I am grateful to the publisher for the ARC of this. I hate to leave a negative review, but I felt this was all very cliched and one note. It was hyped so much, and fell flat for me.

I struggle to write a review of this book, mostly because I have never read anything like this before. To write a book about a subject so contentious and at the same time to make it relatable, funny and important, is a major feat. It helps that the author, Nussaibah Younis, is herself an expert on contemporary Iraq and was involved in creating a deradicalization program for ISIS brides. And that she is very funny (as attested by the event I took part in).
Nadia, the main protagonist in the novel, leaves her secure academic job for a post with the UN, running such a programme. Her decision is not really thought through – she is on her own, having been dumped by her long-time girlfriend and she has a difficult relationship with her mother. She is also very naïve, thinking that her work will bring meaningful change, without having to deal with bureaucracy, disinterest and sometimes also hostility from her colleagues, the organisations and the locals. When she meets Sara, who joined ISIS at fifteen, she becomes invested in getting her back home, and her efforts threaten to endanger her work.
In Nadia and Sara the author presents two characters who on the surface have a lot in common. They are opinionated and rude, they banter and exchange jokes, but as Nadia comes to learn more about her younger protegee, she finds the differences that make her question her own judgment and her actions. “Fundamentally” is a book about religion as well as nuances of faith and beliefs, about personal connections and differences of opinion, about what is actually good and how many versions of the “good” exist. It is not a book that offers the reader a solution to radicalisation or helps to form an opinion on the subject. To me, it is a book that opens a discussion and allows the reader to interrogate their own thoughts and prejudices without being preachy or judgemental. This is partially due to the amount of humour in the book – I simply did not realise that you can write about ISIS brides in any other way than sombre and sincere. But it is the humour that helps with making the subject accessible and helps to understand the characters in the book. And although I do not think that “Fundamentally” is the solution to the problem of talking about difficult subjects, it is certainly a step in the right direction.

I didn't enjoy it mostly because I think the story was not something that really resonated for me. However! I'm excited she made the Women's Prize short list!

The lovely, smug feeling you get when you read something *before* it was longlist for a prize. Fundamentally is a cracking debut from Nussaibah Younis which has just been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. It is about an academic, Nadia, is nursing a broken heart when an opportunity to work for the UN arises in Iraq rehabilitating ISIS women. At the camp she meets Sara, an East Londoner who joined ISIS at 15. Sara is so lippy and full of bravado, but really misses her family a lot.

Fundamentally explores friendship, religion, love and is really funny. Anyone who has ever worked in bureaucracy will recognise the dynamics of the UN departments, agencies and collaborators. Anyone who has ever dated will recognise the fuckboy-ery of romantic entanglements. I think this would be a great pick for book clubs too - a bit of humour, a bit of romance, an interesting story and loads of themes to unpack.

DNF'd @ 68%. Interesting topic, but Nadia's voice read so millennial, the jokes just fell flat which made the book, honestly, feel a bit cringey. I did enjoy the scenes where she was conflicting with her mother, those scenes felt real and realistic but when you get to her scenes in Iraq, suddenly everything just feels like a caricature.

I was really interested in reading this story because it sounded fascinating and was also not something I would usually be drawn to. I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t understand some of the material, religious beliefs, UN etc but I needed have worried.

This was an extremely readable story, written with wit, insight and a great deal
of emotional intelligence. Nadia is a flawed but likeable character, whose deradicalisation programme goes from theory to practice as she takes up a posting with the UN in Baghdad to work with Jihadi brides in a containment camp.

She’s thrown in at the deep end, with a team who don’t really want to work on her programme and boss who can barely spare her the time to explain how things work.

Once she finds her allies, she manages to get into the camp and start her programme. Then she meets Sara, a young woman from London, who travelled with a friend to join ISIS.

It’s a heartbreaking story of how a need to be heard, to belong, to have a purpose, can lead to the most horrific of situations.

This is a fascinating story, full of wit and heart, with people, not politics, at its heart.

Nadia’s a great character and her own journey is just as important as Sara’s.

Read it, I bet you’ll love it.

A brilliantly original and funny novel which made me feel empathy, compassion as well as anger and rage.

A story of faith, justice, friendship and family.

I enjoyed the FMC Nadia, a new employee of the UN who takes a job in Iraq, tasked with deradicalising ISIS brides.

Recently dumped by her girlfriend Rosy and estranged from her mother, Nadia navigates the complexities of her new role, new colleagues, unhelpful governmental departments and leaders.

Whilst at a camp, Nadia meets Sara, a direct and sweary Londoner who joined ISIS at a young age. An intense and wild friendship ensues.

