A Place for Us

Hadia, the oldest child in her family, constantly feels torn between duty to her parents and love for/allegiance to her troubled youngest sibling, Amar. The two are close throughout childhood, sharing secrets, hopes, dreams, and even cheering each other up in difficult situations. However, Hadia eventually grows bitter that her parents seem to coddle Amar and that her achievements sometimes take second priority to his small victories. At one point she spitefully informs her father that Amar cheated on a test, but she regrets it deeply afterward. After years of forging her own path in the world—pursuing medical school and choosing her own husband—she reunites her brother with the rest of the family by convincing him to come home for her wedding. Their reunion is wistful but happy.

Huda, the middle sibling, often seems overshadowed by her headstrong older sister and her troubled younger brother, as well as by the close bond shared by Hadia and Amar. She is largely quiet and obedient, supporting both her siblings in a nonjudgmental way. Huda is close to Hadia because they are the girls of the family and because they are only a year apart in age. Huda cares for Amar as much as Hadia does, and her relationship with him is less fraught and conflict-haunted than Hadia’s. When Hadia decides to invite Amar home for her wedding, Huda helps them connect.

Rafiq, a dutiful husband and father, shows repeatedly that he cares for his wife and children with all his heart. While he is consistently tender toward Layla and the girls, he is often frustrated with his wayward son and is far harder on Amar than the girls. At the same time, there are moments in which he displays pride toward his son’s occasional triumphs—such as the aced spelling test, which gets posted on the refrigerator, although he learns from a bitter Hadia that Amar cheated. He often promises Amar rewards in the hope his son might apply himself more diligently in school, but he never sits down to talk with his son or help him study, nor does he take time to listen to Amar’s struggles after Abbas dies or Amira breaks up with him. During the years of Amar’s estrangement from the family, it’s abundantly clear that the separation pains Rafiq. However, he cannot bring himself to deal kindly with Amar when he gets drunk at Hadia’s wedding, instead ordering him to leave. Only on his deathbed, full of regret, does Rafiq offer Amar any kind of reconciliation—and even that ends up happening at significant remove, with Rafiq’s message relayed to Amar on the phone by Rafiq’s grandson, Abbas.

Layla, a dutiful wife and mother, cares for her husband and her three children almost to the exclusion of all else. The only times she leaves her family for any length of time is to return to India when each of her parents falls ill and dies. Layla gives Amar extra attention and frequently expresses her love for him in ways that she does not express toward her daughters; she worries that something may be wrong with her son’s emotional development, and she does everything in her power to help him through the most difficult points in his childhood and teenage years. However, given that Layla is the one to inform Seema Ali of Amira and Amar’s meetings, she carries considerable guilt over her role in the misery that led Amar to withdraw from the family altogether. She is happy to see him home for Hadia’s wedding, although an undercurrent of sadness is palpable within her, and Rafiq does not tell her why Amar doesn’t return to the festivities after Rafiq orders him to leave.

Tariq is Hadia’s supportive and gentle husband. He seems to get on well with everyone in the family; the fact that Hadia chose him on her own (rather than letting her parents arrange an engagement) does not seem to have caused significant friction between Hadia, Layla, and Rafiq. It is especially poignant when Amar and Tariq meet during the wedding proceedings, as the two of them would have liked to have gotten to know each other, and likely would have become as close as brothers over the years.

Abbas is the eldest of the Ali children. Headstrong and rebellious, he is a role model to Amar and the other young men in the broader community to which they all belong. Abbas gives Amar acceptance during the years when he needed it most at home, and his death in a car accident is devastating to not just his sister, Amira, and the rest of his family, but also to Amar and Hadia, who each cared for him deeply in different ways.