Waseem - Lilas Taha - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Lilas Taha

GENRE: Literary Fiction

PUBLICATION DATE: September 9, 2025

RATING: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: An OwnVoices literary fiction about a disabled Palestinian young man living in a refugee camp in Lebanon. Effectively highlights refugee experience along with ordinary human needs such as love, acceptance, freedom, and education. Interesting plot choices and characters. Genuine representation of a person living with severe disability. Erratic pacing in the second half, but that’s a relatively minor blip in the experience. Set prior to the current war, so it doesn't cover war-related struggles. Recommended.

Plot Preview:

Waseem was born with a disability that left him unable to speak or walk. Living in a cramped Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon with his parents and younger siblings, Waseem is dependent on his family for his physical needs and on the small window for a glimpse of the outside world. This changes when his best friend Ameena, a fellow camp resident and a little girl with a big heart, brings him a book. Their friendship becomes stronger over their shared love for knowledge and their secret desire to visit Palestine someday.

As the years go by, Waseem’s feelings for Ameena transform into a deeper desire, but he is practical enough to understand that his yearning has no realistic chance of turning into actuality. That’s when certain events lead to a time of transformation in both their lives.

The story comes to us mostly in Waseem's first-person perspective.

Bookish Yays:

🍉 Waseem. An extremely well-written character who doesn’t allow his disability to break his spirit. His frustration as well as his willingness to go beyond the limits come out well.

🍉 Quite an interesting choice to have the narration from Waseem’s first-person perspective. Keeping in mind that he cannot speak, it is a brave decision as well, because we get to read only his thoughts and details of what he overhears or sees. Direct conversations are somewhat limited. This still doesn’t put any restriction on our grasp of the events.

🍉 Waseem’s disability is also written in a true-to-life manner. Because of the intimacy of the first-person POV, we can actually sense him struggling beyond the limits of his restricted speech and mobility. The author’s note mentions that Waseem’s character is based on one of her relatives; this familiarity probably influenced her accurate description of Waseem’s physical weakness that rarely affected his mental strength. Many make the mistake of assuming that those with physical disability also have issues with mental comprehension. Waseem’s character convincingly proves the inaccuracy of this.

🍉 Considering the physical struggles of the narrator and the trauma of camp life, you might expect this to be a narrative dominated by the ‘woe-is-me’ feel. On the contrary, Waseem is treated as any other main character would be treated. The author even infuses plenty of joyous moments amid his heartbreaks. I love that Waseem’s mischievous side is also depicted – rarely do books focus beyond the disability of disabled characters.

🍉 Given the narrator, I didn’t expect romantic love to feature in the plot. It took me some time to get used to this, but I appreciate how beautifully and realistically the book approached Waseem’s emotions. It never felt exaggerated or melodramatic, but it also didn’t feel patronising or sympathetic, if you know what I mean. It normalises disability in the true sense of the word.

🍉 Ameena. What an outstanding character! Not just because of her heart but also because of her brains and her determination. Her journey throughout is one of courage and ambition but never does she allow this to overpower her humanity.

🍉 The friendship between Waseem and Ameena – again, not like what you would expect. It feels like a connection between equals, with their bond coming out strongly. I love how the book never portrays Ameena as having sympathy for Waseem; she treats him the way she would treat any other friend and even corrects him when needed instead of treating him with kid gloves.

🍉 The refugee experience. Not at all like I had expected it to be written. Most refugee camp stories I’ve read focus on the problems such as poor sanitation, limited food, lack of education, and so on. They are also usually set in temporary facilities such as tents. This camp has more of a ghetto feel, and the story highlights the unity, bond and cooperation across the camp residents rather than only talking about the issues. It was a refreshing approach.

🍉 The strong feeling of hiraeth in the camp residents – so lovingly portrayed. It is heartbreaking to see characters longing for their homeland, even if they had lived all their life in the camp. It is like watching intergenerational yearning for a place kept alive through the older generation’s nostalgic stories.

🍉 Given that the book ends a few years prior to the presently ongoing war, it doesn't depict the current emotions of Palestinian people in camps. This does work to its advantage, as the story focusses more on the people than on the murky politics of the region.

🍉 Considering how much Waseem and Ameena love books, there is a lot of namedropping of classics and modern essential reads by various Middle-Eastern authors. Not surprising that I haven’t heard of a single book or author mentioned, and I even doubt I will find them here. But it is nice to see a story focussing on so many local authors.

🍉 Several thought-provoking quotable quotes amid the lyrical writing, not a surprise given Waseem’s poetic bent of mind.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

🍊 The book spans many years, but the timepoint is specified only at random. Unless Waseem’s or Ameena’s age is mentioned in passing, it is a bit confusing to figure out how old they are or how many years have passed by. While this isn't a major constraint, it would have helped to have clearer timepoints or age references.

Bookish Nays:

🍈 The pacing goes all over the place in the second half. Some scenes drag a little bit, with repetition in the actions and emotions. At the same time, some important events are rushed.

🍈 The ending took me by surprise. I cannot go into spoilers, but suffice it to say, I didn’t like a few of the developments, even as I appreciated the change in perspective. It felt a little too contrived.

Overall, even though the first half clearly worked better for me than the second half, I enjoyed the several novelties this OwnVoices work had to offer: a disabled character who isn’t handled with kid gloves, a refugee camp where life is not just about past losses and missed chances, and a love story that is more cerebral than physical. The lyrical writing and the ramble-free first-person narrative added to the beauty of the book.

Definitely recommended to readers of character-driven fiction with a preference for OwnVoices writing.

My thanks to Skyhorse Publishing and Arcade for providing the DRC of “Waseem” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.