A Gazelle Ate My Homework

Sick of living in the shadows of a corrupt post-colonial Ivory Coast, intrepid gazelle hunter Habib Fanny schemes to see the opulence of America for himself, with naught but rudimentary raft-making skills and his trusty spear to aid him. Well...that’s one version of the story, at least. In truth, Fanny’s story takes him on an adventure across continents, around dangerous political intrigue, into the depths of poverty, and through the complicated systems that provide him with a medical education. His journey to become an American is beset not by lions and man-eating sharks, but rather by persistent internal questions, which he attacks with the same rigor he brings to his schooling. What does it mean to be a Muslim, a Christian, an agnostic, or possibly, maybe, an atheist? What does it mean to be African in America, but not yet Black? And how on earth do you deal with the dating scene? As he navigates the shifting waters of cultural identity, he’s forced to confront his own colonialist prejudices. Habib Fanny—that’s Doctor Habib Fanny, M.D., actually—doesn’t find gold-paved streets in America, but with humor and curiosity, he finds a path all his own.

“With humility and humor, Habib takes us on his personal adventure in this engaging and clever memoir. A Gazelle Ate My Homework is a captivating look into what it means to be an immigrant, an apostate, and finally, an American.” —Dave Consiglio, Jr., author of Spoiler Alert: Everyone Dies, educator, and advocate

"Read Habib's book for the humor, but mostly for the wisdom. Read it because reading his writing is fun, but mostly because it's insightful. Read this book because it will change the way you see the world, but mostly because it will change you." —Dushka Zapata, author of How To Be Ferociously Happy

"Habib Fanny's observations are thoughtful, witty, and inciteful without being cruel, which makes him a unicorn in the area of social commentary." —Mercedes R. Lackey, author of the Heralds of Valdemar series

"Habib Fanny’s honest and moving memoir is a fascinating saga of escape and discovery. With shining intelligence as a guidestar and reason as a compass, he navigates the turbulent waters of immigration and cultural diversity without losing his wits or his wit." —Dan Barker, author of Godless: How An Evangelical Preacher Became One of America’s Leading Atheists
 

"Habib Fanny is many things at once. He lives in many places at once. And that's why his book isn’t just one to be read, but experienced."—from the foreword by Ali A. Rizvi 

“An addition to the American immigrant story that we need to read about.”—Abdi Nor Iftin, author of Call Me American

“An inherently interesting blending of memoir and social/analytical commentary, Dr. Habib Fanny's A Gazelle Ate My Homework: A Journey from Ivory Coast to America, from African to Black, and from Undocumented to Doctor (with side trips into several religions and assorted misadventures is especially and unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Contemporary American Biography collections.” —Abel Greenspan, Midwest Book Review

"There are some people who defy the odds. There are a few more people who defy categorization. There are ever more people who defy Authority. (Thank goodness for that, especially at this moment in history.) But there are not that many who do all three, in a foreign language, while a teenager, in a broken family and without a peer group's support. In fact, here he is: Habib Fanny." —Expendable Mudge

Habib Fanny is a physician who grew up in post-colonial Cote d'Ivoire before moving to the US. He now lives in Memphis, Tennessee. Ali A. Rizvi is the author of The Atheist Muslim.