A review by themagicviolinist
Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed
2.0
First book read in the New Year! But grrrr, I was hoping to like it more. I'll start with what I didn't like so I can at least end this review on a positive note:
-The romance was cliché, predictable, and not at all interesting. It was super obvious from very early on what was going to happen and there were so few obstacles standing in Maya's way.
-The Islamophobia and terrorist attack became background plot. I was expecting it to be a huge focus, but it wasn't, and I was super disappointed. This book could have been the next THE HATE U GIVE, but I found the problems that came from the terrorist attack to be very easily taken care of when they should have been complicated.
-There also wasn't any focus on Muslim culture?????? Maya NEVER talks about what she thinks about her religion or anything, even though she clearly has different thoughts from her parents on everything.
-The writing wasn't great and the dialogue was awkward. I didn't like most of the characters because of this, even though I should have liked the characters otherwise.
-The whole thing just felt super surface level and too easy. If the author had dug a little deeper, it could've been a masterpiece, but it was just fluffy, and not everything in it was supposed to be fluffy.
-MAYA WAS SO UNFAIR TO HER PARENTS. Sometimes she had the right to be a little annoyed, but other times she acted exasperated by them when they were being totally reasonable. At one point, her mom offers to stay home with her because she's not feeling well and she's like, "Mom, I'm being smothered!" So rude.
Things I did like:
-There was a huge focus on Indian culture, which I found to be refreshingly diverse and interesting. It made for great family dynamics and perspectives on how to straddle two cultures (American and Indian).
-I liked that Maya wanted to be a documentarian! I've never seen that kind of art portrayed in a YA book and it was cool to see a unique side of movie-making.
-The book touched on a lot of different important issues Indian-American and Muslim-American families faced today, and while I wish those issues had been explored more, they were still brought up, and that's a step in the right direction.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI, which I personally didn't like that much, but I know many people did. It read very similarly.
-The romance was cliché, predictable, and not at all interesting. It was super obvious from very early on what was going to happen and there were so few obstacles standing in Maya's way.
-The Islamophobia and terrorist attack became background plot. I was expecting it to be a huge focus, but it wasn't, and I was super disappointed. This book could have been the next THE HATE U GIVE, but I found the problems that came from the terrorist attack to be very easily taken care of when they should have been complicated.
-There also wasn't any focus on Muslim culture?????? Maya NEVER talks about what she thinks about her religion or anything, even though she clearly has different thoughts from her parents on everything.
-The writing wasn't great and the dialogue was awkward. I didn't like most of the characters because of this, even though I should have liked the characters otherwise.
-The whole thing just felt super surface level and too easy. If the author had dug a little deeper, it could've been a masterpiece, but it was just fluffy, and not everything in it was supposed to be fluffy.
-MAYA WAS SO UNFAIR TO HER PARENTS. Sometimes she had the right to be a little annoyed, but other times she acted exasperated by them when they were being totally reasonable. At one point, her mom offers to stay home with her because she's not feeling well and she's like, "Mom, I'm being smothered!" So rude.
Things I did like:
-There was a huge focus on Indian culture, which I found to be refreshingly diverse and interesting. It made for great family dynamics and perspectives on how to straddle two cultures (American and Indian).
-I liked that Maya wanted to be a documentarian! I've never seen that kind of art portrayed in a YA book and it was cool to see a unique side of movie-making.
-The book touched on a lot of different important issues Indian-American and Muslim-American families faced today, and while I wish those issues had been explored more, they were still brought up, and that's a step in the right direction.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI, which I personally didn't like that much, but I know many people did. It read very similarly.