Reviews

Yet again Nazemian book has made me cry!! I loved getting to meet each generation of the Jafazadeh family as a teenager, and the transitions into flashbacks were so beautifully done. You're introduced to fathers who repressed their feelings/have secrets and then you get to find out why. As always with Nazemian, his characters are flawed and deeply lovable. I love the balance between the political and the personal, these lovable characters and the Iranian protests they're wrapped up in.

Like his other books, this is very YA and a bit heavy-handed, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to everyone, but if you liked Heartstopper this might be for you. I think it's hilarious that the most contrived / unconvincing part of the book was the hetero romance.

valancy48's review against another edition

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0.25

This book was bad, so much so I couldn’t even motivate myself to properly finish it. Like it’s sooo obvious that this was written for an aGendA , which okay, BUT WHEN ITS WRONG!! Like what I mean is during the 1978 pov the guy was like "uNLiKe AmeRiCan uNivErSitiEs, iranian universities are free" or smthing along those lines BUTTT LIKEEE back then before Reagan universities in America were mostlyyyy much more affordable than now so that’s a completely false modern perspective added that makes the whole pov looks anachronistic. But also why would a Iranian even give a fk back then so why would you include that a persons internal thoughts like that., especially phrasing it like that. Or like reading over my ss here was aanother in the 1938 pov that was like the coach prolly thinks he’s he guys Mexican dad is taking jobs away from real Americans, but this is 1938, ofc white ppl are racist. But the adage used is very modern day that it jsut is jarring in my mind, like jsut make the man racist bc he is, cuz the way the povs make jabs at current American issues is jsut down so not subtly likeeee if you want to emphasize a point don’t add a modern pov to an unrelated topic. Also the 1938 pov doesn’t even make sense bc iirc that was the grandfathers pov, but this is 2017, so the grandfather is at least in his teens so the grandpa is in his 90s? But how can he be raised in america his whole life without knowing his farsi or roots but his son never knew that. Like there’s no way in hell he got rid of accent like that, smway it would still be obvious and his son would tell his dad is from America? Like that didn’t make no sense

Also like second cousins doesnt even exist as a concept in farsi, like you are what you are so the whole big deal about them being second cousins was so cringe to me

Or like I remember there being so instances that I was like wtfff is this on that I had to keep putting the book down and walking away bc it was so aggravating. But the rest was just too much, like jumping between 3 POVs was too unnecessary and just too much. And the 1978 character(I don’t remember their names it’s been a while since I’ve read) but just felt like your most stereotypical American hating revolution supporting iranian. and he felt like a mouthpiece at time. Like yeah I admittedly agree the points he makes are good but the way the politics are conveyed is jsut so not well done and unsubtle. Like the part about the mullahs and sanctions, like yeah like it’s legit and honestly I’ve heard that type of talk irl but for goodness sakes when you just throw it in there with no appropriate lead in, it’s just feels forced in the writing, not that ppl aren’t this blunt irl but it could def be written less mouthpiecey.

like I’ve read the authentics and another book of his I don’t remember the title, but I don’t Get what the hype is with this author, bc at most his plots are mediocre but his writing is even more mediocre if that’s even possible. Like I don’t see what ppl see in this unless they’re like that guys podcast bf?? Likeeee 💁‍♀️

Also one thing the jungle red for the women was for the nails, not the lipstick (which wasn’t clear in the text) 🙄

joisaddler's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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