A supposedly rich Palestinian woman moves to New York and takes up a teaching job. With extreme obsession of cleanliness. That's all I could tell you and I'm quite embarrassed to admit. I skipped most parts of the book because some made me uncomfortable and others just kept me caged in confusion; perhaps it was because of the writing. And I may have just come into realization that weird girl books do not exactly fit my liking upon coming across this one.

Though it doesn't work for me (and I'm saddened by this revelation), I think other people will find this enjoyable. So don't let this discourage you from picking up the book.

Thanks Footnote Press for the opportunity given to me reading the ARC.

Having read the summary I was expecting a book about a Palestinian woman, reasonably well off, who comes to New York in order to thrive. She works as a teacher at an academy but whether through a desire for the unconventional or laziness (I honestly couldn't tell) she teaches the boys to think for themselves and be as unconventional as she thinks she is.

I'll be honest, as the progressed it gave me a headache and the final third (for me) was somewhat incomprehensible. I didn't know if everything was an allegory or metaphor or not.

I enjoy a novel that pushes the boundaries but I was never entirely clear what The Coin was trying to tell me. The title of the book is the object to whom the author addresses her thoughts and I'm afraid I didn't even understand the significance of the coin.

Not for me I'm sorry to say. Perhaps my lack of intellect as regards metaphorical/allegorical writing let me down. Or else I was reading too much into it and didn't understand a word.

Thanks to Netgalley and Footnote Press for the pre-approved advance review copy.

Oh I absolutely love a book that descends into madness and The Coin does not disappoint!

A wealthy young Palestinian woman decides to take a teaching job in New York to try and make it feel like home. Despite being from a rich family her inheritance is locked away by her brother so she makes do with a capsule wardrobe of beautiful clothes. Her approach to teaching is rather... unorthodox and she feels a desperate need to know more about her students.

When a new man enters her life she finds herself involved in a Birkin reselling scheme. America is getting her down and she's mostly looking for anything that will change up her life. The fact that he regards her as well dressed is a major factor in her participation truth be told.

This book is such an engrossing character study of this woman, she is not exactly likeable but she is compelling. The way she choses to conduct her relationships is fascinating and unpredictable. Her innate longing for her homeland manifests in increasingly manic ways and makes for such an original final act.

I cannot believe this is a debut! A book I think all the coolest people will (and should!) be reading this summer.

hear me out: i love anything weird in stories, whether it’s in horror or literary fiction. i’m all for it. i’m also starting to enjoy the “no plot, just vibes” approach, as long as the writing is great.

but this book was weird and messy, and you don’t know where it’s going since it has no plot. our main character is introduced at her worst, and by the end, she’s in an even worse state. at times, the author uses second-person pov (which i loved, btw), making it feel as though the main character is addressing me directly. there’s a lot of stream-of-consciousness writing and societal critiques that i agree with, which made me realize some things even further.

our fmc has an obsession with cleanliness. we often see her shaving and scrubbing her body, but she can’t seem to clean a part of herself, which frustrates her. i think this also mirrors her place in society. as an immigrant in america, she does a lot of pretending and still feels dirty or ashamed of who she is. this likely highlights her experience as a palestinian, feeling out of place in a country her own people oppose.

the short chapters, ranging from 1-2 pages, didn’t work for me as they slowed me down. my attention would often break when we shifted to another chapter so quickly. it’s so random and directionless that i don’t know how to summarize it. the synopsis on goodreads only covers a tiny part of the story, and her involvement in a money scheme is just a small portion of it.

i don’t really get what the author was trying to impart here, but she gave me a strange reading experience; i’ll give her that.

thank you to the bonnierbooks & footnotepress for this e-arc!

A young Palestinian woman moves to New York to work as a teacher and slowly starts to unravel, revealing how fragile and threadbare her veneer of sophistication, wealth, and accomplishment is. We don't learn or know much about the protagonist, but struggle, with her, through the tribulations of her personal life, her work, and her personal history as she tries to make sense of herself and her surroundings, in an increasingly complex environment.

