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modryzamek's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Minor: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Colonisation
emdowd's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Gun violence and Police brutality
Moderate: Drug abuse, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
kelly_e's review
- 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
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."
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
- 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
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
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Homophobia and Blood
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Death of parent
mattyb's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
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
beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition
- 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
I read this novel in three days which is extremely rare for me, and I kind of wish I'd taken more time to fully absorb all the points Nazemian was making in what for him, is a deeply personal story.
The novel is narrated by three young men from three generations of an Iranian family: Moud, an out gay Iranian-American in 2019, his father Saeed, an Iranian engineering student sent away for his safety among growing calls for revolution in 1978, and finally, Bobby in 1939 - a young man who has no idea of his heritage, and whose American stage mother is determined to turn her handsome son into a movie star.
Aside from love, one of the main themes of OTBM is about injustice and the many forms it takes, and the difficulty of fighting that injustice when the odds are stacked against you. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, colonialism, sexism, xenophobia - Nazemian touches on all of these issues, some more briefly than others but nevertheless still impactful. It also talks about the blind spot that exists in Western society when it comes to people of different ethnicities, depicted here in the conversations between Moud and his American boyfriend, Shane.
A minor criticism I did have was that there were times at which I felt a disconnect between myself and the main characters like I was viewing them from behind a glass wall. However, that may have been because I was reading too fast to be able to process my feelings properly.
This was a stunning, important read.
Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Colonisation and War
Rampant homophobia, including one character who is initially very homophobic. Use of the "p*nsy* slur. A significant portion of the novel is set in historical and modern-day Iran, which is under authoritarian rule and has an appalling human rights record, particularly against women, children, and LGBTQIA+ folk. In Iran, same-sex relations may be punishable by death.aus10england's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, and War
Moderate: Hate crime, Blood, Police brutality, and Outing
Minor: Violence
imstephtacular's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
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