The Butterfly Mosque A Young Woman’s Journey to Love and Islam by G. Willow Wilson (Toronto, Canada: McClelland & Stewart. hdbk. 304 pages)

Abstract

Autobiography, as it relates to Muslims and to America, can be a difficult
genre in which to write. There are numerous works that have appeared
since 2001 that cover the spectrum from an anti-Islamic polemic to an
apologia. G. Willow Wilson, author of the Butterfly Mosque, manages
to avoid the extremes and writes a meaningful memoir that reflects the
beauty and ugliness of being a Muslim and an American. The difficulty
in reviewing a memoir is that a sequential summary does not do it justice.
Instead, a thematic approach seems to make more sense. For example,
the subtitle of the book, “An American Woman’s Journey to Love and
Islam,” could as easily read “An American Woman’s Journey to the Love
of Islam.” The work is highly personal, and it is an exploration of the love
affair she had and was having with this phenomenon called “Islam.” ...