This was a really disappointing book for me. I was bored and ended up DNFing it at the 30% mark
Not what I was expecting.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Loved the start of this book which reminded me a bit of American Dirt Howeve4 I wasn’t as keen on the story when it moved on to Billy. That is probably a bit unfair but Zari was a more interesting a character and by moving on to Billy I felt short changed.
Beautifully written with wonderful descriptions of life in Kashmir.

THis is a do what is says on the tin novel. It is exactly what you would expect and there is nothing wrong with that but it does lack that finesse of other writers.

Exceptionally beautiful, vivid and wonderfully written novel. I was totally enthralled into the world of Zari. The novel is very well written and I look forward to reading more from Kamal.

This literary novel examines the effect that "an isolated [violent] incident" has on a young girl from Kashmir and her consequent move to USA. It was not an easy read - very painful and emotional. Full of themes of loss, grief and cultural identity.

It is well written. Very thought provoking and disturbing in parts. But ultimately worth the read.

Thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author for sending me this ARC.

I really loved the first half of this book and Zari's story of heartbreak and trauma in Kashmir and her subsequent move to America because of what she has gone through. However, I felt like this book suffered from trying to follow Billy too much and I felt as the book went on Zari's story was overlooked. I wish the whole book had been about Zari and that more of the book had been set in Kashmir before she moves to America.

A heartbreaking and unforgettable story of loss, mourning, healing, and love.

The story plot begins in 1997, Kashmir, a region located on the northern borders of India and Pakistan and the southern border of China, and the subject to territorial conflict between Pakistan and India. The novel introduces two protagonists in their late adolescence, Zari, a girl from Kashmir, and Billy, from the USA.

Following an atrocious incident, Zari accepts an offer to stay in the USA with her distant relatives, the Nabis. Billy, the host families’ college-going son, born and brought up in the States by his Kashmiri father and Pakistani mother, has struggled with his ancestral identity. The consequence of his parents shielding Billy from details of his family history is part of a series of events that steers him towards an Afghanistan training camp, to train as a freedom fighter.

Although a fiction novel, the story was eye-opening and led me to explore the history and current political crisis in Kashmir. It is difficult to imagine living in an area where your people are losing their identity, and the surrounding violence leaves you petrified of who you may face when answering your front door. This storyline presented a considerable amount of sadness which was composed by the author with great sensitivity. This is the first fiction I have read about this area of the world and I loved the author’s intricate details in the traditional wear and cuisine that was ever-present within the storyline. The Kashmiri language was dotted throughout the story which added to the ambience. There is no need to seek out Google translator, as I have done in some other books. The author provides the English translation written within the sentence making it’s easy to comprehend.

Don’t skip over the author’s memoir, after the epilogue. It provides an interesting insight into the author’s family heritage and her own journey. I admired the celebration and care of elderly family members in the author’s story and her memoir, which can be very different in my own culture. A tearful read, discovering that writing about Kashmir was a promise to her grandfather, Abaji, in their last conversation before he died.

I thoroughly enjoyed Soniah's writing and I look forward to reading her other work, 'Rafeeq and the Half Child’ (a spin-off short story featuring Azra, the cleaning lady from this novel) and novel ‘Unmarriageable’. After reading countless books from bestselling women fiction authors over the last four months, I hope that Soniah’s beautiful and powerful writing gets the recognition it deserves!

I will end with one of my favourite excerpts from the novel, showcasing the author's imagination and creativity.

“She had guided the heavy scissors in his small fingers, and, together, they’d cut along the traced outlines of the paper dolls without so much as a second thought to the discarded silhouettes. But those silhouettes had been dolls in their own right, outlines of their former selves, shadow dolls that did not protest or resist at being trashed and so, as such, they behaved”.

Thank you @netgalley and @allisonandbusby for my gifted copy of the book in return for my honest review.

This book holds so much emotions that it will leave you speechless and overwhelmed. It’s kind of book which we need to discuss aloud and it’s strange that how quietly it’s existing in the world of books. If I haven’t found it on NetGalley, I would have been unaware of this underrated gem.

