A review by angieinbooks
I Can't Think Straight by Shamim Sarif
2.0
This book was so problematic for me for so many reasons, mostly to do with the writing.
First, there's a bit of Instalove happening between Tala and Leyla, so much so that I'm supposed to believe that a) they fall in love as quickly as they do and that b) they're each other's soulmates. It's not that I found them unlikeable; it's just that I found them to be boring. So I'm a bit at a loss to understand why they clicked so instantly with the each other. Tala is more problematic than Leyla, but she's supposed to be. But I wasn't invested in them as characters and I was less invested in their love story. I was actually rooting for Leyla and Jennifer at one point.
Second, the points of view changed from paragraph to paragraph and spanned multiple characters and time jumps and geographical locations without warning or a way to signify the change. It wasn't hard to follow, but it was a major distraction.
Third, there's so much potential for interesting discussions: Palestine/Israel, Christianity/Islam, etc, and how those topics effect the LGBTQ elephant in the room. And, yes, those subjects are discussed, but not in any meaningful way. At least I felt they should have featured more.
It just fell flat in virtually every possible way. I read it. I mostly enjoyed it. But I have to ask myself, when I read queer stories, if I like it because it's a love story between two women or if it's because it's actually a good story. If the former, I think that's okay. These stories still need to be told and written and published and read. Hopefully we'll have an abundance of good/bad narratives to choose from in the future. But I'm not there anymore. I want well written stories in traditionally published spaces. I don't want to only find good sapphic stories in fan fiction.
There were a few highlights for me: Yasmin, Leyla's sister provided support and hilarity; Ali and Hani seemed like a standup guys and good friends; Rani, Tala's mother's maid, was my favorite character, but I don't want to spoil why.
First, there's a bit of Instalove happening between Tala and Leyla, so much so that I'm supposed to believe that a) they fall in love as quickly as they do and that b) they're each other's soulmates. It's not that I found them unlikeable; it's just that I found them to be boring. So I'm a bit at a loss to understand why they clicked so instantly with the each other. Tala is more problematic than Leyla, but she's supposed to be. But I wasn't invested in them as characters and I was less invested in their love story. I was actually rooting for Leyla and Jennifer at one point.
Second, the points of view changed from paragraph to paragraph and spanned multiple characters and time jumps and geographical locations without warning or a way to signify the change. It wasn't hard to follow, but it was a major distraction.
Third, there's so much potential for interesting discussions: Palestine/Israel, Christianity/Islam, etc, and how those topics effect the LGBTQ elephant in the room. And, yes, those subjects are discussed, but not in any meaningful way. At least I felt they should have featured more.
It just fell flat in virtually every possible way. I read it. I mostly enjoyed it. But I have to ask myself, when I read queer stories, if I like it because it's a love story between two women or if it's because it's actually a good story. If the former, I think that's okay. These stories still need to be told and written and published and read. Hopefully we'll have an abundance of good/bad narratives to choose from in the future. But I'm not there anymore. I want well written stories in traditionally published spaces. I don't want to only find good sapphic stories in fan fiction.
There were a few highlights for me: Yasmin, Leyla's sister provided support and hilarity; Ali and Hani seemed like a standup guys and good friends; Rani, Tala's mother's maid, was my favorite character, but I don't want to spoil why.