This story was refreshing, hilarious at times with some cracking one-liners. It was told with heart, compassion and was very touching.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this arc.

n Younis' brave debut (she's an international expert on what she novelises here), we meet Nadia, fresh out of a relationship with the manipulative and overbearing Rosy, who has run off to Iraq to work for the UN on a project to rehabilitate and repatriate "ISIS brides". Full of the feeling that if she'd gone on a Koran school week just a year later, she might have had the same inclination and entering into a rebound situationship with the cartoonish security boss, Tom, she becomes too close to camp-dweller Sara, but who wouldn't: a cheeky East Londoner who's lost touch with her small daughter, she offers humour and pathos and maybe a chance for Nadia to atone for the broken relationship with her own mother. This book is very irreverent and laugh-out-loud funny about the work of expats for the UN, always seeming to produce unforeseen results that are the polar opposite of what they intend, and Nadia is a frankly bratty and immature heroine, and this is funny and effective, however the gear change when things become serious and they need to get out of Iraq doesn't quite work, which is a shame as it's a very engaging and enjoyable read. Mum comes through when it really matters (hooray, frankly) and Nadia does some growing up; her more objectionable colleague becomes seen as more human and things come out as you would wish, with Nadia's assumptions, especially about Sara, being nicely punctured.

Blog review published 5 March http://www.librofulltime.wordpress.com

Fundamentally explores a complex situation of terrorism, religion, and deradicalisation through dark humour of an academic working with the UN in Iraq.

I really don't know enough about Islam to understand if the rep is authentic, but I believe that the authors (Younis) background is working on the very subject of deradicalisation in Iraq so I felt in good hands.

At the heart of the book was the women and their stories, which were heartbreaking and frustrating. I felt Younis handled this with care and a thought provoking narrative.

Alongside a really amusing look at the UN, comparing the earnest new employees against the more jaded seasoned employees with both groups trying to navigate the exhausting red tape and politics of the organisation.

A really solid debut novel.

It's funny how the book you expect to be the most serious turns out to be incredibly entertaining. For all her academic work Nussaibah Younis has turned out an extremely amusing and thoughtful piece of fiction.

Fundamentally follows Nadia, newly employed by the UN during a sabbatical, to set up a new group that will (hopefully) deradicalise ISIS brides. Nadia travels to Iraq where she meets Sara, a young woman separated from the babe she had with one of her ISIS fighter husbands. Something about the young woman calls to Nadia and she sets out to help her get her child back and get free of ISIS.

There are some very funny moments in this book, not least of which deal with the bureaucracy set up to deal with refugees. Nadia and her colleagues have very different styles of "help" including employing a hippy Sheikh from California to help rehabilitate the women.

Both Sara and Nadia are very engaging characters. The story of their flight from the camp and to safety is (obviously) far from reality but the story is about so much more than the mechanics.

This story is more about belief, faith, love and family. It is about how we navigate the world through our beliefs and how important family is in the end.

Loved it. Highly recommended.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for the advance review copy. Most appreciated.

To write about politically sensitive and controversial subjects is courageous and I'm sure the author has been met with critical voices. The main character, Nadia, renounced her Muslim faith and she is bolshy and outspoken. For daring to make her own mind up she is disowned by her mother, and as a result of this rejection she accepts being treated badly in her romantic relationship.

Having been abandoned by her lover she applies for and is accepted by the UN to work with former ISIS brides held at a camp in Iraq. To say Nadia was naive would perhaps be an understatement, but it's a steep learning curve. The ridiculous red tape and immoral waste of resources, infuriates her. The helplessness of wanting to help but being unable to do so takes a massive toll on her own wellbeing. When she meets a young woman, Sara, she is reminded of her younger self and she forms a strong bond that sees her breaking laws and protocol to help this young women when she's been abandoned by her family and her country.

This book calls out the hypocrisy of governments who discard young and vulnerable women for mistakes they made after being groomed and abused by the men they initially trusted.

I cannot put into words how moving I found this book. Initiatives put into place to help displaced people only help if those working on the ground have good intentions and immense bravery. It asks important questions and gives nuanced answers, something the world so sorely lacks.

As well as being an important story, it is also brilliantly written, laugh out loud funny at times and most importantly of all perhaps, it ends with hope. Something we all need to hold on to.

A comedy about radicalisation? This shouldn't work but it is testimony to the author's talent that it does!

I am not this demographic and usually shy away from risque stories but am I glad I stayed with this one, laugh out loud and yet at no time did it feel contrived. What a discovery - 5 stars and deserves a wide readership

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

Witty and darkly funny, this book had a range of entertaining characters and dealt with themes that are not usually portrayed in books.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

This was not one of my favourite reads. Very interesting topic and very informative but lightened and interspersed with humour. There were many side characters within the book who were important to the structure of the story but I was only really gripped by the stories of Nadia & Sara.

