A young girl is recovering from multiple traumatic events that have destroyed her family. She’s lost all sense of sense, and feels more isolated than ever. It doesn’t help that she’s a Muslim girl who wears a hijab two years after 9/11-the world sees her as a threat because of her race and religion. She’s also recovering from losing her best friend, who happens to be her crush’s sister. Her crush is trying to get back into her life, and she doesn’t know how to handle that. All of this complicates her life and she finds herself struggling to deal with the intensity of her emotions, as teenagers often do.
I enjoyed this book-I quickly finished it in two days. The writing style is different from the YA books I’ve read in the past. It’s loaded with the descriptive imagery and “flowery” writing that I enjoyed, even though I was looking for something more similar to A Very Large Expanse of Sea. However, there are some flaws in the book that I can’t look past. The romance sub-plot was the only part of this book that I felt was really fleshed out. The main character’s family issues felt a little stale. It felt like the readers are being held at arms lengths from the characters, never really getting to understand the protagonists problems. I often found myself wondering why she felt a certain way towards her family members-none of her feelings seemed justified by any information we were given. But it’s still a heartbreaking story, even though I felt disconnected from the characters. The imagery and metaphors help convey the main character’s sadness and depth of emotions, even if the reasoning for them isn’t exactly there. I enjoyed the plot of the book, in addition to the writing style, so overall, I do recommend it.
By Serena
