Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

I want to start off saying that there were many sentences without any spacing? Making it difficult to read? I don’t know if that’s because it got reformatted to a kindle if not, needs more editing.

This is a book full of prose and lyrical writing. That’s just not my jam but it was beautiful. The mystery aspect is what pulled me in to request a copy, but it is more of a subplot compared to the rest of the book. I would say this is more of a women’s literary fiction. About the journey of finding yourself and seeing how others view you. It’s also about mother daughter relationships.
I felt like the motherly demeanor of Ma was accurate. I’m not Bengali but I’m Indian so it reverberated with me.

I’d recommend it if you like following people on their life journeys as they discover themselves.

You know my first thought was about how through the medium of storytelling, an estranged mother and daughter re-unite just in time to thwart the efforts of a murderer who is out to kill them. It is an engrossing premise— there is the emotional scope and then, there is the visual scope as Mansab weave a tapestry of an operatic story that spans generations, countries, and time. I only wish there was music to add to this tale. It would have been an immersive reading experience.

The Sufi Storyteller by Faiqa Mansab follows an interesting kaleidoscopic narrative structure, each anecdotal event in the book produces changing reflections of the characters, revealing layers to their own life stories.

As a keeper and teller of stories, Mira and Layla, our protagonists, find themselves inextricably linked — Layla is a scholar of women’s histories and stories who one day finds a dead body in her university’s study. Addressed is a note, not to her, but to Mira, a famous Sufi storyteller, someone who Layla has been following on the lecture circuit.

What transpires after is a journey into the realm of the story — Mira’s traumatic past and Layla’s tragic one must meet in the middle to find the murderer in the present.

Insightful parallels drawn with the semantic structure of Sufi storytelling and the actual unravelling of the story enhance the author’s deft skill at playing out a story within the story. The multigenerational cast of characters establishes a strong sense of community and the reverence for the original Sufi storytellers; their names and contributions peppered along the chapters.

While it is Layla who starts off the story, it is Mira who carries it through using beautiful prose and poetry, rich and heavy with emotions to tell a spell binding story about her life and the transformation from a captive woman to a Sufi storyteller. Her interactions with Kamli, a village woman, who tells her the stories she has heard; women are the first storytellers, is poignant not only because of its emotions and the situation, but also for the message that is within each one of them, as Kamli stresses to Mira, will bring her the freedom she yearns for.

Mira, as is cyclical nature of Sufi stories, tries to impart the same wisdom that is found layered between the stories to Layla, and the journey continues far away from the realm to capture the murderer on loose.

This is an engrossing, hugely readable story about two women that unravels the intricate twists and revelations over two generations with a certain languidly that edges on love and tragedy, mystery and redemption, and that all things are intended even though they are accidental, especially in the beauty of the things we do.

This was my first exposure to Pakistani author Faiqa Mansab and I absolutely loved this. But it certainly won't be for everyone. If you go into this book expecting magical realism or Middle Eastern-inspired fantasy, you'll likely be bored. I'd classify this book as upmarket women's fiction and the magical realism in it is rooted in the cultural traditions passed down by women storytellers, but that's not the point of it. The point of it is female rage and power.

The story takes place on a college campus in rural Illinois, where scholar Layla researches the cultural impact of storytelling and begrudgingly teaches, while she tortures herself hunting down the mother who transformatively abandoned her as a child. She spends lovely days with her adoptive mother, who tells stories of her own through the art of cooking, which I could taste and smell on the page through the vivid descriptions of food and aunties lovingly chattering as Layla's slum-adopted cat winds his way among their feet.

It then alternates to Afghanistan, where Layla's mother, a bold and naive war correspondent from New York, was captured by a tribal chieftan and held for 12 years, forced into marriage and raped daily until she bore children against her will.

The legacy of that violence is passed down through their family as a trail of murders follows Layla to her new campus, where she reunites with her mother in a strained, bitter union, a practicality to help solve the mystery. Her mother is also a scholar of Sufi storytelling.

The pace was a little jagged for me; this is character-driven women's fiction and I felt there were some gaps in Layla's story; did she just have selective amnesia about her childhood in Afghanistan due to trauma? But she was at least 10 when they fled. It was dominated by academic, philosophical musings about the nature and purpose of storytelling, which I found interesting but also bogged things down.

The men in this book were kind of flat characters, caricatures of toxic masculinity, and I wished they'd had a little more dimension or complexity to add more surprise.

As a result the murder mystery appeared to be an afterthought amid the larger interpersonal themes, and was rushed through in the last 30%. I predicted who the murderer was early on and this was probably the most pedantic part of the book.

So like Professor Rezi once accused Layla, her academic study of stories also dehumanized them and took away their magic, and I found that was an issue in this book as well. But also appropriate, given the Sufi tradition of stories within the larger story.

All in all, this was a beautifully written book that made me think, a story of misogyny, generational trauma and oppression and the way stories can either save us or help us run away from our past. It all depends on the listener and what they bring into the story as they hear it as much as the storyteller's intentions and cultural framework.

As a lover of books and stories and the magic they hold over my own life, I certainly appreciated that message. I will be thinking about this important and challenging book for a very long time. This is the kind of book for people who like to think critically about the literature they consume, and it is not for those who prefer to consume story to escape the horrors of the world.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a very nice read. I love the different culture, Sufi, and the mystery set in that culture. It was new to me and I learned a lot. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a chance to read this book.