As I said I didn’t love it but I’m sure others would

Well written, engrossing and thought provoking. A story that kept me reading and thinking.
Loved the storytelling
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Not my cup of tea unfortunately. I'm probably in the wrong age demographic. It sounded good in the blurb, but the blurb did not really reflect the book.

"It's not like I was expecting Stalingrad, but Baghdad took the piss".

"Was this fucking Midnight In Paris? I'd signed up for cluster munitions, not glitter bombs".

"Armies of macho men strapped into bondage-style suicide vests, marching towards a heaven full of virgin pussy".

The premise is really interesting and original - a South Asian Londoner takes a sabbatical from her job teaching criminology to work for the UN in Iraq and run a programme aimed at deradicalising ISIS brides, amongst whom Sara, who left East London as a teenager to travel to Syria and marry a jihadist. There's a lot that's incredibly similar to famous cases that have appeared in the news over the past few years, and it's an interesting topic and issue, but I couldn't get past the writing, the Bridget Jones tone, the constant millennial jokes... The secondary characters aren't great either and I thought they lacked depth. I found it really jarring at times and I enjoyed the book less than I thought I would, despite a really clever twist towards the end.

Free ARC sent by Netgalley.

🧕🏽 REVIEW 🧕🏽

Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
Publishing Date: 25th February 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

📝 - When Dr. Nadia Amin, a long-suffering academic, publishes an article on the possibility of rehabilitating ISIS brides, the United Nations comes calling, offering an opportunity to lead a deradicalization program for the ISIS-affiliated women held in Iraqi refugee camps. In Iraq, Nadia quickly realizes she’s in over her head. Frustrated by her situation and the unrelenting heat, Nadia decides to visit the camp with her sullen team, and meets Sara, one of the younger refugees, whose accent immediately gives her away as a fellow East Londoner. From their first interaction, Nadia feels inexplicably drawn to the rude girl in the diamanté headscarf. She leaves the camp determined to get Sara home. But the system Nadia finds herself trapped in is a quagmire of inaction and corruption. One accomplishment barely makes a dent in Nadia’s ultimate goal of freeing Sara . . . and the other women, too, of course. And so, Nadia makes an impossible decision leading to ramifications she could have never imagined.

💭 - I had really high hopes for this one, I thought the premise was quite unique and interesting, and hoped that I would learn a lot. Unfortunately, the very casual writing style made everything seem quite superficial, and so I struggled to really connect with the characters, especially as they were all quite thoroughly unlikeable… While I can appreciate the book for what it was trying to do, and I know that the author has a lot of experience in the topic, I just don’t think this book does enough to really provoke readers to think more deeply about the situation of women in Iraq due to its overly casual nature.

#fundamentally #nussaibahyounis #netgalley #bookreview #netgalleyreview #orionbooks #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookreviewer

Unfortunately I only managed to get through 50% of the book.

The premise of the book sounded interesting and a subject matter I’m less familiar with, that I thought it time to educate myself and read something from a different perspective. Younis’ own experience on the subject is also what gravitated me towards this book.

However, the tone and the language of the book was not something I was expecting. I expected more seriousness, drama and just…more.

I didn’t realise it would be mainly satire, an aspect of the book I think really flew right over my head.

This book should not have worked, and it is a huge credit to the author that it is so brilliant!

A comedy about radicalised women? Featuring critiques on white feminism and the bureaucracy of aid work? Full of satire and observational humour about global politics, while also taking an introspective look on what it means to grow up Muslim in Islamophobic Britain? It shouldn’t have worked.

But it did! Younis expertly weaves together all these different ideas and themes, and the end result is tight, punchy and approachable. Nadia is such a brilliant narrator, and her inner thoughts make for many of the funniest moments. Her passion and cynical optimism shine through, while still leaving plenty of room for her to be messy and make poor decisions.

All of the surrounding characters are so vividly imagined, from the idealistic Sherri to the sleazy Charles, and they really reflect and caricature people we all know in real life. The star of course is Sara, who instantly connects with Nadia and sets in motion the dramatic events of the rest of the book.

I love that moment in a book when you have a realisation at the same time – or just before – the main character, and I really felt that towards the end. I was so in it, so swayed by Nadia’s convictions, that I too saw what she saw and nothing else, even though it was all laid out for me. It set the scene for a thrilling and ultimately satisfying conclusion.

This book approaches so many complex topics, and rather than offering solutions, starts the conversations with insight, humour and just the right amount of cynicism. I cannot recommend it highly enough, I thought it was absolutely brilliant and a masterful novel.

I received a free copy for an honest review.