4.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Footnote Press for the ARC! This was one of the most anticipated books I wanted to read this year!

Yasmin Zaher's debut novel, The Coin, might be one of the best books I've read so far. It follows a Palestinian woman living in New York, grappling with the loss of land, home, and family. This woman invites the reader into her innermost secrets about her life and consciousness. It's as if she is directly addressing the reader, as we listen to her slowly make bad choices over and over again. It was an entertaining and a weird book, a good weird book.

First of all I found this book difficult to get to grips with but carried on. The story is about a Palestinian woman who is helped to get to New York. She is a teacher and not a conventional one as she encourages her students to have “free lessons” where they study outside the cirriculum set by the school. She is also a clean freak and has a set routine to wash away the dirt which she feels is all round and within her. As I said above I continued to read this book but I find it difficult to critique it. Not really my thing - I think I need to leave it alone for a few months and try again.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC. This may very well be the best book I'll read this year. I thought it was INCREDIBLE. I rarely read debuts, but made an exception for this one due to the Zizek blurb. I thought this was so incredibly impressive - the voice, the storytelling, the themes, the strangeness. I would 100% teach this to students; there's so many fascinating things to analyse here. I hope this gets huge on TikTok!

Yasmin Zaher's debut novel, The Coin, tells the story of a Palestinian woman living in New York. She has some unusual fixations, which create a very distinct person on the page. How much you love this novel will depend upon how happy you are being shown a person, warts and all, on the page. Zaher does not hide anything from us in her exploration of this soul.

The writing was at times electric, and I read through this in one sitting. It is a superb debut, and marks Zaher out as a name to watch. I am certainly very keen to see what she does next.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

This is not a novel about a person unravelling - she has unravelled long before we meet her on the first page, it just gets worse throughout the book. I wasn't quite able to fully submerge myself into The Coin. The title refers to a coin that is barely touched upon in the story and while there is a partial storyline about travelling to Paris to perpetuate luxury goods fraud, I didn't feel the book really went anywhere. Not quite for me unfortunately!

The Coin by Yasmin Zaher is a very strange book about the psychological disintegration of a young Palestinian woman trying to fit into her new life as a teacher in America. With a touch of "Miss Jean Brodie" she has some very non-conformist teaching methods that often don't result in desirable outcomes for her class of underprivileged boys. Already totally obsessed with hygiene she descends into a very dark place and the whole thing gets quite surreal.
I'm not sure I fully understood what this was about,my best guess is that it's partly an allegory for the experiences of Palestinians, without spoiling the most bizarre part of the plot the Narrators memories of confiscations,refugees and land grabs form the background of the tale. There's also a sub-plot involving designer handbags that I didn't see the point of.
A fascinating but confusing book,very well-written but very odd in places and I finished it wondering quite what it was all about.

The plot and the writing style of this truly blew me away. It is really rare to find a voice that is so unique. The narration really invites the reader into the very inner life of the protagonist as she makes some fascinating choices. The ending could have felt jarring and out of character but the fact that readers had developed a strong and intimate bond whereby every thought is shared meant that the final section made complete sense. I really enjoyed this!

This was a wild ride! The entire novel reads like a steady stream of consciousness from the main character, who is also an unreliable narrator, adding to the dream like feeling of this book. She made deplorable choices sometimes, and was motivated seemingly by her own pleasure and happiness. I couldn’t put the book down, despite nothing really happening. I found certain parts boring and skimmed certain chapters, but overall this was an entertaining and weird read.

Refreshing, engrossing and very unnerving read. I thoroughly enjoyed the style of writing. Main character annoyed me a tad, but not to the point I would give up. Definitely recommend!

An interesting and unnerving novel, and overall I really enjoyed it. It was an engaging exploration of the inner workings of our protagonist's mind and I really enjoyed the author's writing style. We are privy to a poignant and disturbing account of our main character's unravelling amidst consideration of a variety of pertinent themes and I found myself gripped. I would definitely recommend, particularly for fans of Mona Awad.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book will no doubt prove to be one of the most relevant poignant books of its time. It depicts the unravelling of a young Palestinian teacher in New York. Having left her home she seeks to find herself in a country where the women in her family have all failed. She is immediately torn between enlightening the boys in her 8th grade class or teaching the curriculum. There is a sense of unease as you are constantly on edge as to how far she will take it. The boys are from broken backgrounds, trying to navigate their own young lives.. Can they really understand the struggles of foreign war.
There are some wonderful if not disturbing recounts of her childhood and of land and homes being confiscated and given to Israeli settlers. We are told of the subsequent psychological breakdowns of those removed.
Zaher juxtaposes this with a sub plot whereby the narrator, who has a trust fund, embarks of a pyramid scheme involving luxury bags. Her partner is a homosexual man who is unable to fulfil her needs. A relationship which sees her further alienated and alone.
Her views towards those around her become ever existential until her sense of nothingness but nature becomes synonymous with her ability to function. albeit barely.
This book reminded me very much of Camus "The Stranger" and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thank you to Rachel Quin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

3.5

I think it’s been a while since I’ve read a book like The Coin. It was interesting, fresh and odd. I enjoyed the writing style and totally binged it. I found the main character totally unlikeable. It’s definitely a strange one but there are a couple of little niggles that did irritate me. Overall, definitely an enjoyable engrossing read!

Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for the eARC!

I loved this book because it was different, completely different to anything that I had read before.
I am not going to say that I understood everything that the book was saying, but then again when do we ever understand anybody else completely.
I read the book within 24 hours of getting it, not quite in one sitting but almost.
The book is essentially about the triumphs, trials and tribulations of a young adult female who is of Palestinian heritage, living as a teacher in New York.
She has various hang-ups and lots of weird ideas (but who doesn't) and would appear to be searching for the meaning of life (who hasn't) and finds her truth her way.
The book was one of those rare books, for me anyway, that it is difficult to stop reading because of wanting to find what happens next.
If you like books that investigate the inner workings of a mind then this book is for you. Enjoy!
May thanks to the author for a stimulating, interesting read.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.