“Deeply relatable, heart wrenching, brutally honest, and at times, funny.” —CBC's Here and Now Toronto
“Qadeer’s intuitive and judicious use of language is one of the driving forces behind each story’s narrative. She is irreverent and audaciously funny when she needs to be.” —Dawn
“In the end, it is this underlying, pulsating message of self-love in Sima Qadeer’s debut collection of short stories, Brown Girls, Grown Up that is the most taboo and radical of all.” —The Temz Review
“Brown Girls, Grown Up catches the eye, elicits a guffaw or two, and stimulates the brain. What more can you ask for from a debut story collection?” —The Miramichi Reader
“The series of stories in Brown Girls, Grown Up are brazen, and they’re tender . . . written with emotional clarity and quiet force, [they] challenge the idea that self-realization ends once a woman becomes a wife or a mother. I read it and think how some of the future stories of our daughters might play out differently if mothers and daughters read a book like this together.” —Desi News
“The immigrant narratives we consume often focus on the struggle to achieve milestones. But what happens when the degrees are framed, the babies are born, the mortgage is signed, and suddenly the script just runs out? Sima Qadeer’s Brown Girls, Grown Up is an absolute masterclass in dismantling the illusions of midlife, specifically highlighting the unique pressures on immigrant daughters.” —Southeast Review
“Brown Girls, Grown Up begins where many immigration stories stop . . . Qadeer’s characters are in constant negotiation with themselves and others, and in their search for acceptance, the collection seems to say again and again that the act of assimilation cannot ever end in true belonging when it requires changing who you are . . . beautiful stories from a rich new voice.” —Creation Magazine
“In a series of stories rich with descriptions of lives spent exulting in and reacting to physical bodies, Qadeer contemplates sexual intimacy, intergenerational conflict, sexual identity, and women’s friendships with a sophistication and sense of humor that makes for a delightful read. Don’t miss this exhilarating collection.” —Chaya Bhuvaneswar, author of White Dancing Elephants: Stories
“Sima Qadeer’s Brown Girls, Grown Up is an important—not to mention rollicking and audacious—literary contribution to the reckoning of women in middle age. In stories particular to their identities and experience yet at their essence simply human, Qadeer’s characters confront the choices made by their past selves, searching for acceptance and insisting on their right to be themselves.” —Heidi Reimer, author of The Mother Act
