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A review by donasbooks
Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win by Susan Azim Boyer
5.0
Thank you to Susan Azim Boyer, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for this audiobook of JASMINE ZUMIDEH NEEDS A WIN.
Jasmine Zumideh is a 17-year-old senior in 1979 Midwestern US, who wants nothing more than to blend in and get into an Ivy League school where she can study writing and become a journalist and move to L.A. and write about her favorite bands for Cream. Because Rolling Stone *so* doesn't take music seriously. And the only way to get there, of course, is to be voted senior class president.
But how to do that when the news keeps screaming about Iran and her social rebel brother keeps using the election to rile up the whole school? How else besides changing her name, for starters?
JASMINE ZUMIDEH NEEDS A WIN features an adorable, far-fetched what-can-go-wrong-will sort of plot. Conflict builds (and builds) at a preposterous pace as a result of truly great character development...these kids act believably like kids. That is-- unbelievably. The narrator is the main character, Jasmine, and the voice is wonderfully addictive. As an audiobook, I found this narrative wildly entertaining.
My only quibble is that there are a couple places where Boyer doesn't get the setting quite right. I lost access to the audiobook before I could write this review, so I don't have my notes anymore to point out exact instances. To be honest there aren't many of these errors, but because I was actually alive then, they glare out at me.
Besides that, I loved the humor in this book, which balances the heaviness and importance of the political discussion at hand. Elegant work.
Rating
Jasmine Zumideh is a 17-year-old senior in 1979 Midwestern US, who wants nothing more than to blend in and get into an Ivy League school where she can study writing and become a journalist and move to L.A. and write about her favorite bands for Cream. Because Rolling Stone *so* doesn't take music seriously. And the only way to get there, of course, is to be voted senior class president.
But how to do that when the news keeps screaming about Iran and her social rebel brother keeps using the election to rile up the whole school? How else besides changing her name, for starters?
JASMINE ZUMIDEH NEEDS A WIN features an adorable, far-fetched what-can-go-wrong-will sort of plot. Conflict builds (and builds) at a preposterous pace as a result of truly great character development...these kids act believably like kids. That is-- unbelievably. The narrator is the main character, Jasmine, and the voice is wonderfully addictive. As an audiobook, I found this narrative wildly entertaining.
My only quibble is that there are a couple places where Boyer doesn't get the setting quite right. I lost access to the audiobook before I could write this review, so I don't have my notes anymore to point out exact instances. To be honest there aren't many of these errors, but because I was actually alive then, they glare out at me.
Besides that, I loved the humor in this book, which balances the heaviness and importance of the political discussion at hand. Elegant work.
Rating