Book Club - Michael Mohammed Ahmad's The Other Half of You

The Other Half of You is situated firmly within Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s body of work. Beginning with The Tribe and following through The Lebs we discover unfolding the story of Bani Adam. Bani is a young Lebanese Australian man. He is an Alawite Muslim; a member of a family, a tribe, but also a young man trying to figure out where he belongs in a contradictory society that does not seem to make room for men like him The Other Half of You is a continuation of this quest for identity both as an individual and within his family and his religion. It’s also a beautiful love letter written by a man to his young son. The story opens with a kind of invocation. Bani tells his son Khalil “You brought me here, now let me take you back” and so begins a story at times serious, at times hilarious, moving through Bani’s exploration of the world where he lives. A place situated in time; young Lebanese men felt the stigma of being branded rapists following the conviction of the Skaf brothers in the early 2000’s. A place defined by family; working to respect, to honour, to please those who raised him and the extended clan who would forever be his life. And A place scarred by politics, as Muslims were victimised in the wake of the September 11 attacks in America and closer to home in the riots unleashed by white supremacists at Cronulla. The Other Half of You describes Bani’s attempts to reconcile his life, his love, his education in the search for someone he can spend his life with. The book is immediately fascinating for its dialogue between BAni and his young son. It’s easy to forget as we progress that this open, honest and candid narrative is a confession and design for life from father to son. I don’t want to overlook this. Because we live in a world where men talk to men in terms, harsh and combative. To be a man is to be defined more by violence than love. The Other Half of You opens up the history of an individual. It’s a history, as I’ve mentioned, Mohammed carefully chronicles in his writing, and he welcomes a new generation to this story. Opening up this book I found parts of Sydney that I no longer get to visit. Areas in lockdown and areas that too often are only part of the food tourist trail for other suburbs. In his story Bani covers these grounds in an epic love story and an honest desire to communicate how that love came to be. I’ve found myself gravitating to incredible contemporary stories of Sydney lately. Partly because I’m now part of ‘Greater Sydney’ living in the Blue Mountains. And partly because whatever your relationship to the streets of this city we are now separated in reality where we were previously separated by apathy. If you want to travel and find love though, check out Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s The OTher HAlf of You I’m a big fan of Michael Mohammed Ahmad’s writing; both for his eloquent prose, his biting sense of humour and his sense that we as a city and as a country are not hearing the stories of so many people. If you want to hear more of Michael Mohammed Ahmad he and I have had many a conversation on the Final Draft podcast. Wherever you listen in... Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week from 2ser. https://2ser.com/final-draft