Good People
By Patmeena Sabit
Published 2026
Read June 2026
This book’s title is interesting. Who are the good people?
In the first few pages of the book, we learn that the body of an 18-year-old Muslim girl is found drowned in a canal. What happened? Accident? Suicide? Murder?
The entire book consists of statements made by friends, relatives, neighbors, teachers, journalists, the police but not directly from any members of the girl’s family. This provides the reader a set of potential stories about what did or didn’t happen and why.
Rahmat Sharaf, his wife and two children immigrate to Northern Virginia from Afghanistan to escape the situation there. They live for many years in a one room apartment while Rahmat eeks out a living. They add two children to the family during this time. Through shear grit, determination, and some luck Rahmat grows a one-person cleaning business into a very successful business and increases their wealth more through various business deals. They move to the best neighborhood in the area, send their children to an exclusive private school, drive fancy cars, take vacations and so on.
Everything is going great until daughter Zorah’s friends are no longer content with sleepovers at Zorah’s house. Rather they want to meet with friends at the mall and at parties. The problem is that there will be boys present as well as girls. The Afghan culture conducted by the tight Northern Virginia Afghan community doesn’t condone this type of interaction. So, the Sharaf family and Zorah have a problem.
We know that Zorah doesn’t survive the issue. We don’t know what happened. We learn several possibilities and several reasons for this. Relatives and Afghan friends generally coalesce on a girl run wild because her family allowed her too much freedom. She behaved badly and has ruined not only her own reputation, but that of her family. Zorah’s friends were puzzled by Zorah’s withdrawal from them (we learn she lost phone privileges) and thought her parents were too restrictive. The family’s neighbors had limited information as they hadn’t really interacted with the family prior to the event but are concerned about the stigma the family has brought to their good community.
So, who are the Good People and who are the Bad People? Or is it that simple?
The author’s intent is likely to help the reader confront the myriad of stories that can arise from a tragic event and what influences the stories that various parties tell. Further she requires us to confront the question of which, if any, practices and beliefs of an immigrant population should be left at the door when they seek to make a life in the US. This latter question has been an unresolved one since people began moving to the New World. Whose culture is the right one? What cultural elements are acceptable to retain and which aren’t? What are the benefits of “assimilation” and what are the downsides? Who gets to decide whether to assimilate and how much? How do immigrants retain a sense of self when they move to a new country?
This reader was compelled to keep reading to hear all the statements and try to figure out what the real story was. And who the Good People were. And what should or shouldn’t this particular community do to enable their children to be Good People and have good lives in the US.
This reader will suggest this book for one of her book groups. This book points out there is much to discuss.
