The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
nairam1173's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Racism
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Xenophobia, and Bullying
jamiejanae_6's review
adventurous
funny
reflective
sad
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
2.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Xenophobia, Classism, Excrement, Racism, Abandonment, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Physical abuse, Blood, and Bullying
ephalent's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Domestic abuse
Minor: Kidnapping, Blood, and Drug use
mdwsn27's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Body shaming, Grief, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Blood, Classism, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Confinement
tarajoy90's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Blood
lrm11's review against another edition
emotional
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
2.75
This book made me SOB. I thought the 1001 nights structure was interesting, but I wish it had been more clearly established. There were parts I had to skip because the descriptions were graphic. It was a good book but I could never reread it. Did I mention I l’m sobbing?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Violence and Domestic abuse
okiecozyreader's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
I highly recommend this video introducing Daniel and his mother: https://youtu.be/YXNuhG7_hLo
This book won the Printz (ya book award) and is a memoir by Khousrou Daniel Nayari. I have wanted to read this book for a while, and I have had some time recently with my 15 year old son, so I got to listen to it with him. Being in Oklahoma (and my neighborhood backs up to Edmond, Oklahoma which he mentions throughout. It was so fun to hear him talk about places we know - even though many were during a difficult time of his life). I love that he narrates this memoir.
He has had such an interesting life - being born in Iran. His mother’s life was threatened because she became a Christian, and they became refugees - for 10 months in Dubai, then in Italy, and finally in Oklahoma. The book goes in not a linear format, it goes back and forth in memories and how things relate together, ending with a visit from his father to Oklahoma. It is all told almost as if it’s written by him as a high school student - his memories in school and observing the world around him. But it sounds like a teenager - with lots of poop stories and random thoughts. My son thought it had too much rambling at times, but I loved listening to it with him. And I’m even more grateful that Khousrou shared his story with us.
Kind of like how his story is “rambling”, it is somewhat inspired by 1001 Nights:
“In the 1,001 Nights, Scheherazade—the rememberer of all the world’s dreams—told stories every night to
the king, so he would spare her life.” (First page)
Ch 4 (audio)
“So the riddle asks, what makes the champion a coward?”
“Need?”
“Yes. The weakness of needing something.”
—
“…stories get better as they get more true.”
—
“You don’t get to choose what you remember.
A patchwork memory is the shame of a refugee.”
Ch 5
“One, every story is the sound of a storyteller begging to stay alive.”
—
“THE LESSON HERE IS that your happiest memories can become your saddest all of a sudden.”
Ch 8
“Dear reader, you have to understand the point of all these stories. What they add up to. Scheherazade was trying to make the king human again. She made him love life by showing him all of it, the funny parts about poop, the dangerous parts with demons, even the boring parts about what makes marriages last.
Little by little, he began to feel the joy and sadness of others.
He became less immune, less numb, because of the stories.”
Ch 9
“The point of the Nights is that if you spend time with each other—if we really listen in the parlors of our minds and look at each other as we were meant to be seen—then we would fall in love. We would marvel at how beautifully we were made. We would never think to be villain kings, and we would never kill each other. Just the opposite.
The stories aren’t the thing. The thing is the story of the story.”
—
“In a refugee camp, it’s the waiting that will kill you.
The whole point of a refugee camp is that there are actual people trying to kill you.
But really, it’s the slow numbing death of hopelessness that does it. You have to imagine a room that’s just a cement cube—nothing beautiful in it. If you’re not careful, this is also what becomes of the parlor of your mind.” (He references the parlor of the mind a few times and I love this idea)
“DON’T KNOW HOW MY MOM was so unstoppable despite all that stuff happening. I dunno. Maybe it’s anticipation.
Hope.
The anticipation that the God who listens in love will one day speak justice.
The hope that some final fantasy will come to pass that will make everything sad untrue.
Unpainful.
That across rivers of sewage and blood will be a field of yellow flowers blooming. You can get lost there and still be unafraid. No one will chase you off of it. It’s
yours. A father who loves you planted it for you. A mother who loves you watered it. And maybe there are other people who are kind…”
This book won the Printz (ya book award) and is a memoir by Khousrou Daniel Nayari. I have wanted to read this book for a while, and I have had some time recently with my 15 year old son, so I got to listen to it with him. Being in Oklahoma (and my neighborhood backs up to Edmond, Oklahoma which he mentions throughout. It was so fun to hear him talk about places we know - even though many were during a difficult time of his life). I love that he narrates this memoir.