Thanks NetGalley and Neem Tree publications for an advanced e-book version of this book.

this was a whole lot of... nothing. I went into it with a lot of expectations with the blurb of murder mystery, thrilling with expositions on sufism and spiritual exploration. What it did offer was a disjointed, direction-less narrative about family dynamics, identity and gender. I'm not complaining that it explores these themes, I'm just merely annoyed at how these themes were captured with no sense of plot and drive. Honestly, it struggles under the weight of its ambition.

The diverse cast lacked any sense of development, their interactions driven by accusations, no reconciliation, just endless conflict for the sake of drama. It constantly collapses onto academic jargon for storytelling to tell a story. By the time the plot remembers itself of a murder (multiple), I was praying for the killer to simply show up. I felt like I was watching a soap opera at some point. and not even a good one.

Mira's trauma was difficult to endure, not because of the gravitas of the narrative, but the way it concentrated all the violence onto a single character, and the other character not even willing to understand and empathise with it. It felt the dynamics between the characters, mother-daughter, was made complicated for the sake of it, and it felt superfluous. At some point, you think of Layla's age of being 36, and how her wits should have caught onto her as well.

Honestly, my favourite character was Sultan, the cat. Not to leave it on a negative note, but I enjoyed the aspects of exploring storytelling through different lenses of gender, class, textile, and how it tethers traditions and sometimes breaks them apart too.

End.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.75/5)

In "The Sufi Storyteller," Faiqa Mansab weaves a beautiful tale exploring the power of storytelling and the profound wisdom of Sufism. The story follows a young woman, Shabnam, who embarks on a journey to connect with her roots and understand her past through the narratives passed down by a wise Sufi master. As she delves into the tales of her ancestors and the lessons they carry, Shabnam discovers not just her heritage but also the importance of compassion, love, and the spiritual quest.

Mansab's prose is rich and evocative, transporting readers to the heart of the cultural and spiritual landscape of the characters. While the pacing can be a bit slow at times, the heartfelt messages and the intricate storytelling make it a worthwhile read. The way the author intertwines folklore with contemporary issues adds depth to the narrative. Overall, it’s a moving exploration of identity and the healing power of stories, earning it a solid 3.75 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Unbound for an eArc of this book in exchange for a honest, unbiased review!

This was quite an interesting book. I really liked Mansab's writing style, it was quite poetic and lovely to read.

Layla is a lecturer at a college, teaching stories about women. Then we have Mira, who is a Sufi storyteller.
I will not mention how and if they are related to increase the thrill.
A murder is committed and the two make use of Sufi storytelling to solve the mystery, and explore their own lives.
The Sufi aspect was the highlight for me. It was a brilliant idea to use that aspect as a narrative device.
Overall, this was 3 stars enjoyment for me. I cannot wait to see what Mansab does next because of the promise this book had.

Faiqa Mansab wrote this perfectly, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed from this type of book. The characters worked well and enjoyed learning in the traditions for the mystery element. It was great to see the mother-daughter element in this book. It was everything that I was looking for and glad I got to read this.

While this wasn't the read for me, I have to say the writing is superbly descriptive and beautifully poetic.
The story flows because of how well the author tell the tale.
I actually was hooked more by how the story is told rather than what the story was.

What draw me to this book was the cover and the title. I am more of fantasy and speculative fiction reader, and I want to expand a bit of my horizon. This book seemed like a good pick, especially since it has such a strong link with stories.

Unfortunately, it fell short for me. I don't know if it was a 'not the right moment' kind of thing, if the book is simply not for me or something else. But I quickly realised it wasn"t going to be as interesting as I hoped for.

One of the reason is that, despite the book being sold as somewhat of an mystery novel, with a need to resolve a murder, it isn't so much at the centre of the story. Similarly, the reunion between mother and daughter is there, but it felt a bit shallow, distant. I guess I didn't get into this book with the right expectations.

It is well enough written, nothing that strike me as very engaging, but still good. Stories do play a big role in the narrative, but in a more scholarly way, erasing a bit of the mysticism and wonder for me. The book is using the murders as a tool to get the main character to explore herself, her past and the hollowness where her birth mother resided. Then they reunite, and we delve into the mother's past, before getting a sort of family drama reolsution (I am not using the word drama to be negative, the events are quite dramatic). The part of the stories in the resolution of the murder is there, but too structural for me, again.

In the end, this book is too much like a a reflexion about identity, family history and constructing ourselves. I love these kind of stories, but when it is not so much obvious, using a thin plot and characters to create that reflection. I prefer the other way around. So. Not a good fit for me, but it should be really enjoyable for people who like such stories !

Faiqa Mansab’s The Sufi Storyteller is an evocative tapestry of language and atmosphere, masterfully blending lyrical prose with vivid descriptions that transport readers across continents and into the realm of Story itself. Mansab’s writing is rich, immersive, and poetic, weaving a hypnotic rhythm that mirrors the traditions of Sufi storytelling. Each page resonates with a sensory depth—whether she is describing the intricate details of a small American college town or the rugged beauty of the Afghan mountains.

What truly sets this book apart is Mansab's command of language; her sentences flow with a fluidity that feels almost musical, drawing readers into a world where words hold both beauty and power. The layers of meaning embedded in the descriptions invite reflection and linger long after the final page. If you appreciate stories where the prose feels like art, The Sufi Storyteller is a must-read.