Fundamentally: A Novel

Fundamentally is pitched as “a wickedly funny and audacious debut” about Dr. Nadia Amin who is a heartbroken academic who ends up in Iraq leading a UN-backed deradicalization program for ISIS brides. It promises dark humor and bold questions like, “Who can tell someone what to believe?” and “How do you save someone who doesn’t want to be saved?” I was SO ready for this. Then the story opened with Nadia getting chastised for watching porn and masturbating with her electric toothbrush. That was… a choice. From there, Nadia lands in Iraq as a bisexual British academic navigating sexism, corruption, and the bureaucratic chaos of the United Nations. She quickly realizes that the system she’s working within is tangled in politics, image management, and even misuse of relief funds. Her colleagues, Sherri and Pierre, are pompous and patronizing. The team dynamic is tense. The Iraqi women in the camp do not trust the UN and resist being saved. This is where the book almost grabbed me. Nadia becomes fixated on Sara, a young East Londoner detained for her ties to ISIS. The ethical tension is fascinating. Danger ensues when Nadia realizes that her interview with a journalist may have led to Sara being forcibly married to an ISIS leader. The portrayal of Nadia's savior complex trying to do good inside a deeply flawed system could have been inspiring. Smuggling Sara across borders? Terrifying. High tension. I was locked in. The execution never quite matched the weight of the subject. The humor leans heavily into teenage, almost flippant quips that felt jarring against forced marriages, radicalization, and war trauma. Lines like, “Imagine fighting all your life to survive, finally becoming marriageable, and then being ignored for a European whose gap year went wrong,” undercut what could have been devastating commentary. Instead of sharp satire, it often felt tone deaf. I also struggled to connect to the characters. Nadia is flawed, messy, and morally complicated. I never felt anchored to her emotionally. When Sara ultimately chooses ISIS over her family, even after being rescued, it should have shattered me. Instead, I felt more bewildered than heartbroken. The final act, with Nadia calling her mother to help track down Sara’s parents and trying to save Sara and her baby, had the ingredients for something powerful. It just never fully landed. Sarah Slimani’s narration was pleasant and steady. Though many character voices blended together, which made dialogue-heavy scenes harder to track. Fundamentally is asking important, uncomfortable questions about belief, agency, Western intervention, and whether deradicalization is even possible. I am incredibly interested in this history and this subject matter. I also recognize that I may be bringing American-centric assumptions into a very British and Middle Eastern political context. Ultimately, interest in the topic could not override my disconnect from the storytelling. This one had ambition. It had stakes. It had moments of real tension. It just did not work for me in the way I hoped it would.

I have mixed feelings about this book as I enjoyed the lighthearted and witty writing but also found the topics were approached in a bubblegum washed way. I devoured this book as I did enjoy the plot but also found myself wishing that such threatening and dangerous points weren't written with an softened manner. I was surprised to learn the author had experience with these topics which make me think either this book was downplayed for the enjoyment factor of the reader or maybe reality only looks at extreme events to scare us. I would still recommend this book for all as it is a unique storyline that isn't too heavy for book clubs.