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anahita_10's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Okay, let me just say that at first I was very excited to read this book because I saw all of the positive reviews and heard that it had a lot of good representation. I come from a Desi family myself, so I was very excited to read a book about a character like myself. This book is not the rep you're looking for though.
This book was incredibly frustrating to read, and honestly at the end I was just pissed. The book is full of stereotypes, and the story is incredibly rushed and overshadowed by Maya's love life. 70% of the book is just Maya pining for Phil and leading Kareem on. We also barely hear about the terrorist attack, even though that's supposed to be a major part of the plot, we get a page in between chapters and the actual attack happens after 2/3s of the book is over. The writing is also incredibly juvenile and sounds more like a Wattpad fanfiction than an actual book. It's just all over the place.
Maya's parents just want tomarry her off to a "suitable" boy, become a lawyer and were basically extremely stereotypical Desi parents. They also had a "love marriage" but opposed her picking her own spouse?
Maya is an unlikeable character as well and she's always making irrational, stupid decisions without thinking them through. She hates her culture and wishes that she was someone else. Maya's always complaining about how her house "smells like onions" and it honestly kind of offends me. The author also can't come up with snacks that aren't samosas and parathas. Like for an Indian author, she did an absolutely terrible job at representing Desis? I expected more from this book and it was such a let down. I also expected Maya to be an intelligent character, but she acts like an immature little girl in every chapter.
Not to mention, her crush on Phil and Phil himself are extremely irritating to read about. She has "swimming lessons" (basically goes on dates with him in a BIKINI), and they both flirt with each other while he has a girlfriend?? And neither of them feel any regret at going behind Lisa's back either. Lisa is just a one-dimensional "villain" because she stood in between Maya and Phil. Phil himself is also the stereotypical hot jock, and captain of the football team.
After the terrorist attack happens, the story just gets even worse. Her parents are scared for her and won't let her go to NYU, even after it turns out the terrorist isn't Muslim or Indian. Maya gets attacked by Brian and breaks her elbow. Then she decides to run away to "escape" from her "suffocating" house and lies to her parents about going to Violet's house. This is such an idiotic decision because her parents are going to lose even more trust in her and are DEFINITELY not going to let her go to NYU. Anyways, she goes to a cabin in the woods (with no food, no electricity, and no way of contacting ANYONE). She also goes outside half naked, and is found by Phil who takes her back home.
The story then jumps to her telling her parents that she's going to NYU with or without the support of her parents, and her parents are extremely petty and disown their only daughter. In the epilogue, after all that, she isn't even dating Phil?
The story honestly felt pointless to me and Maya came off as whiny, privileged, and immature. The only likeable characters were Violet, Kareem, and Hina. The fact that this book has so many books is astonishing to me, because it's honestly one of the worst books I've read. The marketing doesn't make sense either, because it's supposed to be about a young Indian Muslim girl dealing with Islamophobia in America, but in reality more than half of it is about Maya's love life. I feel like it really doesn't represent me at all and that the author, being Indian herself could've done a better job.
This book was incredibly frustrating to read, and honestly at the end I was just pissed. The book is full of stereotypes, and the story is incredibly rushed and overshadowed by Maya's love life. 70% of the book is just Maya pining for Phil and leading Kareem on. We also barely hear about the terrorist attack, even though that's supposed to be a major part of the plot, we get a page in between chapters and the actual attack happens after 2/3s of the book is over. The writing is also incredibly juvenile and sounds more like a Wattpad fanfiction than an actual book. It's just all over the place.
Maya's parents just want to
Maya is an unlikeable character as well and she's always making irrational, stupid decisions without thinking them through. She hates her culture and wishes that she was someone else. Maya's always complaining about how her house "smells like onions" and it honestly kind of offends me. The author also can't come up with snacks that aren't samosas and parathas. Like for an Indian author, she did an absolutely terrible job at representing Desis? I expected more from this book and it was such a let down. I also expected Maya to be an intelligent character, but she acts like an immature little girl in every chapter.
Not to mention, her crush on
After the terrorist attack happens, the story just gets even worse.
The story honestly felt pointless to me and Maya came off as whiny, privileged, and immature. The only likeable characters were Violet, Kareem, and Hina. The fact that this book has so many books is astonishing to me, because it's honestly one of the worst books I've read. The marketing doesn't make sense either, because it's supposed to be about a young Indian Muslim girl dealing with Islamophobia in America, but in reality more than half of it is about Maya's love life. I feel like it really doesn't represent me at all and that the author, being Indian herself could've done a better job.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol