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The Wrong End of the Table
The Wrong End of the Table: A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit in | Ayser Salman
2 posts | 3 read | 1 reading | 7 to read
An Immigrant Love-Hate Story of What it Means to Be American You know that feeling of being at the wrong end of the table? Like you’re at a party but all the good stuff is happening out of earshot (#FOMO)? That’s life—especially for an immigrant. What happens when a shy, awkward Arab girl with a weird name and an unfortunate propensity toward facial hair is uprooted from her comfortable (albeit fascist-regimed) homeland of Iraq and thrust into the cold, alien town of Columbus, Ohio—with its Egg McMuffins, Barbie dolls, and kids playing doctor everywhere you turned? This is Ayser Salman’s story. First comes Emigration, then Naturalization, and finally Assimilation—trying to fit in among her blonde-haired, blue-eyed counterparts, and always feeling left out. On her journey to Americanhood, Ayser sees more naked butts at pre-kindergarten daycare that she would like, breaks one of her parents’ rules (“Thou shalt not participate as an actor in the school musical where a male cast member rests his head in thy lap”), and other things good Muslim Arab girls are not supposed to do. And, after the 9/11 attacks, she experiences the isolation of being a Muslim in her own country. It takes hours of therapy, fifty-five rounds of electrolysis, and some ill-advised romantic dalliances for Ayser to grow into a modern Arab American woman who embraces her cultural differences. Part memoir and part how-not-to guide, The Wrong End of the Table is everything you wanted to know about Arabs but were afraid to ask, with chapters such as “Tattoos and Other National Security Risks,” “You Can’t Blame Everything on Your Period; Sometimes You’re Going to Be a Crazy Bitch: and Other Advice from Mom,” and even an open letter to Trump. This is the story of every American outsider on a path to find themselves in a country of beautiful diversity.
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WhatWouldJaneDo
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1) I go back and forth but majority e-reader.
2) Amazon for my Kindle books, hpb/Indies for physical
3) yes I finally picked up an audiobook habit last spring
4) LibroFM!
5) tagged, Kindle daily deal yesterday!

@laurenslibrary #thursdaysurvey

ImperfectCJ Hooray for libro.fm!! I was so excited to switch from Audible to something that benefits my local indie! 5y
WhatWouldJaneDo @ImperfectCJ yes, discovering them was what got me to start listening to audiobooks! My local indie was destroyed by a tornado last fall so I was really glad I could keep supporting them with libro while they found a new storefront. 5y
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ReadingEnvy
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I enjoyed this memoir - it is full of funny and relatable moments, magnified by occasional cultural misunderstandings. Ayser moved from Iraq to Ohio to Saudi Arabia, and experiences awkwardness everywhere. The memoir finishes up in the almost present day, with stories about dating in her 40s. I love the interactions with her parents in particular.

I received a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss, and it came out 5 March 2019.

Mdargusch Iraq to Ohio! Talk about culture shock! 6y
ReadingEnvy @Mdargusch seriously!! 6y
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