A review by readabookorfive
How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi
2.0
3.5/5!
trigger warnings; homophobic language, blackmail, racial profiling, religion
How It All Blew Up is a really well rounded novel and I enjoyed my time reading it. Amir was a really good main character to follow and I felt sad for him in some parts and frustrated in other parts about his decisions. I understand why he ran away to Italy but a part of me really didn’t like the fact he left Jackson to have to navigate everything himself.
As a queer, white person from a non religious family I will never understand the fears some people have when coming out to their religious parents and I recognise that privilege and will definitely be amplifying this book because it will be such an important read for so many people. I will also thankfully never understand the fear of being detained at the airport because I have a small argument on a plane because I’m white which is another massive privilege I have. This book really highlighted the prejudices people face simply for the colour of their skin and their race and it’s horrific. Please, world, sort yourself out.
The family Amir finds himself in when in Rome was one of my favourite parts of this book as I’m a very big sucker for the found family trope. They were all wonderful yet flawed and I loved them. They felt like this really wonderful, massive family that Amir was happy with and I loved that for him.
One of my biggest issues with the book was the climax. We go through this entire book not knowing why they’ve been detained but the moment of the argument just comes and then goes again. Maybe this is to show that people truly are detained just for their race, aka for no valid reason.
Also and I cannot stress this enough but it pissed me off. When you have children, they are your children, you are a PARENT before anything else. I don’t care what your religion says, you accept your children for who they are, if they are part of the LGBTQIAP+ community, you accept them. How dare you make your child feel unsafe and like they don’t have a family when coming out is a time they need you the most.
Overall, it was a good book and I enjoyed my time reading it!!! I cannot wait to read the authors other works as I’ve been wanting to for a while!!
Thank you to Netgalley and hot key books for an arc in exchange for an honest review. All views are my own
trigger warnings; homophobic language, blackmail, racial profiling, religion
How It All Blew Up is a really well rounded novel and I enjoyed my time reading it. Amir was a really good main character to follow and I felt sad for him in some parts and frustrated in other parts about his decisions. I understand why he ran away to Italy but a part of me really didn’t like the fact he left Jackson to have to navigate everything himself.
As a queer, white person from a non religious family I will never understand the fears some people have when coming out to their religious parents and I recognise that privilege and will definitely be amplifying this book because it will be such an important read for so many people. I will also thankfully never understand the fear of being detained at the airport because I have a small argument on a plane because I’m white which is another massive privilege I have. This book really highlighted the prejudices people face simply for the colour of their skin and their race and it’s horrific. Please, world, sort yourself out.
The family Amir finds himself in when in Rome was one of my favourite parts of this book as I’m a very big sucker for the found family trope. They were all wonderful yet flawed and I loved them. They felt like this really wonderful, massive family that Amir was happy with and I loved that for him.
One of my biggest issues with the book was the climax. We go through this entire book not knowing why they’ve been detained but the moment of the argument just comes and then goes again. Maybe this is to show that people truly are detained just for their race, aka for no valid reason.
Also and I cannot stress this enough but it pissed me off. When you have children, they are your children, you are a PARENT before anything else. I don’t care what your religion says, you accept your children for who they are, if they are part of the LGBTQIAP+ community, you accept them. How dare you make your child feel unsafe and like they don’t have a family when coming out is a time they need you the most.
Overall, it was a good book and I enjoyed my time reading it!!! I cannot wait to read the authors other works as I’ve been wanting to for a while!!
Thank you to Netgalley and hot key books for an arc in exchange for an honest review. All views are my own