Novelist Yasmin Zaher’s debut novel, The Coin, is a mesmerizing a unique entry into the canon of great literature about a young woman seeking purpose in New York City. The narrator is a Palestinian immigrant and a middle school teacher at an all-boys school, a job she holds not out of necessity but out of interest in molding young minds, as she lives lavishly off the inheritance from her deceased parents. Our initial introduction to her brings to mind the classic scene from American Psycho, in which Patrick Bateman describes his bizarrely detailed rigorous morning routine—and as it happens our narrator is just as rigorous about her hygiene.
The narrator’s obsession with cleanliness feels like more of a reflection of her inner battle with morality than an aesthetic choice. Zaher said in an interview with Vogue: “I was initially interested in cleanliness because it’s a good entry point into describing New York City. The city itself is very dirty, and while living there, I felt like my body, too, was becoming dirtier than usual. As I continued writing, I understood that cleanliness is a metaphor for morality and also for control. We can’t control the world and its chaos, but we can control our home and bodies, so we build illusions of control by keeping things clean and organized.”
Throughout the novel, the narrator is plagued by opposing instincts: one embracing of American consumerism, one lamenting the loss of her homeland and family. She seeks control in any way she can get it, whether it be ownership of possessions, her cleaning rituals, or her offbeat teaching methods that fall outside the realm of traditional education. The novel is a chaotic narrative that spirals out in a way that feels both hilarious and deeply intentional. At one point our narrator becomes involved in a scheme selling overseas Birkin’s at a markup, with a mysterious man she meets in her neighborhood, and has other misadventures offer both humor and pathos.
Zaher’s writing strikes the perfect balance between absurdist humor and sobriety, between sparse prose and lushness. The novel is both a deeply thoughtful treatise on morality and control, and the deep anxiety and grief of displacement—and also a comedy featuring a quirky female protagonist. Zaher’s sense of New York is pitch-perfect, and her narrator’s specific wit is just so evocative and memorable. A truly promising debut!