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peachani's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Moderate: Racism and Islamophobia
Minor: Hate crime, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War
suzsta'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? No
3.25
Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail
chaoticnostalgia'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
4.25
Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Drug use, Excrement, and Car accident
Minor: Infidelity
miachalupa's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, and Death of parent
steveatwaywords'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
Our main characters are real, fitting inconveniently into their fictional culture as one does, in communities ruptured as often happens, and made refugees, migrants, as too many are. The novel works, then, as a dialogue between the micro (the relationship between Saeed and Nadia) and the macro (a world compelled to confront the immigrant experience): relationships of choice and of compulsion. Fittingly, and without spoilers, Hamid's closing chapters pull these together in poetic epiphany for us, even if all his characters never quite get it.
Accept the character asides, accept the narrator's distanced omniscience, accept the conceit which propels the novel into its collisions--what awaits is little less than the collective responsibility we all have as readers and dwellers.
Why not five stars? If anything, Hamid is too modest in his ambition, in the depths of his explorations, opting instead for a quickly told short work which might do more still than call the question.
Moderate: Racism, Violence, and Death of parent
cerilouisereads'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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Death of parent, and War
caitonline'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
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Drug use, Suicide, Violence, Grief, and Sexual harassment
readwriteknit'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
3.5
Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Murder, and War
ok7a'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? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, and War
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Hate crime and Police brutality
sarahdoggen'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
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Grief, War, and Classism