Reviews with content warning for Islamophobia - I Will Greet the Sun Again

This was heartbreaking and uplifting in the best of ways. An astute portrait of a family disrupted by an abusive dad. I couldn’t sleep after reading bc the book invoked a lot of childhood memories. A feast, 90s nostalgia included. Pls check CW before reading.

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lauren_mansfield0201's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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aliciawithoutkeys's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

this story was beautiful. the story of the main character was heartbreaking to follow.
wasn’t a fan of the writing style. no chapter titles, and no quotation marks for when someone is speaking. also, scenes often felt unfinished, like being left hanging without resolve. didn’t particularly enjoy that chapters often skipped months or years ahead, and sometimes it took a while of confusion to figure it out.
overall i did really enjoy it and was quick to read. the ending was hopeful, even though it felt incomplete, it also felt realistic.

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abbie_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my free digital ARC in exchange for a review!

I Will Greet the Sun Again is a gorgeous and heartbreaking portrayal of a queer Iranian-American boy’s coming of age, set against the backdrop of 9/11. This is Khabushani’s debut but his prose is assured and he paints an extraordinarily vivid picture.

I loved the depiction of awkward adolescence, which alternates between cute and bumbling and more serious tones. The sensory details are so vivid that you feel like a fly on the wall. You can feel the slightly oppressive atmosphere of their LA flat where three teenage boys are sleeping, smell the chai in the kitchen, sense the ominous shift in the air when their father gets home. When the boys are whisked away to Iran by their father, furious at the effect America is having on his boys and wife, the atmosphere changes but is just as well written. The noisy chaos of the airport, the bedlam of the roads where it’s every driver for himself, the sleepy, peaceful ambience of their grandfather’s house, embodied by afternoon naps on the terrace and the scent of ripe figs (though things become less idyllic at night).

The book focuses more on father / son dynamics (content warning for childhood sexual abuse), and I did want a little more from their mother whose story would warrant a book of her own. Khabushani manages to deliver emotional gut punches and explore sensitive topics, but avoids the common pitfall of beating the reader over the head with trauma porn.

A moving debut that highlights those who feel they must suffer in silence, the ups and downs of brotherhood, the balance between multiple aspects of identity (queer, Muslim, Iranian-American) written in lovely prose. Out on 3rd of August in the UK!

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ellenwelsh's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I Will Greet the Sun Again is a beautifully written novel following K, a sensitive young boy from an Iranian family living in LA around the turn of the millennium.

The story moves between LA and Iran, and Khabushani evokes a vivid sense of place in both of these settings. At the same time, the writing feels murky, like snippets of childhood memories. I very much got the feeling when I was reading this of seeing the world through a child's eyes; not an easy thing for an author to accomplish.

Despite my upbringing being very different from K's, I felt that it captured feelings of youth very well; awkward moments of being trapped in your own fear; boredom; roaming around simply for something to do; the different things you notice when you're a child. The different ways adults treat you, and perhaps not realising why they treat you these ways until later in life. I really enjoyed the parts of the book set in Iran where K meets relatives like Amoo and Khaleh who understand him and show him kindness. Those were really touching.

The moments of K experiencing queer desire and yearning were so tender and relatable. Although I felt nervous of where they might lead, knowing how pervasive homophobia was at this time, they felt like a balm, balancing the heavier emotions throughout.
There are some upsetting scenes in this book, particularly of child sexual and physical abuse, and racism, especially in the wake of 9/11. They are sensitively handled in my opinion, but read with care if these issues affect you.

I did struggle slightly with the punctuation in this book (no speech marks) but I know not everyone feels the same way about this choice.

Overall, this is a moving book about family, diaspora, and growing up that I will keep thinking about. Khashayar J. Khabushani is a promising new writer of literary fiction.

Thank you to Viking for sending me this advance proof copy.

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