The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf is an epic historical fiction focusing on race and culture, mental health representation, and religion set during the 1960s in Malaysia. Although Alkaf claims this story to be a fiction, all the details included were facts based on careful and long research. Featuring Melati Ahmad as the main character who suffered anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and her survival story during the race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this story brings the horrible side of a historical event in a form of well-crafted fiction.
The Weight of Our Sky is an extremely tough book right from its first sentence. It’s not a light read that you can enjoy underneath the sunshine with a glass of ice tea in your other hand (But if that’s how you read your book, then go ahead! Don’t mind us here!) The integration between cultural references, mental health descriptions and religious aspects made this book remarkable and won’t be very easy to forget.
All of the cultural references in this book will make Asian readers’ heart burst of happiness. Non-Asian readers might not notice these references since they’re tiny and seems like just a random explanation. Details such as going to market with your best friend after school and buying local snacks and ice-cold drinks because we’re living in a tropical country and it’s burning hot during the day, visiting small shops just for the heck out of it and not buying anything, Melati’s favourite food and drink, the mention of a woman devil who sucks blood, and many more. All of these are something that most Asian readers familiar with.
You’re not worried about Pontianaks, are you? And if you’re naughty, I’ll tell her to come and take you, too!
As for the mental health representation, this book summaries it all together. Anxiety and OCD is a big part of Melati and Alkaf wonderfully presented it in such a graceful way. The inner conversation between Melati and the so-called Djinn and the description of Melati’s tapping as a way to cope with her anxiety/OCD was well written. Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book before where we truly get to understand the MC’s mind and sense their emotions and feelings. It’s also fantastic that Alkaf brings out these issues and creates a flawed MC, where their flaws are actually a part of them and affect their lives and decision-making and not just to enrich the story.
You can’t trust him, you can’t trust him, he’ll think you’re crazy, he’ll leave you.
And lastly, the Muslim representation in this book was spot on. The mentioned of Djinn, going to Ustaz for seeking medication, and Melati’s confused thought about the using of ‘Allahu Akbar’ during the attacks instead during the prayers. We do believe that Djinn existed, and even some Muslims still believe that when you’re not being faithful and close enough to God, that’s the cause of your anxiety, depression, and stress. Being a Muslim herself, Alkaf delivered all of these intricate perspectives from Muslims and made the best sense out of it in this book.
Overall, The Weight of Our Sky was an incredible historical book. It got the right balance of everything without pushing it too much and the plot went at a steady pace yet it was still just as thrilling. The horror will haunt you and the drama will wreck your heart. It’s definitely one of our favourite diverse read for this year!
The Weight of Our Sky is available to order on Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
A music-loving teen with OCD does everything she can to find her way back to her mother during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this heart-pounding literary debut.
Melati Ahmad looks like your typical moviegoing, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.
But there are things that Melati can’t protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 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 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of 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 to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.
