I have been following Farah Naz Rishi since her debut and so I knew I had to read this memoir. And I was utterly impressed and honored to have read Sorry for the Inconvenience. Talk about one of my favorite memoirs I’ve ever read! Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts on Sorry for the Inconvenience.
Summary
Pakistani American Farah Naz Rishi’s first year of college was perfectly, thankfully, uneventful. After all, she was in college to learn and forge a path of self-sufficiency, especially after her last relationship fell apart—dashing her mother’s aspirations for an early marriage. What could Farah expect, anyway? For the ideal guy to just conveniently waltz into her life? Life isn’t a love story.
Enter Stephen, a Jamaican student with an open smile and a disarmingly laid-back attitude. It’s not love at first sight. And there’s no way Farah’s mother would approve of him as marriage material. But they have something an inexplicable connection. Through a series of impossible tragedies, grief, and trying to find her place in the world, Stephen is always there as Farah’s confidant, champion, and, most of all, best friend. Anything more could ruin a perfectly good thing… Right?
Spanning thirteen years of complex family dynamics and a surprising kinship, Farah Naz Rishi’s story explores the unpredictability of love—familial, platonic, and romantic, but never truly instant.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
For fans of I’m Glad My Mom Died, Sorry for the Inconvenience explores toxic family relationships, falling in love without realizing we are, marriage of conveniences, and losing a parent to cancer. There’s signature humor and wryness all balanced with vulnerability. As a long time fan of Farah Naz Rishi, it’s a privilege to read. Inspired by a viral TikTok, Sorry for the Inconvenience is tender.
While it certainly touches on the story of the TikTok and marriage of convenience, it’s also about all the events and ways we become the person we are. The little decisions necessary to be ready – and all the times we aren’t. How it takes time to not only be able to admit our feelings, but also to be ready to allow ourselves to let love into our life, to be ready to love. When life and loss, obstacles and grief, permeate it takes time for our heart to heal. Sorry for the Inconvenience brought me to tears.
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And listening to Farah Naz Rishi, the author herself, read the book is beyond precious. I’ve loved Farah’s narration of other books (and she talks about her foray into voice acting in the book), so this made it even more special. 100% necessary if you like to listen to audio books. It lends the whole book a personal touch to the already vulnerable narration. To the ways Farah explores the toxic and emotional manipulation. The ties we have of love, resentment, and pain.
Sorry for the Inconvenience is a true testament to the journey. To the path we are one to becoming. As someone who within the last few years had an immediate family diagnosed with cancer, Sorry for the Inconvenience was even more special. Find Sorry for the Inconvenience on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, & Audible.