rhughes7's review against another edition
4.0
What YA fiction should be. Simplifies things in the best possible way, while still maintaining nuance.
katcg's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
relaxing
fast-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? It's complicated
3.75
irrelahvant's review against another edition
2.0
The book set place in the suburban neighbourhood in Georgia (correct me if I'm wrong) where we meet former friends; Jamie and Maya. Jamie is Jewish whereas Maya is a Muslim. We follow their adventures as they reunite and promote the campaign of a democrat senator for the town.
First off, I am never a fan of split narrative, it's like one moment you'll be reading in the voice of Jamie - getting to know him better, being his shoes and you're then somehow in Maya's shoes instead and you're just like.....wait a minute. You know how they say like you're in the flow of a book and you've stopped abruptly as the narrative. Yup.
There's a few themes going on while I ventured further into the book - there were a few pretty sensitive topics that were brought to life; for example - this book was set during the holy month of fasting / Ramadan which is relatively rare in the generalised YA books. My girl Maya really be kissing James during Ramadan huh.
I appreciate getting to explore more on Muslim / Jewish tradititons but I felt like that quote;
'Too many cooks spoil the broth'
There are so many issues and topics that are being handled in one book that it felt meh. It just turned out to be very one-sided. Like for example, they'll be discussing about Ramadan, then it's on Hijab Ban, then tackling a bit on racism. For me, I would prefer if the author chose a theme and explore more on the topic throughout the book - for example, if the scene is to be set in Ramadan - then focus more on the holy month. Instead of, you know, acknowledging it and just leaving it there.
Onto the character, personally I found that Maya has a very 'Blame everyone but yourself' vibe going on.
Is that how teenagers are?
WAS I LIKE THAT?
I cannot symphatise with her - She reminds me of an acquaintance I know who needs to let people know she's grunge, not your average Muslim and, to always feel bad for her. This person would get really angry when you wish your fellow Muslim pals a 'Eid Mubarak' when you're not Arab. And I'll just be side-eyeing her like.......
I can see that Jamie is trying his best to socialise with Maya but she gives off this 'The World vs. Me' vibe.
Overall, I felt like the book could do away with some parts of the story as I skimmed through several chapters could still have a rough idea of what is going on. I also thought that it could focus on a handful (one or two) major topics to discuss on but not a whole chunk of it as it would then feel very one-sided.
At the end of the day; I like to think back on what did I learn from the book.
So far, not much.
First off, I am never a fan of split narrative, it's like one moment you'll be reading in the voice of Jamie - getting to know him better, being his shoes and you're then somehow in Maya's shoes instead and you're just like.....wait a minute. You know how they say like you're in the flow of a book and you've stopped abruptly as the narrative. Yup.
There's a few themes going on while I ventured further into the book - there were a few pretty sensitive topics that were brought to life; for example - this book was set during the holy month of fasting / Ramadan which is relatively rare in the generalised YA books. My girl Maya really be kissing James during Ramadan huh.
I appreciate getting to explore more on Muslim / Jewish tradititons but I felt like that quote;
'Too many cooks spoil the broth'
There are so many issues and topics that are being handled in one book that it felt meh. It just turned out to be very one-sided. Like for example, they'll be discussing about Ramadan, then it's on Hijab Ban, then tackling a bit on racism. For me, I would prefer if the author chose a theme and explore more on the topic throughout the book - for example, if the scene is to be set in Ramadan - then focus more on the holy month. Instead of, you know, acknowledging it and just leaving it there.
Onto the character, personally I found that Maya has a very 'Blame everyone but yourself' vibe going on.
Is that how teenagers are?
WAS I LIKE THAT?
I cannot symphatise with her - She reminds me of an acquaintance I know who needs to let people know she's grunge, not your average Muslim and, to always feel bad for her. This person would get really angry when you wish your fellow Muslim pals a 'Eid Mubarak' when you're not Arab. And I'll just be side-eyeing her like.......
I can see that Jamie is trying his best to socialise with Maya but she gives off this 'The World vs. Me' vibe.
Overall, I felt like the book could do away with some parts of the story as I skimmed through several chapters could still have a rough idea of what is going on. I also thought that it could focus on a handful (one or two) major topics to discuss on but not a whole chunk of it as it would then feel very one-sided.
At the end of the day; I like to think back on what did I learn from the book.
So far, not much.
bowtiequeer's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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
3.75
tcarg's review against another edition
4.0
This book (and my review of it) is dedicated to Stacey Abrams and Jon Ossoff. I’m very glad I read this *after* the GA senate runoff so that I didn’t have to feel totally hopeless.
briaraq's review
2.0
I didn’t like this book. Maya is literally celebrating Ramadan and all she does is fast. She briefly mentions to Jamie that she doesn’t want to go against her religion then puts it on her parents. It just didn’t seem like religion was important to her, so what was the point of her being Muslim? Yeah, she fights back against the hijab bill, but was that for Muslims or just her mom? Anyway, I think if you’re going to bring a religious holiday into the story then it needs to truly be part of the story because all Maya cares about is how hungry she is from fasting. Also, I hate the whole “I’m giving up my religion for this white boy” trope. Why is it that poc always have to give up things for white people? And why as poc would anyone want to keep dealing out this trope? Give me a “I’m a white boy giving up my religion for literally any other person” trope.
