Fundamentally

Sam's Review 

A comedy about the rehabilitation of ISIS brides comes close to the definition of an oxymoron: an apparent contradiction which on closer inspection makes sense. And yet, Fundamentally, the debut from British writer Nussaibah Younis, is bitingly funny in its tale of a young academic who leaves London to set up a rehabilitation program in Iraq.

Lapsed Muslim Nadia arrives in Iraq fresh from a devastating break-up, still mourning being disowned by her mother, and determined to prove her worth, imagining "...one day in the future, gathering for a nostalgic drink, marvelling at what we'd achieved during those heady days in Baghdad, a family forged in battle." Her grand aspirations are immediately brought crashing down to the dusty earth of the Green Zone when, at their first meeting, one of her team objects to the rehabilitation program "on moral grounds," while the other is "scrolling through Grindr (a gay dating app) in plain sight."

Inspiration, and the heart of the story, comes in the form of Sara, a nineteen-year-old from East London who followed her best friend and ran away to join ISIS when she was fifteen. Sara's first words to Nadia may have been a little less than encouraging - "Obviously, I should trust you. The UN is definitely not a colonial conspiracy that gives fake legal cover to Western war crimes" - but the two quickly bond over Dairy Milk, rollerblades and saag gosht. Their relationship becomes the lens through which we bear witness to the corruption, career advancement and fecklessness that undo all the good intentions of programs such as Nadia's.

Younis knows her subject: she has a PhD in international affairs, has directed the Future of Iraq Task Force and has offered strategic advice to US government agencies on Iraq policy. Given her experience, the scathing commentary on interagency politics becomes more than satirical sniping. It becomes a bullet to the heart of Western interventionism, albeit a bullet with a teenage attitude and one hell of a hangover.

Amidst potty-mouthed discussions of Halal genitalia, designer handbags, and the misadventures of youth (both frivolous and deathly serious), Fundamentally addresses the big questions of faith, family and moral duty. In conversational prose and sharp-tongued dialogue, Younis is scabrous in her humour and unflinching in her choice of targets. Fundamentally sits comfortably alongside the brilliant TV scripts of Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, VEEP) and I can't think of much higher praise than that.  

Fundamentally is in store now, priced $32.99.

Publisher's Review 

'By normal, you mean like you? A slag with a saviour complex?'

Nadia is an academic who's been disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, Rosy. She decides to make a getaway, accepting a UN job in Iraq. Tasked with rehabilitating ISIS women, Nadia becomes mired in the opaque world of international aid, surrounded by bumbling colleagues.

Sara is a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen.

Nadia is struck by how similar they are: both feisty and opinionated, from a Muslim background, with a shared love of Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines. A powerful friendship forms between the two women, until a secret confession from Sara threatens everything Nadia has been working for.

A bitingly original, wildly funny and razor-sharp exploration of love, family, religion and the decisions we make in pursuit of belonging, Fundamentally upends and explores a defining controversy of our age with heart, complexity and humour.