The book is overall well written and the author clearly is quite a talented storyteller. I read the book more or less in one go, and it flowed nicely (though I'm still not sure what was really flowing, but more about this later). That being said, I didn't like the book much. It felt, to me, to be part of the increasingly popular canon of gen-Z angst literature. The book is a modernist novel about nothing really - the protagonist is depressed, likely has OCD, and is somewhat manic depressive. She finds no meaning in life (perhaps things are a bit too easy?) and starts to look for ways to make her life have more meaning through inflicting pain upon herself. There is something of a tortured soul narrative in this book, with a protagonist that can't find joy. She is a good person, but lost to herself and society. The fact that she's Palestinian is a nice tidbit, but she could easily have been Tibetan or Sudanese, and the story wouldn't have changed one bit. This latter point is a shame - it could have added that extra layer of meaning this story lacked.

I can't really say there is anything wrong with this book, and I'm sure it will resonate with some people who also experience this sense of loss and dejection, but I felt this novel to be incredibly Western in its premise, style, and substance. The emotional instability of a pampered young woman wearing Hermes and Miu Miu is almost an affront to everyone who actually has issues. Perhaps I'm missing the part of the book that is supposed to be the undercurrent of criticism of such states of mind, but, if I am, it is incredibly well hidden.

Overall - I'll recommend missing it. If you're a part of Gen Z who struggles with belonging, emotional stability, and happiness - this book will make all your issues graver. If you're born before 1995 - you'll find this book either amusing or infuriating. Either way, there is nothing here that will stay with you, because it's not in any way unique.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This is a curious read, to say the least.
Our narrator is generous in offering us her inner workings. We do not know when and if we shall trust her narration and the narration switches between different memories, time periods and moods.
It is a finely written novel for a debut. It is a quick read and the chapters are concise.
There were several elements such as the bizarre ways the protagonist thinks and acts, and how these were described, but overall, I would have enjoyed this more if it offered more in-depth descriptions, more detailed insights into the protagonist’s psyche and a more fleshed out plot and characterisation.

THE COIN is an unflinching point of view through the eyes of a woman who is obsessed with being clean, though there are many other areas of her life where she chooses not to play by the rules. We follow an eclectic series of events through her life in New York as a Palestinian immigrant, teaching boys at a Brooklyn school and exploring relationships with other people, some closer than others. It's odd at times but never not interesting, and the clarity of thought of our protagonist, and her searing honesty, will have you thinking about her even when you've put the book down.

This is one of the strangest books I've read in a long time. I keep thinking that maybe that is the point. The protagonist just aimlessly wanders through life, never takes anything seriously, never tries to really connect to anyone and has more money than is good for her. She is disconnected from everything and possibly her background has something to do with it, as it could be a kind of an allegory for the wandering stateless Palestinians. But it doesn't make sense. Are there even people like that? People to whom nothing matters, yet they become obsessed with luxury, their body and cleanliness. I probably missed the point of the novel, maybe i am just not smart enough. It is well written but I found the main character put me off. There are many people who went to trauma worse than this and have no money and yet they manage to build a life for themselves, become good teachers without Birkin Bags and trust funds. I finished it, enjoyed the language, not the story.

Told in vignettes that flit between the past and present, we witness an unnamed narrator’s gradual but inevitable spiral into a mental breakdown. She doesn’t quite fit into any neat categories, perhaps a manifestation of her statelessness. Her body is a site of privilege but also of elided trauma, and it is this constant returning to her body (its appearance, dressing, functions, flaws) that neither we nor she can escape.

The narrator is a Palestinian young woman who lives and works in NYC. She seems unaffected by her homeland. She’s orphaned but it was due to a banal car accident. Her childhood friend was a Jewish girl whose grandparents occupied someone’s home during the Nakba and they played together. Her parents left her a lot of money and her brother sends her a hefty monthly allowance, which she spends on a fully designer wardrobe and whatever she fancies. Additionally, she is white-passing, desirable, and worldly. She’s really got a lot going for her, that is, on paper.

She tries to live the American dream. She thinks she can make it, but it soon becomes a battle within herself. She believes that she swallowed a coin in childhood and it has never left her body, hiding inaccessibly between her shoulder blades and tormenting her. No prizes for guessing what the coin symbolises. To cope, she becomes fixated on cleaning and develops the wackiest rituals for her apartment, workplace, and her own skin. She lets herself get caught up in others’ desires. In the end, she completely loses it for a bit, but pulls herself back together. What a mood.

