The Bookish Mindset

Overview:

Title: Fundamentally
Author: Nussaibah Younis
Published: February 2025
Genre: Literary
Themes: Identity, Religion, Humour

One sentence summary: An eclectic team attempt a deradicalisation of ISIS brides, this is filled with love, humanity and plenty of humour.

One sentence review: The hype around this book was absolutely well deserved, everyone needs to read this.

Review:

After publishing an academic paper on the deradicalisation of ISIS brides, Nadia is drawn into the chaotic world of the UN and their rehabilitation plans.

Her less than enthused team isn’t always as helpful as she needs but she’s determined to do right by her plans.

There was plenty to love about this book. It was delivered with laugh out loud humour (think Bridget Jones Diary) and such a great amount of humility. Nadia is far from perfect. She’s messy, slightly chaotic but you can’t deny her passion.

Her interactions and later friendship with Sara was endearing to watch. Their bond was brilliant and I was absolutely rooting for them. The rest of the side characters were brilliantly crafted too. Some utterly useless, some incredible humorous and some very kind souls too. I listened to this on audio and it was an absolute delight.

This was entertaining from start to finish and I can see why people love it. The pacing slowed a little for me at a few points but picked up again to finish.

I am a fan and I am absolutely recommending this book. Have you read this yet?

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And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 04/07/2025