This book has two protagonist: Zari and Billy. Zari, who has been living with her family in Kashmir happily. She’s dreaming of her wedding and bright future unaware of what future is holding for her. Then, on an unfortunate day her entire world turned upside down and she has to pack her wrecked and leftover world to a suitcase which became her home. The plots explores Zari’s life which is being haunted by her past and tormented with the memories of her loved ones.
Billy, an eighteen years old boy who’s been lost somewhere in being Kashmiri-Pakistani-American and searching for his ancestral history, roots and identity. He’s sensitive and wants to bring change in the world. Instead, he gets trapped in a training camp when he all wanted to be a freedom fighter.

Most part of the story is set in America and it tries to highlight the struggle of people making balance between their own respective culture, religious values and American culture. The entire plot echoes continuously in the back of narrator’s voice to stop the war and make peace with what we have, instead of destroying lives and humanity.

The author has brilliantly penned down a sensitive issue with ease and without any biased opinions. It’s haunting and heartbreaking that how many lives are being destroyed because of politics, nationalism, separatism, terrorists/freedom fighters. It’s got complicated because nowadays it’s hard to differentiate between a freedom fighter and a terrorist. Author also highlights the issue of cultural stigma, sense of purity and impurity and hypocritical behavior towards a rape victim. Unfortunately, it exists regardless of religion, culture and country.

The plot is intense and complex and it’s not for someone who’s looking for light read. It depicts rape, murder, violence and self harm. But this is a must read to understand the struggles of people living in occupied Kashmir, whether it’s IOK (India occupied Kashmir) or POK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir). The people living these areas have gone through such atrocities which are beyond our imagination and I found this book as a fragment of those crushed dreams and lives.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange of honest review.

Excuse me if this is a terrible review, but quite honestly this novel has left me almost speechless for its brilliance. How can this wonderful novel have passed by so quietly when we should all be shouting from the rooftops?!
Zari is content in Kashmir with her family, friends and fiancé when tragedy strikes and she is sent to America to live with the Nabi family. Their eldest son Billy doesn’t know what he really wants to do other than make a positive change in the world, until Zari comes into his life and changes everything. What follows is a story of loss, faith and love that had me feeling so much I never wanted it to end.
This is one of the most beautifully written, vivid and emotive novels I have had the pleasure of reading, and I can only hope that it receives the attention it deserves - from now on, this will be the book that I compare all others to. An absolute must read - I cannot wait to read more by Kamal.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! An Isolated Incident is an absolutely underrated diamond and the first e-book I have read which I now feel the need to buy a hard copy for. Kamal presents by no means an 'easy' book to consume and I often found myself processing bite-sized portions of the story rather than deep-diving into chunks at once. The prose is beautiful and I've seen the general style and atmosphere compared to Khaled Hosseini (though I haven't read his work yet).

The story of Zari (and by extension the Nabi family) is by no means light and fluffy, with heavy trigger warnings for self harm, rape, child abuse, graphic violence, etc. but aptly depicts the power struggle for Kashmir and really helped enlighten me to many cultural and regional aspects I was unaware of. I was fully invested in the characters and their arcs and am surprised this book hasn't gained more traction for the tale it tells.

An Isolated Incident greatly weaves emotional resilience and a complete breakdown in this literary, romantic, and cultural story that revolves around two main characters who are deeply connected to this beautiful land of Kashmir, and consequently pulls sensitive, necessary, as well as unfortunate strings in their hearts. Flowering on the themes of pain, heartbreak, loss, grief, cultural identity, and pure love for those who are lost and for what lies ahead. Running through Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the United States, this read is not easy in any aspect but is needed if you wish to feel the beauty of a prose and the complexities, tears and hope alike, of being isolated—whether miles away or right there in the land you once called home.

Thanks to the publishers, and NetGalley, for providing me with a free eARC* of this book in exchange for my honest review.

*eARC: electronic Advance Review Copy.

TWs: rape, murder (of family), self-harm, violence, freedom fighters/terrorism.

