10 minutes and 38 seconds.
That’s the exact amount of time the human brain persists to exist after death.

And with each minute passing after her heart stopped beating, Tequila Leila unearths a distinct scent, a taste, or a sensation in her archive of memories. Taking us through her life from her claustrophobic pious home in Van to the insidious illusion of Istanbul rife with political turmoil. She recounts her life in a flurry of raw grief, measured joy, and earnestness.

All the while, her soul group of five misfits search for her cold corpse in the Cemetery of the Companionless for one last funeral to celebrate her remarkable life.

Because she was indeed remarkable. Even if she was merely a statistic in the numerous crimes against sex workers in the city, she lived a sincere life. Always scraping for any ounce of hope she can find. Leila is more than just a number, and so are we.

I can’t help but cry while reading the injustices these fictional characters experience in an all too realistic and strange world. And I can’t also help but marvel at how one can search for a found family in the unlikeliest places.

“She had never told her friends this, not in so many words, but they were her safety net. Every time she stumbled or keeled over, they were there for her, supporting her or softening the impact of the fall. On nights when she was mistreated by a client, she would still find the strength to hold herself up, knowing that her friends, with their very presence, would come with ointment for her scrapes and bruises; and on days when she wallowed in self-pity, her chest cracking open, they would gently pull her up and breathe life into her lungs.”

This emotionally charged book explores the inhumane misogyny Middle Eastern women experience from their collectivist culture, an unflinching lens on the world of sex work, the many faces of grief and healing, the contradictions of religious practices + how we redefine faith, and the painful persistence of good people uprooted from their homes just trying to live in an already foreign and unfair world.

To me, 10 Minutes and 38 Seconds In This Strange World demands the readers to remember. For it is by being loyal to our memories that we exhibit our humanity. Remembering the shared lives of these fictional characters in the same way we remember the pain of real people fighting the oppressive regime in our own world.

But above all else, this book reminds me of how all-encompassing love can be.

I recommend you only read this if you have the bandwidth to consume triggering content.

TW: death, child sexual abuse, violence against women, massacre.