The Butterfly Mosque

Abstract

Autobiography, as it relates to Muslims and to America, can be a difficult genre in which to write. There are numerous works that have appeared since 2001 that cover the spectrum from an anti-Islamic polemic to an apologia. G. Willow Wilson, author of the Butterfly Mosque, manages to avoid the extremes and writes a meaningful memoir that reflects the beauty and ugliness of being a Muslim and an American. The difficulty in reviewing a memoir is that a sequential summary does not do it justice. Instead, a thematic approach seems to make more sense. For example, the subtitle of the book, “An American Woman’s Journey to Love and Islam,” could as easily read “An American Woman’s Journey to the Love of Islam.” The work is highly personal, and it is an exploration of the love affair she had and was having with this phenomenon called “Islam.” ...