cover image The Wrong End of the Table: A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit In

The Wrong End of the Table: A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit In

Ayser Salman. Skyhorse, $17.99 trade paper (228p) ISBN 978-1-51074-207-9

Romantic struggles and strict immigrant parents inform a journey toward self-acceptance in this fast-paced, funny memoir by an Iraqi-born film editor and producer. Throughout a nomadic childhood spent in Iraq, the U.S., and Saudi Arabia, Salman was often the new kid. But family and faith remain constants in this series of vignettes that follow her through childhood, film school, and her career in Los Angeles. The chronological structure wears away as Salman gets older, leaving space for philosophical musings and slices of life: a heartfelt open letter to President Trump, a questioning of her Muslim practice, and a meditation on how long Iraqis take to say goodbye. But these chapters are, while colorful, too short and numerous to pack the same punch as the narrative parts. The last section of the book, focusing on dating, picks up the chronology and once again allows Salman’s voice and humor to shine; she has a gift for chapter titles (“Land of the Free, Home of the McMuffin”), recounts funny anecdotes (including a conversation in which she and her mother decide she could never marry Salman Rushdie because it would be too confusing to be “Mrs. Ayser Salman Rushdie), and uses footnotes to great comic effect. Unevenly structured but always funny, this enjoyable and heartfelt book is great for a plane, the beach, or a free afternoon. (Mar.)