It is cool that the authors actually went door to door campaigning to get more info about that.
It is cool that the authors actually went door to door campaigning to get more info about that.
vsrkive's review against another edition
This might be the greatest collaboration ever. Fingers crossed
mcoenraad's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
lawbooks600's review against another edition
3.0
Representation: Asian main character, Jewish main character, side Asian character
Trigger warnings: Racism, antisemitism, sexism, harassment
Read this review for context: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5336250779
6/10, only a few days ago I added this to my list and I hoped that it would be an interesting read, today I finally read this 400-page book and I must admit this wasn't the book I was expecting it to be, what I thought was going to be just a romance turned out to a political, American and preachy kind of book which reminisces of an earlier book I read so where do I even begin? It starts with the two main characters Jamie who is a Jew and Maya who is Asian and has a different religion, immediately there is an election coming up soon and for some reason the book decides to bring up the term "canvassing" and I had no idea what it meant, I had a hunch that it meant campaigning and when I searched it up I was proven correct so there's that. The tensions start to build as the election draws closer and that's where things start to get preachy for starters there is this meme called Fifi the dog and some right-wing extremists used that first on social media and then when they saw stickers that said something along the lines of "Vote Rossum!" they replaced it with a Fifi sticker and that's atrocious enough as it is. I had some thoughts about some irritating aspects of the book such as why did it have to be that drawn-out, tedious and stretch over 400 pages? Why did the book have to shove messages like the fact that discrimination is horrific over and over into my head when I already know that and also it was bothersome that this book aged like milk. There's no mention of social media platforms like Discord but maybe that was more obscure back then compared to right now, Twitter is now called X but it's still called Twitter in the book and Super Mario Odyssey was the hit game in the past but now I don't remember anyone playing it anymore. At least the Nintendo Switch didn't age yet. The situation gets direr when a new law is coming called H.B. 28 which long story short is a racist law and despite all the campaigning efforts the results came in and the Republicans barely won over the Democrats with Newton being the new governor of Georgia. He passed the new law much to the characters' disappointment and this wraps the book up bittersweetly. I couldn't relate to that part since I don't live in the United States of America and politics work differently, where I live there is a Prime Minister, premiers, mayors and other changes. Oh wait, I have one more part I must talk about, the romance and I found more problems with that as well which didn't help the book as a whole, first off are the main characters Jamie and Maya, I could not feel anything for them as they developed an attraction and even then that was put to the side most of the time and I didn't like that Maya had to essentially convert her religion to be with Jamie who is a Jew more. That's a bit overkill and problematic and if you like romances you can try Where the Road Leads Us by Robin Reul.
Trigger warnings: Racism, antisemitism, sexism, harassment
Read this review for context: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5336250779
6/10, only a few days ago I added this to my list and I hoped that it would be an interesting read, today I finally read this 400-page book and I must admit this wasn't the book I was expecting it to be, what I thought was going to be just a romance turned out to a political, American and preachy kind of book which reminisces of an earlier book I read so where do I even begin? It starts with the two main characters Jamie who is a Jew and Maya who is Asian and has a different religion, immediately there is an election coming up soon and for some reason the book decides to bring up the term "canvassing" and I had no idea what it meant, I had a hunch that it meant campaigning and when I searched it up I was proven correct so there's that. The tensions start to build as the election draws closer and that's where things start to get preachy for starters there is this meme called Fifi the dog and some right-wing extremists used that first on social media and then when they saw stickers that said something along the lines of "Vote Rossum!" they replaced it with a Fifi sticker and that's atrocious enough as it is. I had some thoughts about some irritating aspects of the book such as why did it have to be that drawn-out, tedious and stretch over 400 pages? Why did the book have to shove messages like the fact that discrimination is horrific over and over into my head when I already know that and also it was bothersome that this book aged like milk. There's no mention of social media platforms like Discord but maybe that was more obscure back then compared to right now, Twitter is now called X but it's still called Twitter in the book and Super Mario Odyssey was the hit game in the past but now I don't remember anyone playing it anymore. At least the Nintendo Switch didn't age yet. The situation gets direr when a new law is coming called H.B. 28 which long story short is a racist law and despite all the campaigning efforts the results came in and the Republicans barely won over the Democrats with Newton being the new governor of Georgia. He passed the new law much to the characters' disappointment and this wraps the book up bittersweetly. I couldn't relate to that part since I don't live in the United States of America and politics work differently, where I live there is a Prime Minister, premiers, mayors and other changes. Oh wait, I have one more part I must talk about, the romance and I found more problems with that as well which didn't help the book as a whole, first off are the main characters Jamie and Maya, I could not feel anything for them as they developed an attraction and even then that was put to the side most of the time and I didn't like that Maya had to essentially convert her religion to be with Jamie who is a Jew more. That's a bit overkill and problematic and if you like romances you can try Where the Road Leads Us by Robin Reul.
dwolfe347's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5