Both/ And: A Life in Many Worlds
By Huma Abedin
Simon and Schuster, US
ISBN: 978-1501194801
544pp.

Autobiographies can be difficult to review. Not everyone is a reliable narrator and sometimes the book is clearly a focus-grouped, public relations opportunity. Both/ And: A Life in Many Worlds by Huma Abedin appears to be a publication of the latter kind, intended to redeem Abedin to her girlboss Hillary Clinton, in light of the view that Abedin’s husband, former congressman Anthony Weiner, more or less cost Clinton the United States presidential elections of 2016.

True to the book’s subtitle, Abedin has experienced life in quite a few worlds. Born in the US to a Pakistani mother and an Indian father, she was raised mainly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where her parents worked at the University of Jeddah; her mother taught sociology and her father was adviser to the president of the university. Abedin herself holds a degree in journalism and political science from George Washington University and is one of Clinton’s closest aides.

Clinton’s presidential loss came about when Weiner was being investigated for sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl. An examination of his laptop revealed emails between Abedin and Clinton, which led to the discovery that Clinton was using a private server to share potentially sensitive information, thereby violating American federal law.

Both/ And can be split into a retelling of Abedin’s personal and professional lives. The former is heart-breaking to read: she was attacked and hounded by the media, and then by members of the public, for her husband’s actions. The couple was also placed under surveillance to monitor their son’s welfare. Reading Abedin’s recollections, it appears to be a gruelling nightmare of intrusion and humiliation.

Huma Abedin’s autobiography can be split into a retelling of the writer’s personal and professional lives. The former is heart-breaking to read; the latter reads like a public relations exercise in service of Hillary Clinton

Abedin comes across as a fairly devout and practising Muslim — she begins her book with a quote from the Holy Prophet (PBUH): “Happy is the man who avoids hardship, but how fine is the man who is afflicted and shows endurance.” She also refers frequently to things that will resonate with Muslim immigrant children, such as a love for the filet-o-fish burger at the fast food franchise McDonald’s.

She further refers to her Muslim upbringing when talking about how she got through the difficult time of surviving public ire. In one painful passage, she describes pacing and “repeating a familiar prayer over and over again, asking for some solace, some sanity, some peace, some escape. ‘La hawla wa la quwatti illa billahi’. A prayer that is simply an acceptance that no human being has the power over anything except through God’s grace.”

Reading this was harrowing. I felt sad and angry that this talented young woman, with big ideas and a quiet dignity, was compelled to endure such excruciating public embarrassment at the hands of a “sex addicted” narcissist.

She had already broken me earlier, though, in telling of her few romantic experiences: “I had only one significant relationship in college, and even then, it was significant to me, not to him. He was another Muslim student and a few years older than me. ‘You are just different. You are not the kind of girl that boys date. You are the kind of girl that boys marry, and, uh, I am not ready to be married. And… I am sorry’.”

For a young woman trying to make sense of her different worlds and cultures, “This meant not being special enough. I buried the hurt and turned back to my studies and my campus responsibilities, and quickly dismissed any foolish notions about romance.”

But then, such a poignant outpouring of emotion is countered by Abedin’s eyewash of her professional life, and all it made me do was roll my eyes and guffaw through much of the remaining book.

Most of it reads like pageantry, with Clinton being a contender for the Miss America crown, especially when Abedin talks about “Hillaryland”: “Hillaryland is ‘How is your mom feeling?’ and ‘You should talk to my allergist.’ Hillaryland is ‘Happy Birthday!’ and ‘Amazing job!’ and ‘Get some rest.’ Hillaryland is all of those things because Hillary Clinton is all of those things.”

A poignant outpouring of emotion is countered by Abedin’s eyewash of her professional life, and all it made me do was roll my eyes and guffaw through much of the remaining book.

Abedin even tries to defend Clinton’s support for the Iraq war, arguing that Barack Obama never had to vote on it since he was not in the Senate at the time, and she takes pot-shots at a woman who voted for Clinton’s rival Bernie Sanders because Clinton wasn’t her kind of feminist: “Ah, okay, got it. And who exactly was her kind of feminist? No clue. It must be that fantasy woman, the one who was never actually running.”

Or maybe, Huma, the woman’s “kind of feminist” wasn’t the one who promptly forgot about human rights in Libya once she got the opportunity to bomb one of the country’s largest cities, Benghazi.

What saddens me most is that, for all her impressive background and credentials, Abedin’s job is basically a personal assistant catering to the whims of a dour, cantankerous boss. Take the following exchange between her and Clinton’s trip adviser, Kelly Craighead.

“What would you do if you were in a faraway country with Hillary Clinton and she lost a contact lens just before giving a speech?” Craighead asks. Without hesitation, Abedin replies that she would get on the floor and find the missing lens.

“Exactly,” replies Craighead, “You get on your hands and knees on a disgusting, grimy floor and find that contact, because that’s what needs to be done. If you can’t find the lens, perhaps the speech can’t be delivered, and that cancelled speech leads to a domino effect of consequences. A disappointed audience, a speculating media, a frustrated administration, an offended host country. Find the contact lens and the world keeps turning.”

The grandiose if-then scenario notwithstanding, is this what the best Muslim minds of our generation must do? Scrounge about on the floor for a (white) war criminal’s contact lens?

Abedin desperately tries to give Clinton a sense of humour, but the ‘jokes’ she shares fall flat. For instance, she writes: “On nights our team went out to eat, HRC would order whatever the fish and vegetable options were on the menu, then wink at the server while pointing at me ‘and she’s going to have a side of French fries’. I knew full well who those fries were actually meant for.”

Neither are Abedin’s tasks, such as organising state visits, very interesting to read. What does redeem the narrative somewhat is how Clinton stood by Abedin during Weiner-gate. In the end, it comes down to a woman who has been betrayed by her husband, standing with another woman who has had the same done to her.

As of now, Abedin continues to be Clinton’s right-hand woman and, on the personal front, appears to be doing well since divorcing Weiner — she is rumoured to be seeing Hollywood heartthrob Bradley Cooper.

But when she ends the book saying, “I am still certain about one thing. Hillary Clinton would have been an exceptional President of the United States. Maybe one of the best presidents”, one is inclined to say, ‘No, Huma. Please, give that one up.’

The reviewer is an international lawyer.
She can be reached at ayesha.alam.malik@googlemail.com

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, January 8th, 2023