The Weight Of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf

  Assalamualaikum, good day dearest!

Title: The Weight Of Our Sky 

Author: Hanna Alkaf

Pages: 274

Genre: Fiction, Young-adult, Mental-health, Racism

Publisher: Salaam Reads

Year published: 2019

ISBN: 9781534451926

Blurb:

Melati Ahmad has imagined her mother's death countless times. Plagued by gruesome thoughts she believes are put into her head by a djinn, Melati has developed an intricate set of tapping rituals to tame the monster within and keep her mother safe.

But there are things that Melati can't protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13,1969, racial tensions in her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over, The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames.

With a twenty-four-hour curfew in pace and all lines f communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati's arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn's surging power, and make it back to the one person she can't risk losing.

The started out a bit confusing for me because of Melati's mental condition - the constant counting, the djinn in her head (I was wondering if it really is about one), her irrational fear of losing her mother and the constant pictures of her mother died, everything is telling me to identify what she suffers from and it definitely is not the purpose of the story. Despite the confusion, I really enjoyed the narration and writing style. It was easy to understand and follow through.

As this book consist of a story with a heavy background and topic, I really really took my time in finishing it. It was not because I don't enjoy the story - I did, very much. It was due to the heavy situation portrayed in the story. The moment Melati stepped out of The Rex after watching Paul Newman's finding the usually busy street in dead silence, I knew the trouble are coming and I wasn't ready to face it. Adding up to her current mental condition, I could felt her fear through the words. It was something really scary and when she went back to get her friend, Sal, the event following it, that was the moment I enough for a few days. 

I swear, it took me so much courage to continue reading this story. The event of 13th May 1963 was real. It happened and reading this - albeit a fiction - means that some if not all part of it happen (or at least the situations back then). Melati's journey to find her mother doesn't happen in an instance, it took the involvement of so many people and herself. I was so glad she met with Auntie Bee who took a really good care of her and other people all while they were suffering from the riot too. 

Due to the heaviness of the topic, this book is not made for one sitting. You gotta stop to find your breath and clear your mind. And stabiles your emotions. And that was all for me. At some point, I cried really hard that the words turn blurry. The story is a whole combination of heart wrenching but also heartwarming. I also loves Melati's character development from one who were so unsure of herself to one who protect and help and fight back. She is so admirable. Besides Melati, I also had a very profound love for Auntie Bee. For me, she's the unsung hero of the whole story, the one who tried to hold up for everyone and always giving despite she herself is in the same predicament. 

I think this book is  a good start for people to educate and put some sense in their mind about what happened back then. It was a serious matter and asking it to happen again was just plain stupid. 

-thes