First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story
A candid, heartfelt love story set in contemporary California that challenges the idea of what it means to be American, liberated, and in love. When Huda meets Hadi, the boy she will ultimately marry, she is six years old. Both are the American-born children of Iraqi immigrants, who grew up on opposite ends of California. Hadi considers Huda his childhood sweetheart, the first and only girl he's ever loved, but Huda needs proof that she is more than just the girl Hadi's mother has chosen for her son. She wants what many other American girls have—the entertainment culture's almost singular tale of chance meetings, defying the odds, and falling in love. She wants stolen kisses, romantic dates, and a surprise proposal. As long as she has a grand love story, Huda believes no one will question if her marriage has been arranged. But when Huda and Hadi's conservative Muslim families forbid them to go out alone before their wedding, Huda must navigate her way through the despair of unmet expectations and dashed happily-ever-after ideals. Eventually she comes to understand the toll of straddling two cultures in a marriage and the importance of reconciling what you dreamed of with the life you eventually live. Tender, honest and irresistibly compelling, First Comes Marriage is the first Muslim-American memoir dedicated to the themes of love and sexuality. Huda and Hadi's story brilliantly circles around a series of firsts, chronicling two virgins moving through their first everything: first hand holding, first kiss, and first sexual encounter. First Comes Marriage is an almost unbearably humanizing tale that tucks into our hearts and lingers in our imagination, while also challenging long-standing taboos within the Muslim community and the romantic stereotypes we unknowingly carry within us that sabotage some of our best chances for finding true love.
1128987361
First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story
A candid, heartfelt love story set in contemporary California that challenges the idea of what it means to be American, liberated, and in love. When Huda meets Hadi, the boy she will ultimately marry, she is six years old. Both are the American-born children of Iraqi immigrants, who grew up on opposite ends of California. Hadi considers Huda his childhood sweetheart, the first and only girl he's ever loved, but Huda needs proof that she is more than just the girl Hadi's mother has chosen for her son. She wants what many other American girls have—the entertainment culture's almost singular tale of chance meetings, defying the odds, and falling in love. She wants stolen kisses, romantic dates, and a surprise proposal. As long as she has a grand love story, Huda believes no one will question if her marriage has been arranged. But when Huda and Hadi's conservative Muslim families forbid them to go out alone before their wedding, Huda must navigate her way through the despair of unmet expectations and dashed happily-ever-after ideals. Eventually she comes to understand the toll of straddling two cultures in a marriage and the importance of reconciling what you dreamed of with the life you eventually live. Tender, honest and irresistibly compelling, First Comes Marriage is the first Muslim-American memoir dedicated to the themes of love and sexuality. Huda and Hadi's story brilliantly circles around a series of firsts, chronicling two virgins moving through their first everything: first hand holding, first kiss, and first sexual encounter. First Comes Marriage is an almost unbearably humanizing tale that tucks into our hearts and lingers in our imagination, while also challenging long-standing taboos within the Muslim community and the romantic stereotypes we unknowingly carry within us that sabotage some of our best chances for finding true love.
24.0 In Stock
First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story

First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story

by Huda Al-Marashi
First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story

First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story

by Huda Al-Marashi

Hardcover

$24.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    In stock. Ships in 6-10 days.
  • PICK UP IN STORE

    Your local store may have stock of this item.

Related collections and offers


Overview

A candid, heartfelt love story set in contemporary California that challenges the idea of what it means to be American, liberated, and in love. When Huda meets Hadi, the boy she will ultimately marry, she is six years old. Both are the American-born children of Iraqi immigrants, who grew up on opposite ends of California. Hadi considers Huda his childhood sweetheart, the first and only girl he's ever loved, but Huda needs proof that she is more than just the girl Hadi's mother has chosen for her son. She wants what many other American girls have—the entertainment culture's almost singular tale of chance meetings, defying the odds, and falling in love. She wants stolen kisses, romantic dates, and a surprise proposal. As long as she has a grand love story, Huda believes no one will question if her marriage has been arranged. But when Huda and Hadi's conservative Muslim families forbid them to go out alone before their wedding, Huda must navigate her way through the despair of unmet expectations and dashed happily-ever-after ideals. Eventually she comes to understand the toll of straddling two cultures in a marriage and the importance of reconciling what you dreamed of with the life you eventually live. Tender, honest and irresistibly compelling, First Comes Marriage is the first Muslim-American memoir dedicated to the themes of love and sexuality. Huda and Hadi's story brilliantly circles around a series of firsts, chronicling two virgins moving through their first everything: first hand holding, first kiss, and first sexual encounter. First Comes Marriage is an almost unbearably humanizing tale that tucks into our hearts and lingers in our imagination, while also challenging long-standing taboos within the Muslim community and the romantic stereotypes we unknowingly carry within us that sabotage some of our best chances for finding true love.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781633884465
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Publication date: 11/13/2018
Pages: 297
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Huda Al-Marashi currently lives in Encinitas, California, with her husband and three children. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the LA Times, Al Jazeera, the VIDA Review, the Offing, and elsewhere.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1 - Husband Potential
(Continues…)



Excerpted from "First Comes Marriage"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Huda Al-Marashi.
Excerpted by permission of Prometheus Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Author's Note 9

Book I

Chapter 1 Husband Potential 13

Chapter 2 Muslim Love 17

Chapter 3 A Girl Like That Won't Stay 25

Chapter 4 A Small Island of Unity 31

Chapter 5 Beaten by Devotion 41

Chapter 6 A Divine Crystal Ball 47

Chapter 7 This American Rite of Passage 55

Chapter 8 See Me at the Prom 59

Chapter 9 A Big Family Secret 63

Chapter 10 Marching Toward Marriage 73

Chapter 11 Lunch Company 81

Chapter 12 A Sudden Thrill of Control 87

Chapter 13 The Engagement of Our Children 93

Chapter 14 Say It Loud 103

Chapter 15 Sins for No Good Reason 115

Chapter 16 Every Choke, Sob, and Sniffle 127

Chapter 17 The Sting of Regret 131

Chapter 18 Women in Islam 141

Chapter 19 A Day for Me and the Girls 145

Chapter 20 The Proof of Our Youth 153

Chapter 21 Crises A, B, and G 167

Chapter 22 A Bride Is with Us 173

Chapter 23 Love Her, Boy, Love Her 179

Chapter 24 Biology 187

Book II

Chapter 25 A Big, Fat Arab Stereotype 201

Chapter 26 Trying to Make a Life 209

Chapter 27 The Aspiring Doctor's Wife 215

Chapter 28 An Edible Identification Card 219

Chapter 29 I Love Huda.doc 223

Chapter 30 A Matter of Life and Death and God Himself 233

Chapter 31 Shia Heretic 245

Chapter 32 The Love I Missed 251

Chapter 33 A Family of Three 259

Chapter 34 How to Fix Hadi and Me 273

Chapter 35 Fictions of Love 281

Chapter 36 As If by Magic 287

Acknowledgments 295

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews