Well, I did not expect the first of the Hugo finalists for Best Graphic Novel I picked up to be such a hit. It’s even more surprising as I had to read this from back to front and from right to left, as it was first published in Arabic. If that puts you off, let me assure you, you get used to it very quickly and the speech bubbles are arranged in such a way to make reading them in the right order super intuitive. Anyway, I ended up falling head over heels in love with this.
SHUBEIK LUBEIK by Deena Mohamed
Published : Pantheon, 2023 Ebook : 528 pages Series : Shubeik Lubeik #1-3 My rating: 9.5/10
Opening line: In Arabic folktales, Shubeik Lubeik is the first part of the rhyme a genie speaks once release from a lamp. It means “Your wish is my command.”
A brilliant and imaginative debut graphic novel that brings to life a fantastical Cairo where wishes are real. Author, illustrator, and translator Deena Mohamed presents a literary, feminist, Arab-centric graphic novel that marries magic and the socio-political realities of contemporary Egypt. Shubeik Lubeik– a fairytale rhyme meaning “Your Wish is My Command” in Arabic–is the story of three characters navigating a world where wishes are literally for sale; mired in bureaucracy and the familiar prejudices of our world, the more expensive the wish, the more powerful and therefore the more likely to work as intended. The novel’s three distinct parts tell the story of three first class wishes as used by Aziza, Nour, and Shokry, each grappling with the challenge inherent in trying to make your most deeply held desire come true. Deena’s mix of calligraphy and contemporary styles, brings to life a vibrant Cairene neighborhood, and a cast of characters whose struggles and triumphs are deeply resonant. Shubeik Lubeik heralds the arrival of a huge new talent and a brave, literary, political, and feminist new voice in comics.
In folklore, the danger a wish can pose is nothing new, whether you think about the Faerie folk of the British Isles or Persian genies. Deena Mohamed takes the idea of wishes being somewhat conscious, capricious entities, and humans “using” those wishes, and extrapolates from there, thus creating a wholly original, highly interesting, and, above all, believable version of our world as it could have been. If, you know, magic were real.
I am so taken with this graphic novel that I don’t quite know where to start gushing about it. So I’ll dive right in and hope that something semi-cohesive comes out at the end. This is a graphic novel comprised of three parts, each telling a differen person’s story, although they are all connected via a set of First Class Wishes (more on that later). In this alternate Earth, wishes can be mined, refined, classified, bottled, and sold. The background information about wishes and their impact on humanity as well as our history, is delivered in intermissions between the main stories. These come mostly as infographics, which I adored as a way of conveying important information. What could have ended up as an infodump doesn’t feel that way at all, but rather makes the world more real, like we’re taking a peek into a real history book. It also helps that the history of wishes is so damn believable – their discovery, distribution, who holds the power and gets the money, who suffers because of them, who gets exploited, you get the idea… I mean, most of the wish mines are located in areas of East Africa, Saudi Arabia, and South Asia, with most of the companies refining and selling wishes being located in the US and Western Europe. And the more expensive and high class the wish, the more successful its execution. Meaning rich folks get their wishes fulfilled and poor people get, well, you see some prime examples in the book, but let’s just say it’s not pretty. That all sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it?
But those are just the intermissions. The tale itself begins with a frame story that’s printed in color. I loved how vibrant and alive everything looks on those pages and it made me a bit wistful that the main stories are in black and white only. Anyway, the frame story is about kiosk owner Shokry who just can’t seem to sell the three first class wishes he inherited from his father. As a devout Muslim, he is very much opposed to using wishes and he’s even on the fence about selling them. But a friend and loyal customer nudges him until he relents and is willing to sell the wishes. The three stories that make up the bulk of the graphic novel are the tales of where those wishes went and how they were used.
First is Aziza ‘s story. Even as a young girl in Egypt, her life has been mostly tragedy. With very sick parents, she had to grow up way too fast and watched her peers’ shenanigans from afar, rather than enjoying childhood with them. Among those she watches is the boy she will eventually marry (this is not a spoiler) who wants nothing more than his very own Mercedes. He gets his hands on some third-class wishes, so-called Delesseps , and they come true in just the way third-class wishes are known to. With a dark sense of humor. So he gets his Mercedes, only it’s toy sized, at least one of the times he tries wishing for one. Aziza’s story begins during childhood, follows into her marriage, and then further into a time of grief and suffering. Through her eyes, we get to see a working class woman whose persistence and sense of justice get her through terrible ordeals, whose lot in life is decidedly unfair, and whose story is all the more touching for how it ends.
The second wish goes to Nour , who is a privileged, very rich, kid suffering from depression. This becomes quite clear early on for us readers, although it takes a while to sink in with Nour themself. This part of the book was hard to read, not only because of the tough subject matter, but also because it felt so real. It was one of the best uses of the medium I have ever seen. Nour likes to make little graphs, chronicling their moods and feelings, and author Deena Mohamed uses these graphs to perfection and the highest emotional impact. In this book, an image truly says more than a hundred words.
Nour’s journey stands in stark contrast to Aziza’s, first and foremost because Nour can just go and buy that wish, while Aziza has to work for years to afford it. But it also shows that money can only buy you so much. Nour’s relationship with their parents is cold, they may be privileged on many levels, but still suffer from one of the most debilitating mental diseases with seemingly no way out. Except, perhaps, that wish…
Lastly, the frame story turns into the third main story of the book, namely that of Shokry himself. We go back in time and learn how Shokry’s father ended up with those three super valuable wishes (also getting a glimpse of colonizers being assholes), then we see Shokry struggle in the present on what to do about the last one remaining. When he finds out his friend has cancer, he thinks he has found his solution, yet she vehemently refuses to be “cured” or her life prolonged in any way by this wish. So Shokry’s story then turns into her story and that was maybe the most heartbreaking one. There was one scene in particular that absolutely gutted me and left me with tears running down my cheeks. I advise checking out content warnings.
All three stories show different types of wishes, how they can be used for good or evil, how capitalism sucks and the world is still a super unfair place, even when people can wish for things like their own dinosaurs or a cure for cancer. There is so much to discover among the pages of this book, and it is such a pleasure pulling back its layers. And let’s not forget the art! I haven’t even said anything about that yet because I probably would have loved this book even if the artwork were ugly. Which it decidedly isn’t. Obviously, this is a matter of taste, but I find Deena Mohamed’s drawing style superb and beautiful. Her characters are distinct, they are not all pretty (in fact, most of them aren’t conventionally beautiful at all). Just like their personalities and stories, their outside appearance is realistically imperfect. I adore how Nour, who is never gendered and whom I read as non-binary, doesn’t look particularly feminine or masculine, I love how Shawqia is downright ugly and it doesn’t matter, I loved the colors in the colored panels, I loved the contrast in the black and white ones. Yeah, I’m not being a very useful reviewer, I know.
I enjoyed this first and foremost for the beautiful stories it told, for the new perspectives it offered me, and the original ideas it showed. But there is so much more to it. I just can’t stop thinking about this book, about the idea of wishes, how first world countries immediately found ways to manipulate and exploit poorer countries, leaving this magical version of Earth essentially the same as our non-magical one. Just, you know, with more people with horns on their head and dinosaurs in their backyards. Shubeik Lubeik paints a vivid picture of humanity as it is, filtered through a fantastical lens. It has deep insight into what makes us human, it doesn’t ever preach or judge, it simply tells wonderful stories about people that feel so alive it hurts. And although it’s only been a few days since I read the book, I kind of already want to go back and re-read it.
MY RATING: 9.5/10 – Damn close to perfection!
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