Review: Lale Gl’s autobiographical debut novel Ik ga leven was first published in 2021 when the author was just 23

Lale Gül’s autobiographical debut novel Ik ga leven (“ I Will Live ”) was first published in Dutch in 2021 when the author was just 23 .

It became an immediate bestseller and was published in English translation last month .

The story follows the fictional counterpart, Büsra , a twenty-year-old Muslim rebel living in the Netherlands and chafing against religious authority.

I Will Live includes a graphic sex scene and depicts female lust with admirable frankness.

It is the final rebellion for a young Muslim girl whose virginity is supposedly sacred and central to her family's (particularly the men's) sense of honour.

The chief merit of Gül ’s book is her willingness to stage and articulate both sides of this debate.

Her boyfriend, Lucas , sympathises more with Islamic collectivism than with her own individualism.

Büsra is a fine thinker, unafraid to break the rules and describe the world as she sees it.

While I cannot entirely endorse Gül ’s neo-Nietzschean project, her guiding philosophy has enabled her to resist victimisation and reclaim a sense of agency.