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.

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.