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A review by mspilesofpaper
The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
The Henna Wars had been on my tbr for ages and I finally read it as last entry for Sapphic September.
I will keep the review relatively short and separate it into "the good" and "the bad".
The Good
- The representation in the form of a sapphic Muslim Bangladeshi girl (Nishat) and a bisexual Black Brazilian girl (Flávia who I think is bi-racial as her cousin on her father's side is white) who live in Ireland because I think both are relatively rare.
- The themes of cultural appropriation, homophobia (from family & friends but also classmates), Islamophobia and racism. Sometimes, the bullying is extreme but I think it's still an accurate representation and shows what BIPOC people have to deal with.
- The food. (I got hungry when the author wrote about the Bengali dishes.)
The Bad
- There is so much happening in this book, which makes it a very rushed reading experience. There's the issue of Flávia not understanding the cultural appropriation of Nishat's culture because "art is art", which is somewhat resolved but mostly glossed over.
- Flávia's cousin bullied Nishat for years (since primary school when she realised that it isn't cool to be friends with a brown girl) gets away with a light slap on the wrist at the end, gives a pseudo apology and that's it. In a similar vein: the pseudo apology by one of Nishat's best friends. Girl, why are you friends with them?
- The entire conflict surrounding Nishat's unwanted outing at the Catholic Girls School! There's a bit shouting between two parties but that's it.
- The romance. Yes, parts of it are cute but the entire thing is so weird and out of nowhere. It has also a ton of conflict in it but in the end everyone is fine? Even Nishat's parents are getting around her oldest being gay.
- The writing style was sometimes ... eeh at times. It made everyone seem even younger than they are and gives it a Middle-Grade feeling instead of YA. Partly, the narration is also extremely overly dramatic for no reason in some scenes.
- Pop culture references. Sorry, I just hate them.
I think the idea behind the book is a good one but the execution falls extremely flat.
I will keep the review relatively short and separate it into "the good" and "the bad".
The Good
- The representation in the form of a sapphic Muslim Bangladeshi girl (Nishat) and a bisexual Black Brazilian girl (Flávia who I think is bi-racial as her cousin on her father's side is white) who live in Ireland because I think both are relatively rare.
- The themes of cultural appropriation, homophobia (from family & friends but also classmates), Islamophobia and racism. Sometimes, the bullying is extreme but I think it's still an accurate representation and shows what BIPOC people have to deal with.
- The food. (I got hungry when the author wrote about the Bengali dishes.)
The Bad
- There is so much happening in this book, which makes it a very rushed reading experience. There's the issue of Flávia not understanding the cultural appropriation of Nishat's culture because "art is art", which is somewhat resolved but mostly glossed over.
- Flávia's cousin bullied Nishat for years (since primary school when she realised that it isn't cool to be friends with a brown girl) gets away with a light slap on the wrist at the end, gives a pseudo apology and that's it. In a similar vein: the pseudo apology by one of Nishat's best friends. Girl, why are you friends with them?
- The entire conflict surrounding Nishat's unwanted outing at the Catholic Girls School! There's a bit shouting between two parties but that's it.
- The romance. Yes, parts of it are cute but the entire thing is so weird and out of nowhere. It has also a ton of conflict in it but in the end everyone is fine? Even Nishat's parents are getting around her oldest being gay.
- The writing style was sometimes ... eeh at times. It made everyone seem even younger than they are and gives it a Middle-Grade feeling instead of YA. Partly, the narration is also extremely overly dramatic for no reason in some scenes.
- Pop culture references. Sorry, I just hate them.
I think the idea behind the book is a good one but the execution falls extremely flat.