Stolen Moments of Joy

In this literary novel, a gay Afghan man grapples with an abusive relationship in America. Twenty-four-year-old Abdul Ali fled Afghanistan as a teenager, seeking a better life than he had known on the streets of Kabul. Now he lives in Baltimore with his boyfriend, Cliff Edwards, who has a tendency to fly off the handle and smack Abdul in the face when he doesn't like what he hears. Abdul is humiliated to go to work with visible bruises. He's a concierge at a hotel near the city's Inner Harbor, where he uses his off hours to study for the SAT. It's at the hotel that Abdul meets visiting journalist Tyrique Williams, who has come to Baltimore to cover the recent shooting of an unarmed Black teen. Tyrique and Abdul have immediate chemistry, but soon after hooking up, Tyrique discovers Abdul's bruises: " 'Listen to me, Abdul.' Tyrique walked over to me and grabbed my shoulder to emphasize what he was about to say. 'A boyfriend that hits you is just a boy. He's not a friend.' " The encounter doesn't immediately convince Abdul to leave Cliff, but he continues to admire Tyrique from afar as well as explore other romantic possibilities closer to home. But as West Baltimore erupts into violence over the racist status quo, Abdul is forced to confront the traumas from his past he's long tried to keep buried. Baika's vivid prose captures Abdul's conflicted and often overwhelming emotions, as here when he embraces Tyrique after a long absence: "He wrapped his arms around me. He smelled like a thousand roses had rained over him. Not the usual common rose. Gol-e Mohammadi, with a more penetrating perfume. I took a deep breath to take in as much of him as I could." The book grapples with a number of heavy issues, including the bacha bazi dancing boys of Afghanistan. The elements at times feel shoehorned together, though for the most part, the novel treats each of them with the appropriate gravity. While not a light read by any means, the book succeeds in dramatizing the ways the traumas of youth can shape adult relationships. A weighty but engaging and readable tale about escaping the bonds of the past.

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February 6, 2023
Baika (On the Enemy’s Side) crafts an affecting image of trauma and domestic abuse. In 2014, Afghan refugee Abdul Ali, 24, lives with his gorgeous but abusive boyfriend, Cliff, in Baltimore. A chance encounter during his shift at a hotel leads to a tryst with a guest, a poet named Tyrique Williams. Abdul, traumatized by having been a victim of sexual trafficking, begins to believe he deserves Cliff’s violence because of his unconfessed infidelity, and he’s mollified by Cliff’s gushing affection, which follows his apologies. Abdul also befriends Trilce Salinas, a Black Lives Matter activist, and stumbles into other hookups, but he starts to slip at work and gets fired. In a fit of rage, Cliff takes control of Abdul’s college savings before quickly reverting to his tender side. Eventually, with the help of Trilce, Abdul realizes he needs to save himself from the toxic relationship. Baika effectively captures Abdul’s mindset as a domestic violence victim, but an escalation of the subplot involving protests against the police killing of a Black teenager (which reunite Abdul with Tyrique) feels like a forced crisis point. It’s a slow burn, but readers will appreciate Baika’s depictions of his protagonist’s inner wounds and fractured relationships.