He has had such an interesting life - being born in Iran. His mother’s life was threatened because she became a Christian, and they became refugees - for 10 months in Dubai, then in Italy, and finally in Oklahoma. The book goes in not a linear format, it goes back and forth in memories and how things relate together, ending with a visit from his father to Oklahoma. It is all told almost as if it’s written by him as a high school student - his memories in school and observing the world around him. But it sounds like a teenager - with lots of poop stories and random thoughts. My son thought it had too much rambling at times, but I loved listening to it with him. And I’m even more grateful that Khousrou shared his story with us.
Kind of like how his story is “rambling”, it is somewhat inspired by 1001 Nights:
“In the 1,001 Nights, Scheherazade—the rememberer of all the world’s dreams—told stories every night to
the king, so he would spare her life.” (First page)
Ch 4 (audio)
“So the riddle asks, what makes the champion a coward?”
“Need?”
“Yes. The weakness of needing something.”
—
“…stories get better as they get more true.”
—
“You don’t get to choose what you remember.
A patchwork memory is the shame of a refugee.”
Ch 5
“One, every story is the sound of a storyteller begging to stay alive.”
—
“THE LESSON HERE IS that your happiest memories can become your saddest all of a sudden.”
Ch 8
“Dear reader, you have to understand the point of all these stories. What they add up to. Scheherazade was trying to make the king human again. She made him love life by showing him all of it, the funny parts about poop, the dangerous parts with demons, even the boring parts about what makes marriages last.
Little by little, he began to feel the joy and sadness of others.
He became less immune, less numb, because of the stories.”
Ch 9
“The point of the Nights is that if you spend time with each other—if we really listen in the parlors of our minds and look at each other as we were meant to be seen—then we would fall in love. We would marvel at how beautifully we were made. We would never think to be villain kings, and we would never kill each other. Just the opposite.
The stories aren’t the thing. The thing is the story of the story.”
—
“In a refugee camp, it’s the waiting that will kill you.
The whole point of a refugee camp is that there are actual people trying to kill you.
But really, it’s the slow numbing death of hopelessness that does it. You have to imagine a room that’s just a cement cube—nothing beautiful in it. If you’re not careful, this is also what becomes of the parlor of your mind.” (He references the parlor of the mind a few times and I love this idea)
“DON’T KNOW HOW MY MOM was so unstoppable despite all that stuff happening. I dunno. Maybe it’s anticipation.
Hope.
The anticipation that the God who listens in love will one day speak justice.
The hope that some final fantasy will come to pass that will make everything sad untrue.
Unpainful.
That across rivers of sewage and blood will be a field of yellow flowers blooming. You can get lost there and still be unafraid. No one will chase you off of it. It’s
yours. A father who loves you planted it for you. A mother who loves you watered it. And maybe there are other people who are kind…”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: War, Blood, and Animal death
jo845's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Abandonment
Minor: Animal death, Blood, and Racial slurs
sarah984's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
It took me a while at the beginning to figure out how to read this book, but once I got into it, I couldn't stop reading. At first it feels like a lot of vignettes only connected in that they're about the same person, but gradually it all comes together. The author's "kid" voice is really well-done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Religious bigotry, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Racism, and Bullying
Minor: Torture, Confinement, Body shaming, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Pedophilia, War, and Drug use
bookthia's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
4.25
What a beautiful funny moving creative memoir. Told through the lens of memories of his 10 year old self, Daniel Nayeri is an Iranian refugee living in Oklahoma with his mother and sister. His father remained behind in Iran. The book is intended for a YA audience, as the multiple references to poop will reveal. But the themes are deep and meaningful as Daniel deals with bullying, discrimination, abusive relationships, etc while also receiving beautiful acts of generosity and kindness.
On the surface, the book is a collection of stories, some true and some untrue, about Iranian life and culture, his childhood in Iran (where his name was Khosrou) his journey to America, and his experiences as an immigrant. On a deeper level, Daniel is trying to weave a tapestry of narrative that mimics the oral storytelling history of his homeland.
Highly recommend this one. I recommend that parents read first before giving to a child under 12.
On the surface, the book is a collection of stories, some true and some untrue, about Iranian life and culture, his childhood in Iran (where his name was Khosrou) his journey to America, and his experiences as an immigrant. On a deeper level, Daniel is trying to weave a tapestry of narrative that mimics the oral storytelling history of his homeland.
Highly recommend this one. I recommend that parents read first before giving to a child under 12.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Excrement, Vomit, and Blood