her increase in sexual activities as a means of an outlet.

But yea, she has no friends because of her perpetual mild-temperment (prob from the beating at home) and then people find out she's Arab. It's funny that Erian choose to call her novel Towelhead, when racism wasn't really her primary point, but anyways, throughout the novel she's called 'sand nigger', 'camel jokey' and of course, 'towelhead'
And while she's dealing with how those words affect her everyday and emotional life, no one notices when the big bad wolf next door comes huffing and puffing.

This story was so graphic and honest that it shocked me a little, but I realized that Erian painted a surprisingly accurate portrait of the rarely poetic transition into womanhood.

And you know, I guess you could say it was funny, more sad, but yes, it was entertaining reading about how Jasira's cheapass father tried helping his daughter smooth over her teen years with 1 dollar boxs of pads and the occasional 2 dollar razors.