I loved this book. The approved request came in at the perfect time as I have been wanting to read works by Palestinian authors. The story's protagonist is a Palestinian woman who moves to New York and through association ends up sourcing luxury Hermes Birkin bags in a con scheme alongside "Trenchcoat." She ultimately plays the role of a glamorous woman, enamoured by the fashion of European cities; when really she is deeply entangled in her feelings of grief from all she has seen and experienced. However, by the end of the story, she neglects this alongside the rest of civilisation and locks herself in her apartment; literally turning her back on the world. In doing so, she rejects expectation and America as a place, and reconnects with herself, her body and her past.
An exploration of female sexuality, identity and longing through notions of the uncanny and weird; stunningly captured in the narrator's explicit undoing.
I found the focus on the Western worlds desire for luxury, material items whilst other areas of the world is in disarray incredibly pertinent, especially in today's global climate.


(A BIG shiny 5 star read)

This book is no plot, just vibes. We follow the narrator, a wealthy Palestinian woman living in The States, who is struggling to find her place in the world, chasing cleanliness in a world that has taught her she is filth, obsession to fill the void, aiming for the unattainable. She's already unraveling and getting more unhinged by the page, so it's a trip reading this book.

People who loved My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Temporary and The Pisces will enjoy this weird little book, with some hints of the cleaning routine and obsession with high fashion of American Psycho.

I'm sad to say it didn't work for me personally - the stream of consciousness-style of writing made it difficult for me to follow the direction the book was going in. Perhaps it'll work better for me a second time around!

3.5 stars from me for this book. The novel follows a young Palestinian woman as she lives to New York to work as a middle school teacher. She is from a wealthy background and appears to have a distant relationship with her family. Issues of class, status and identity permeate the book. She is obsessive about personal hygiene and seems to be constantly looking to make connections, whether that is inappropriate physical or emotional way, with both men and women. She meets a man that she names ‘Trenchcoat’ and has a casual relationship with a man called Sasha. However, both of these relationships break down.

As the book progresses, we realise how unreliable the narrative voice - to the point where it is difficult to discern what is actually real in this young woman’s world. This makes ‘The Coin’ an engaging read … but also quite a strange book. Maybe this is the point, Zaher is presenting to us a protagonist who struggles to fit in anywhere and needs to connect to her deepest self in order before she can forge bonds with those around her. I am sure that there are also many other ways of interpreting this fascinating book.

Thank you so much to #netgalley and @wearefootnote for the invite and opportunity to read this debut.

“A bold and unabashed novel about a young Palestinian woman’s unraveling as she teaches at a New York City middle school, gets caught up in a scheme reselling Birkin bags, and strives to gain control over her body and mind.”

With a tag like that how could I have not said yes to an advance copy of this novel?

I can see how this one might be a bit of a “marmite” book, not for everyone. I will also preface this by saying I don’t know anything about fashion and the only reason I know what a Birkin bag is is because of Gilmore Girls 😅

This is a fun little book for fans of slight surreal urban fiction. The writing style makes you feel like you’re in a dream floating around following these two strange people as they make bizarre choices. Neither character is likeable but they are interesting and I can see this as a great comedic mini series.

The narration will sometimes break the fourth wall for a paragraph and at first I didn’t like it. However the more you read the more I found those paragraphs pulled you out of the dream state for a second and added something (sorry I’m not good enough of a reviewer to know) to the structure.

I think in its essence this is a book about belonging. The divide between who we want to be and who we are. Our connection to a place in the world and how it doesn’t leave us when we leave it.


Over all I enjoy it. I recommend it for lovers of the “weird female protagonist novel” IYKYK

This was the epitome of no plot just vibes - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I do tend to prefer plot-driven books. The blurb of this was somewhat misleading? The whole Birkin situation isn't actually as much of a driver to the main character's disintegration as it's made out to be.

For me, it felt like 3 books in one - teaching at the school and the relationship with the students, the Birkin situation, and trying to find your place in the world and nature. They all could've been interesting (and were) but none of them really came to their full potential because they were fighting each other for space.

I think the finding a place in the world aspect was really interesting, particularly with the added element of the main character (and author) being Palestinian, which is incredibly prevalent right now, and unfortunately has been a difficult identity to posses for the last 76 years (because it's been stolen from them...but that's another review/essay).

