Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian

8 reviews

emdowd's review against another edition

hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Police brutality

Moderate: Drug abuse, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kelly_e's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Title: Only This Beautiful Moment
Author: Abdi Nazemian
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Rating: 4.50
Pub Date: May 9, 2023

T H R E E • W O R D S

Poetic • Enlightening • Impactful

📖 S Y N O P S I S

2019. Moud is an out gay teen living in Los Angeles with his distant father, Saeed. When Moud gets the news that his grandfather in Iran is dying, he accompanies his dad to Tehran, where the revelation of family secrets will force Moud into a new understanding of his history, his culture, and himself.

1978. Saeed is an engineering student with a promising future ahead of him in Tehran. But when his parents discover his involvement in the country’s burgeoning revolution, they send him to safety in America, a country Saeed despises. And even worse—he’s forced to live with the American grandmother he never knew existed.

1939. Bobby, the son of a calculating Hollywood stage mother, lands a coveted MGM studio contract. But the fairy-tale world of glamour he’s thrust into has a dark side.
Set against the backdrop of Tehran and Los Angeles, this tale of intergenerational trauma and love is an ode to the fragile bonds of family, the hidden secrets of history, and all the beautiful moments that make us who we are today.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Only This Beautiful Moment was another one of my 12 recommendations from 12 friends challenge in 2024. I don't read a lot of young adult, simply because I often want more depth and emotion in my reads, yet this one sounded like it had those things.

Following three generations of men from the same Iranian family at the same point in their lives, this coming-of-age story is incredibly well written. It's intergenerational queer historical fiction at its finest. It touches on theme of ever changing nature of familial bonds, of the search for identity, and on the power of not only forgiving the ones we love, but ourselves.

Beyond the actual story, I enjoyed learning so much about Iranian culture and history, more specifically the LGBTQ community there. An ode to the resilience of the Iranian people and queer Iranians, this is an incredibly educative book. I also appreciated the idea of how simple moments in time help shape who we are and who we become.

Only This Beautiful Moment was another solid recommendation for my 2024 challenge. The beautiful depiction of family history and the resilience of the human spirit is something I won't soon forget. This is one I will be recommending to readers of all ages for years to come.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• intergenerational stories
• learning about different cultures
• queer historical fiction

⚠️ CW: homophobia, police brutality, religious bigotry, hate crime, racism, xenophobia, toxic relationship, violence, gun violence, death, death of parent, grief, sexual content, drug use, deportation, suicide, infidelity, outing, blood, cultural appropriation, alcohol, body shaming, cancer, terminal illness

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Not everything unspoken is a secret. Some things just belong to those who experienced it."

"History is a quilt. You pull one thread and everything changes."

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Cultural appropriation, and Deportation

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, and Alcohol

thecriticalreader's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 

Context: 

I decided to read Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian based on a recommendation by PeruseProjects, a BookTuber. I borrowed it from my library through the Libby App.

 

Review:

Before I get into the specifics of my review, I simply want to state that I really liked Only This Beautiful Moment and that I would strongly recommend it to everyone (provided they are okay with the book’s content warnings, of course). 

 

Nazemian proves himself to be an exceptionally talented writer when it comes to crafting unique and complex characters in a short amount of time. His three main characters are full of personality and depth, and his side characters stand out as well. None of them falls into cliché or archetype. Nazemian relies on his incredibly well-written characters to build their life stories, which are just as rich, unique, and believable as the characters themselves. From these characters’ stories, Only This Beautiful Moment explores how differences in culture, upbringing, and personality shape the complex dynamics of interpersonal relationships. The book never sacrifices its characterizations to make a point, although Only This Beautiful Moment certainly has messages on hope, queerness, and cultural identity that it wants to deliver. 

 

My only criticism of Only This Beautiful Moment is that I think it is slightly held back by its status as a YA book. In trying to fit three generations’ stories into a relatively short book, Namzemian sacrifices some development. Only Moud’s story feels complete; Saeed’s story feels rushed, like a crash course on his life; and Bobby’s story feels truncated, like the author cut several chapters out for the sake of brevity. The result is some character development moments that don’t quite feel earned. Similarly, some of the conversations around thematic topics are a bit on the nose rather than occurring organically, as if the author felt the need to cram them in. I don’t say this often, but would LOVE to read a version of this book that’s a couple hundred pages longer. Given what I’ve seen of Namezian’s writing here, I know he would have done an amazing job with a longer version of this book. If he ever writes an adult novel, I will pick it up! 

 

The Run-Down: 

You will probably like Only This Beautiful Moment if . . . 

·       You’re a human person with emotions? (I’m only half-joking here; although this book isn’t perfect, I find it hard to imagine someone not liking it)

·      You are interested in themes of queerness, family, and cultural identity (specifically Iranian American cultural identity)

 

You might not like Only This Beautiful Moment . . .

·      If you don’t want to read a book that mentions political/cultural events circa 2019

·      If you don’t want to read the perspective of someone who holds homophobic views/biases

 

A Similar Book: 

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. Similarities include:

·      Historical fiction coming-of-age with characters who discover their queer identity in mid-nineteenth-century California

·       Explorations of multi-generational relationships and immigrant identities

·      Heartwarming and affirming narratives that don’t ignore the tough realities of life 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and Deportation

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Pedophilia, Suicide, Car accident, Death of parent, and Cultural appropriation

mattyb's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and War

Moderate: Cancer, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Outing, and Deportation

Minor: Addiction, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Classism

aceofknives's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Drug use, Sexual content, Death of parent, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Deportation

Minor: Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Car accident, and Classism

joisaddler's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

pey333's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Police brutality

Moderate: Drug use, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Deportation

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Car accident, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Deportation