Mona: an immodest memoir of race and rebellion

"As irreverent as it is insightful, MONA turns the repressed Muslim girl trope on its head as Azra, academic by day and stripper by night, navigates a double life and a political awakening. Azra Liaqat Khan's ordinary Muslim American childhood in Charlotte, North Carolina transforms after her family joins the strict Salafi sect and a new lifestyle is mandated: No more music, Bollywood films, or mixing between the sexes. Azra becomes a pro at evading her desi parents' rules-hiding her boyfriend, her social life, and her assortment of sleeveless tops. Right as she begins to find fun and freedom in college, post-9/11 Islamophobia snaps Azra out of her stupor, prompting her to investigate American empire and the country's zeal for plunder. But when her parents decide it's time for her to get married, and a parade of losers appears, Azra flees to New York City for graduate school and finds herself, for the first time, far from her family's watchful eyes-and $80,000 in debt. And so "Mona the Stripper" is born. On and off stage, Azra becomes immersed in the politics of sex work, the racial dynamics of the strip club, and in a new life away from her parent's surveillance.