An Isolated Incident by Soniah Kamal tells the story of Zari Zoon, a Muslim Kashmiri girl who loses her family in a terrible act of violence perpetrated by a group with unknown affiliation, and for reasons unknown. As such, from the start, this is a heavy book to read. Fortunately, I’m not one to shy away from books that address difficult topics, and I knew very little about Kashmir, so I was intrigued from the start. As the book goes on, the situation Kashmir is in becomes clearer, with Pakistan and India fighting over the territory, while a third faction fights for Kashmir’s independence. Zari, however, is left with nothing in her home nation, having lost her extended family, friend, and fiance in the same horrific incident. She ends up moving to America, having been offered a home by the Nabis, friends of Zari’s family, where much of the story takes place.

While a lot of this story takes place in America, Kashmir remains present throughout in many different ways. The scenes that take place in Kashmir build a great image of a war-torn country, juxtaposing family life with the violence and destruction caused by the struggle for power. The images of Kashmir are haunting and devastating. While this book is about Kashmir, the violence that occurs there in the fight for control over the region is certainly not unique, and knowing these things have happened, and continue to happen across the world filled me with horror. Kamal builds an incredibly powerful image of Kashmir, one that I am sure will stay with me for a long time.

While this book is unable to offer any hope or redemption for Kashmir in an ongoing power struggle, there is hope and redemption to be found for individuals. Zari and Billy (the son of the Nabis), the central characters, both experience severe trauma throughout the course of the book. The depiction of mental health issues in this book was really sensitively dealt with, and it also addressed the cultural stigma that came along with these issues for the characters. The culture around shame and purity came into play a lot in this novel due to the trauma Zari goes through, and I loved that the younger generation were really fighting against these stigmas, and the older generation were also able to move past the stigmas and accept Zari. The conflict the older generation had around this was really interesting to me. While they take Zari in, and treat her kindly and appear to reserve judgement, they are shown to have internalised stigmas attached to rape victims. This internalisation is something that crops up throughout the novel, and is something that the characters work towards overcoming.

The characters in this book were really complex, well-written characters. Even the supporting characters feel really well drawn out, and there’s a lot of character development (and even a nice bit of character regression!) throughout the book that kept me on my toes. Zari, as the protagonist did really stand out, as did Billy, but Billy’s sister Salsabil also really stood out to me, as did Fahad and Billy’s aunt Babara. Even the least likeable of characters were still captivating. The stories and secrets that gradually unravel throughout the book, family secrets kept hidden away adds to the complexity of the narrative and makes for some amazing character development.

Yet another thing I really enjoyed about An Isolated Incident was the pacing. Given the length, I wouldn’t have been surprised to have felt that it dragged on a bit, but due to the complexity of the novel, the backstories, side plots, and flashbacks, the pacing stayed right on track, keeping me engaged through the entire book. The story deviates slightly from Zari in the second half and, while I love Zari’s character, I think this introduction of a second, parallel narrative was exactly what the story needed to keep it fresh and engaging, and it also offered a very unique perspective and narrative.

Finally, a quick word on the writing style, which I really enjoyed. Kamal doesn’t shy away from including Kashmiri words and phrases scattered throughout the book, though they are always incorporated in a way that makes the meaning clear, which is something I love to see in books. There’s also an essay in the back of the book that I highly recommend reading and not skipping over if you pick up this book. Kamal is clearly a very talented fiction and nonfiction writer, and she is definitely an author I would pick up again. The essay focuses on her own family history, showing where certain elements of the text came from the experiences and lives of her family.

Overall, this was a great read. If you’re looking for light, fluffy books then this definitely isn’t for you, but if you want to learn more about Kashmir and Muslim culture, definitely pick this book up.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review also posted on NetGalley, GoodReads and The StoryGraph.

The beginning of the book was so good! I loved learning about Zari's family and life, both before and after the Isolated Incident. She is an empathetic character and one I felt invested in. However, the story then splits a bit and the POV shifts to Billy, who I was not interested in. He was somewhat one-dimensional and the epitome of entitled male, despite his sensitivity. Much of his inner dialogue is in the form of questions.

The book was too long, not only because of the Billy plot but also because of long stories told by minor characters about people related to them. I really started to lose interest. However, the end ties everything together nicely and is satisfying.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.