Her community has deep roots, but is not so old that there aren’t a few Italian and Greek families that haven’t left her neighborhood yet. Razia lives in Queens, a freshly Pakistani neighborhood surrounded by neighbors from the motherland she doesn’t remember, but still entrenched in the traditions. Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion follows a Pakistani Muslim girl reckoning with her lesbian identity. It is not an umbrella-term queer story it is a lesbian story. What I would like to discuss in this Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion book review, is that Bushra Rehman did not make a broad appeal story. Sharing an exact experience or a precise identity makes a person feel seen in a way that nothing else can, and there is a special kind of magic in that level of understanding. In our quest to create a world that fits every person, we can sometimes make things too broad, and forget that nuance brings people together. Queer is a wonderful word that we have worked hard to reclaim, but it is not the right word for every story or person or idea, because, to an extent, it lacks specificity. In this fashion, queer can encompass those who are subversive in any number of ways being Black is queer, being a woman is queer, being fat is queer, being disabled is queer. Queer is also a political identity that describes anyone fighting for the liberation of themselves and others in marginalized groups. Queer is an umbrella term because it leaves room for fluidity when claiming your identity. The term queer has had a long and colorful history it has been an old english word meaning odd, used by writers like Tolkein and Austen it was a slur levied against men perceived as feminine or known to be gay beginning with the trial of Oscar Wilde in 1894 and lasting until only a few years ago now, queer has come to encompass many beautiful and subversive parts of life. In our Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion book review, we discuss what is so special about specificity in queer stories, especially as it pertains to the lesbian experience.
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