Book Review: Life As A Unicorn

Life As A Unicorn: A Journey From Shame To Pride And Everything In Between is the memoir of Amrou Al-Kadhi, AKA the most fabulous drag performer, Glamrou.

Growing up in Dubai and Iraq, Amrou had little-to-no opportunity to grapple with sexual identity. Eton also failed to offer such an opportunity (shock! horror!)

Critically, this book is about fluidity and about accepting that there is no one way to identify both religiously and sexually. It does so without ignoring the tremendous amount of pain and rejection that often comes first. The book is a window into Amrou’s experience of being both Muslim and being queer (which are not mutually exclusive), and finding a sense of identity through moving away from rigid gender conformities.

Amrou delves into British Islamaphobia and the self-hate which manifested when they tried to assimilate, as well as the way Iraq is depicted in society, media and in film. In an art class focused on finding “one’s true self”, Amrou was encouraged to explore the violence of “his people” back “home”, instead of their struggle with sexuality and being shamed by family and culture; as a young, talented actor, Amrou was considered for roles such as terrorist” and “terrorist’s son”; at Eton, Amrou endured taunts that they had gotten lost at the “bazaar”.

Despite what can only be described as a traumatic, chaotic start to life, a unicorn emerges.