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dramagirl2003's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
thoughts while reading
quotes
There's no such thing as an Islamic terrorist.
It was morally impossible—philosophically impossible—to be Muslim and a terrorist at the same time. There was nothing in Islam that condoned the taking of innocent lives.
And yet there it was, every day, every day, the conflation:
Muslim terrorist. Islamic terrorist.
p136:
I had a thousand human needs that needed tending to and I felt paralyzed by the weight of those needs…
…worrying that I perhaps I wasn't eating enough or sleeping enough…
…my heart and mind were so full these days they were stretching at the seams…
p190:
I realized, as I cried myself to sleep that night, that I might've hurt him less had I simply driven a stake through his heart.
Graphic: Islamophobia
Moderate: Death and Xenophobia
Minor: Mental illness, Self harm, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition
4.0
Although I didn't love the romance aspect and would've loved to see more of Noah, I thoroughly enjoyed this book on family, grief, and struggles of being Muslim in a country that thinks you are the personification of pure evil. I was a little confused at the beginning with the switching of time a few times throughout the book tho.
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Racism, Self harm, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Car accident
audreyyu213's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Some notes:
- 1st Person POV
- melancholic, deep read; opens you up
- writing is absolutely captivating and leaves a raw and bittersweet feeling
- the wording, phrases, and descriptions are insane like they are so vivid; had to pause to just process them
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Islamophobia, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Minor: Misogyny
jadie_berg'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
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Hate crime, Self harm, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Car accident
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and War
se6500's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Self harm, Islamophobia, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Bullying, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
maple_dusk'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
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Islamophobia, and Grief
Moderate: Death and Medical content
Minor: Car accident
Smokings3lin's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Self harm, Islamophobia, Grief, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Mental illness and Medical content
Minor: Hate crime and Panic attacks/disorders
thepretentiouspoet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
For one, I think that it has been marketed incorrectly. The blurb states that it is a book about the Muslim experience post-9/11, and that it centres on one family's response to the outpouring of hate in America directed at Muslims. 9/11 is touched on, and the role of Islam in Shadi's life is a fairly prominent feature, but it is definitely not a story about those things. It is a story of a girl trapped between the death of her brother, her father's ill health, her mother's suffering mental health, and the resentment that has brewed between her and her sister, the strains of a broken friendship, the isolation of being a teenage girl shouldering familial responsibilities among personal and global tragedy, and the isolation of simply being a teenage girl.
I think, as a result of this, the focus in this book was very divided. I didn't know what this was meant to be a story about - flitting between family troubles, friendship troubles, some kind of forbidden romance between Shadi and Ali, a very anti-climatic friendship with Noah, and the occasional themes of Islam and Islamophobia, it was very hard to actually grasp what I as a reader was meant to gain from reading this story. Which is fine - not every book needs to have something to say. But for a book that covered such a range of topics, it was jarring to have the themes be so constantly reprioritised within the narrative - I was so interested to read about Shadi's hatred and love for her father, who she blames for her brother's death and subsequently wishes death upon, but then we would be swept into a chapter in which Shadi and Ali have some meaningless platitude-filled argument over why they should or shouldn't be together.
Shadi as a character was very interesting, and I loved reading about her. The use of lyrical repetition in the writing style was beautiful, and it really aided Shadi's voice. Which is why the inane relationship with Ali annoyed me so much - Shadi is fascinating, and yet she becomes another all-too-malleable female character whenever Ali entered a chapter. If the romance had been cut from this book, it would have been far stronger.
And finally: the book was too short. It covered so many topics with incredible nuance and depth, and yet it stumbles into an ending around the 250-page mark with some cliched kiss-and-make-up scene. Why the story ended there, I do not know. All the situations that I was interested to read more about were left unresolved, and we are left only with an image of Shadi being just another female YA protagonist. It did a massive disservice to the book - if it had been 100 pages longer and able to fully explore the incredibly interesting themes brought up through every character Shadi interacted with that wasn't Ali, then it would have been a masterpiece.
As such, I cannot rate it higher than 4 stars, and I am remiss to even give it that. It was a fantastic book excluding the bizarre ending and really unnecessary romance, and it is so sad that it didn't achieve all the things that it so easily could have. I think it's a great book, but with some obvious caveats to that. Would still recommend, broadly, and will definitely read it again.
Graphic: Islamophobia and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Self harm, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Car accident
Minor: Hate crime
rey_therese07'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
3.5
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Grief
Moderate: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Medical content, Car accident, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Racism, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and War
kommatator'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Self harm, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Drug use, Islamophobia, Medical content, and Alcohol