It wasn't bad at all - it's quite interesting, I just wasn't 100% sure what I was supposed to be interested in...

cw// mentions of death, sexual scenes, mentions of suicide

This is such an unusual novel. A Palestinian women in New York does some very weird teaching including letting the kids start kind of a cult, goes to Paris with a stranger to commit some designer goods fraud, and then has a little breakdown and basically returns to nature inside her flat. What’s not to love.

The Coin is a thought-provoking and immersive story about identity and self-discovery. It follows the unraveling of a Palestinian woman living in New York City. Despite being a woman of considerable wealth, the main character takes a position teaching English to middle school boys in New York. She is also obsessed with cleanliness, which she describes to the reader in great detail. This dark but compelling read was hard to put down, you can love it or hate it is not in between with this book

I love the cover which sums the book up well.

A Palestinian woman moves to New York and starts teaching but quickly appreciates that she knows nothing of the texts that she’s meant to teach, so sets her own unorthodox path. That’s pretty much par for the course with our narrator but how reliable is she? Then she meets ‘Trenchcoat’ who sucks her into a moneymaking scheme, then of course, there’s Sasha, loyal Sasha but for how long? She tells the reader of the ups, downs, obsessions difficult issues and a whole lot more about being a ‘Stranger in a foreign land’ and explores social issues along the way.

It’s possible to admire a book but not to enjoy it very much and that’s because this is too weird and it’s a strange experience being inside her mind. It’s very different, it’s creative that’s for sure and has a dream like, hallucinatory quality to it as she pours she out a stream of consciousness. Inside her mind is an uncomfortable place to be, at times it’s very dark and disturbing, it’s unsettling and on occasions it’s a tad unsavoury. She seems to unravel, although I’d say she’s fairly unravelled before she starts unravelling even even further. She does make some very incisive comments and observations that give you pause for thought .

She’s clearly in pain, probably damaged and much of that is to do with her background. There’s betrayal, she becomes obsessive about a number of things which is very understandable. The significance of the coin is interesting and you can see how it changes her.

I confess I’m not entirely sure I understand what the author is getting at, it’s too odd, too confusing as it meanders it’s way back-and-forth. It’s probably far too clever for me but others seem to have loved it so be sure to check out those reviews.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Bonnier Books for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

The Coin is a story about identity and self-discovery, that follows the unravelling of a Palestinian woman living in New York City. The main character is a woman of considerable wealth who takes a position teaching English to middle school boys in New York. She’s also obsessed with cleanliness, which she describes to the reader in great detail! It’s a bit of a dark read but one I found hard to put down!
A thought-provoking and immersive read, I think this will be a bit of a marmite read though!

The coin is an energetic and brazen novel that chronicles a few months in the life of a Palestinian woman who has emigrated to the USA. The woman, though benefiting from a wealthy trust fund allowance, accepts a job from a friend teaching English to middle school boys in New York City. What follows is a first-person picaresque and jarring account of her journey toward self-discovery and acceptance.

The main character is certainly under pressure. She addresses the reader directly giving a feel of intimacy and collusion. She describes to us a crippling cleaning regime in which she reviles then celebrates her body as it is freed from dirt. The narrative settles into an unsettling allegory of opposites. Belonging and statelessness, wealth and poverty, cleanliness and filth, self-awareness and self-loathing are among the themes. The complex layering of this woman’s New York life over her origins in Palestine creates a very relevant human exploration of the current geopolitical landscape. The eponymous coin is a childhood accident that exists both in her mind and her body. There are no absolutes in this novel, although amid the pain you will find the absolute joy of connecting with another.

The cast of characters are presented warts-and-all, flawed but likeable, and serve to pull the plot forward. There is a good bit of humour to balance the uncomfortable descent of a woman making bad choices. This is a bold work showing off superb storytelling. The author styles her canvas with hyper-realistic brushwork creating a Jenny Saville-type portrait. The result is a book that is at once beautiful, mad, humane, animal and unputdownable. The ultimate result is the empathic dread of taking pleasure in watching a car crash, but one choreographed by a gifted writer.

If you like to be pushed and pummelled by a story as I do, this is the book for you. Thanks to Footnote and NetGalleyUK for the eArc.

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.